Today is a big day for me. For one, I’m on Brenda’s blog, and I will always jump at the chance to work with Brenda because she cares so much about helping writers. We’ve shared a hotel room in NYC and drinks in Las Vegas, and for as flashy as that sounds, Brenda is down-to-earth, sweet, and is seriously in constant thought about how to improve her contests to help more people. I’m so Read more…
This story starts with rejection. Lots of it. Between August 25 and September 1, I sent over 100 emails explaining briefly to as many courageous writers why I hadn’t selected them for Brenda’s Pitch Wars. Before I signed with my wonderful agent on my own in 2015, I hadn’t made it into Pitch Wars two years in a row. I knew how much it hurt not to be picked. Writing those emails was grueling. Read more…
Hello, Peeps. I hope 2016 has been a wonderful year for you. I took a run to clear my head at 6am this morning. It was a chilly -2C/28F, still very dark, but crystal clear and quiet. In summary, my favorite conditions for running. As I ran, I reflected on the year in preparation for writing this post. The most obvious author-y thing to be grateful for was the seven-book deal I signed with Read more…
The past few weeks of 2016 have been rough on a national level that has felt, for many of us, very personal. As if to underscore the national mood, it’s raining and dark outside the window of my Brooklyn apartment and, to be honest, I’m feeling a little lacking in the holiday cheer department. So I’m especially grateful for this opportunity to reflect on the good things in my writing life this year—of which Read more…
A little over a year ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Salt Lake City by myself. I had traveled all the way from California so that I could help my sister through her husband’s first chemo treatment. I was feeling heavy from the conversation I had with my sister earlier that day. She’d cried and told me about how this was not supposed to be her life. This sort of thing isn’t Read more…
See the official #PitMad page here. There’s a twitter pitch party on the Twitter hashtag #PitMad today, December 1st, from 8AM to 8PM EDT. Get your twitter pitches ready and make sure to include all the appropriate hashtags, especially #PitMad, in your 140 character tweet-pitch. If you need help creating the perfect pitch, there’s a post about it here: The 35-word Twitter Pitch . . . Simplified THE RULES . . . Be polite and don’t Read more…
Wow! I can’t believe it’s already December! This year flew by! As I reflect on this past year, I have so much to be thankful for. I wrote two books, I traveled, and I got to spend some quality time with my family, to name a few. But, of all things I’ve done this year, it was the time I spent traveling with my family that was the most meaningful. My parents celebrated their Read more…
“Special Moments” As a writer, my journey has been full of lots of ups and downs, but nearly all of my ups involve members of my writing group—wonderful women that I’ve been meeting with every other week (and often more) for the past five years. This year, some of those special moments have included holding an advanced review copy (ARC) of my book for the first time—a copy that arrived while I was away Read more…
This past year has been filled with lots of wonderful writerly thrills for me, and it’s taken me some time to think back and pick out one of those special moments. From landing my agent and publisher, to the debut of my first New Adult Romance, SIGNS OF ATTRACTION, to helping out with contests, there was so much to choose from. All of the above has made this a year I won’t forget. But there Read more…
My mother likes to tell the story of when she thought I learned how to read. I was almost four years old, on her lap while she read me my favorite book. She paused for a minute and I took over, telling the story perfectly through the end. Impressed with this flash of brilliance, Mom handed me a new book and waited for me to repeat my performance. I couldn’t make heads or tails Read more…