Oh, hey! I’ve spent the last twenty weeks appreciating the better things in life. My attitude has improved dramatically. And that’s pretty cool. Here are just a few of the awesome things that have been going on. On Sunday, I spent the day with friends who live two hours away. We don’t see them nearly […]
I was sick most of last week, so I missed my weekly affirmation. Decided it was better to just rest than to try to put it up late. Anyway, lots of good things happening. Here’s my supersized list of awesome things I’m grateful for this week. I’m not sick this week! Party! *knock on wood* […]
This post is inspired by one my critique partner, Mary Ann Marlowe, did a few months ago. The idea is to share your own writing quirks to see if maybe they resonate with someone else. After all, no matter where you are in the process, we’re all in this together. When a manuscript is almost […]
Now, I’m not gonna lie, getting an agent was the single most exciting thing that happened to me in 2014. It’s an amazing validation of all the hard work it takes to get to that point, and it lets you know that someone else believes in your work. That’s all wonderful. But what getting an […]
Here’s a look at some of the awesome things that happened over the past week. Two friends got married on Saturday in a wonderful ceremony under an arch made of books. How awesome is that? And I couldn’t be happier for them. The wedding was held in New England, a few hours away. We got […]
Here’s a peek at some of the good things that happened during the past week. Grass is growing on our front lawn! It’s not all brown and dead anymore! And there’s no massive hole around where the For Sale sign was (which, for some reason, it was at least 8x the size of the post). […]
A month ago, I posted on The Writer Diaries about how exhausted I am and the need to rest without guilt. I also set several goals for myself for May, all geared at helping myself recharge my batteries. Let’s take a look at how I did: Visit my sister and meet my new baby niece. […]
Wow, I can’t believe it’s almost June. Anyway, a peek at all the things in life to be grateful for: On Sunday, we had a BBQ with friends. Great food, board games, excellent conversation, and someone showed us the glorious result of mixing cinnamon schnapps with apple cider (that should almost get its own mention). […]
One of the hardest things about writing a query is trying to infuse some voice into it. But it’s also really important to make sure your query fits the genre you’re telling me your story fit into. Consider the following (made up) query: Ten-year-old Harry hates living with his aunt and uncle: They make him […]
I can’t believe I’ve been doing these weekly posts for 3.5 months. Not only do I overall feel more positive about life in general, but I’ve saved a LOT of brain power that would’ve been spent trying to figure out what on earth to blog about instead. Here’s a look at the past week. We […]
I’ve been reading a lot of first pages over the past couple of months. A lot, a lot, a lot. (My best guess is around 300, so while I am prone to exaggeration sometimes, when I say “a lot,” I mean it.) And here are some (made-up) examples of problems I see over and over. […]
April 15, 2013, started like any other day. I got up and started working, not having lived in Massachusetts long enough to remember the state holiday, and my daily routine not taking me anywhere near the marathon route (I work from home, so I mostly go to and from the coffee pot in my kitchen […]