Four years ago, in June, I had a phone call from my parents that left me emotionally broken for years after the event. My dad had cancer. Stomach cancer. He was about to undergo chemo to see if there was a chance. There wasn’t. On November 1, as I was about to start NaNoWriMo, he died. At around this time, I had finished a novel, was slowly collecting rejections and had an idea under Read more…
“I am not afraid of the storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~Louisa May Alcott That quote hangs above my writing desk. I stare it for hours at a time some days, reminding myself that failure breeds character, that just because I’m flailing right now doesn’t mean I’m out of the game. Then I usually throw something at it and storm out of the room in search of inspiration…or Read more…
Hi Everyone! I hope you’re all having a great day ;o) I want to thank Brenda for having me on her awesome blog to talk about something I’ve experienced a bit of… especially lately—going through the hard stuff and getting the hell through it. I try to be a positive person and I really do believe everything happens for a reason. I’m not one to whine (at least I try not to) or talk a Read more…
It’s that time of year where I have some of my writerly friends guest post on the blog for the holidays. This year our holiday guest posts center around perseverance. I asked my guests to tell us about their lowest points and how they made it through the toughest times in their lives or their publishing journey. So stop by throughout the month to read and get inspired by our guests’ journeys. We kick Read more…
In the course of my writing career, I’ve had many wonderful teachers. Some of them meet the literal definition of that word, starting with my AP English teacher in high school, who was the first who got me excited about writing well. I don’t know what strange alchemy that man worked on his students, but we worshipped him. And we worked our asses off to impress him. My first creative writing teacher really had his Read more…
When Brenda asked if I would be interested in writing a post about who I am thankful for, it went a little something like this: I mean, I have a lot of people I am thankful for, especially when it comes to my writing career. And then when I went to go write the post, I realized how hard it was to put into words how thankful I am for the people I Read more…
A Thankful Rhyme By Ronni Arno It’s the week of Thanksgiving and here on Brenda’s site we writers give our thanks to those who help us write. Does it take a village? Does it take a town? Exactly how many does it take to get all those words down? Today it is my turn to take an inventory of those that got me here and helped publish my story. First off there’s my family. They Read more…
The best part of the contests for us around here is when we hear about successes. Today we are so happy to have Janet B. Taylor and her Pitch Wars mentor, Heather Webb, here for a little Q and A. Janet recently sold her young adult time travel novel, THE DIM, sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. So as to not make this post a novel, we’ll jump right into the Read more…
Mandy Mikulencak So let’s get this party started. What made you decide to enter Pitch Madness, and how did you feel during the contest? I participated in Pitch Madness in March 2013. Contests like this one are a great way to get agents’ undivided attention because they’ve committed to participating. In essence, you bypass the hundreds (thousands) of competing pitches in the slush piles. But the biggest reason to enter was the amazing support you Read more…
Thankful Post by Author & Pitch Wars Mentor Lori Goldstein When Brenda asked me if I’d be interested in writing a post about who—not what—I was thankful for, I immediately stuck my hand in the air and bounced up and down (thankfully this was a written request). But as I sat in front of my laptop sipping my lemon tea, I kinda sorta started to look like this. Because the list of who I’m Read more…