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Tag: WIP
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Writer, You Are Not Alone
The lone writer furiously typing on her keyboard. Her isolated existence expanded by the wide world in her imagination. The depressed, melodramatic author slumped on a bar stool. He scribbles in a notebook with a stub of a pencil, growling at anyone who dares interrupt his process. Popular media leads us to believe these pictures…
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Author Biography
I’m at the nitty gritty part of my book release. I haven’t received the edits from the developmental editor yet. (Which in and of itself is terrifying.) Meanwhile, I’m working on my biography, acknowledgements, dedication, blurb, whatever else I’m forgetting. Each of these steps has its own angst attached. Insecurity ranks high with the author…
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The Next Step: Querying
I’m not completely new to querying. I’ve sent out my two short stories to multiple magazines as they search for a home. (Duotrope is my friend.) Neither have found one yet. Translation? I’ve been rejected dozens of times already in my short career. But that’s okay as I explain in my previous post about rejection.…
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Signed Contract in Hand
I have exciting news. I am officially a writer with a signed contract. Woot! It’s been three lightning fast years. Inklings Publishing, led by the effervescent Fern Brady, has optioned for the first installment of my epic fantasy series: Tarbin’s True Heir. The paperwork is signed. She can’t take it back! So, I can confess my complete…
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It’s For Research. I Swear!
Guilty pleasures. Do you pick your nose when no one’s looking? Pull out cash just so you can buy a lottery ticket? Eat chocolate while cooking dinner because no one will see because, heaven forbid, someone enters the kitchen to help you? We all have those little things that might be slightly embarrassing, but we do…
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2017, I await
For a construct created by human minds at a random location in our orbit around the sun, there is something magical about a new year. Hope. A chance to refresh and renew. A new start into the next big adventure. I LOVE beginnings, as the myriad pieces of stories in my to-be finished folder will…
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Back in the Saddle…Okay, on the Keyboard, Again.
Wow. Last post was in June. Summer got a hold of me and did not let go until this week. I know many moms who can’t wait for school to start so their little ones are not at home running around all day. I couldn’t wait because I need the enforced schedule. I don’t know…
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Writing Ruins Reading
Are you telling me the teenage empath can’t tell how the other teenager feels about her? Um, no. The boy’s entire family blows up and he shows no emotion. The perspective is first person, right? When does this story actually begin? Oh, here’s the beginning…on page 182. I am an avid reader. I taught myself…
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Pitching, a First Time
I am no longer a pitch virgin. On Saturday at the Houston Writers Guild April Conference, I had my first experience with a professional agent. And it was good. When I registered for the conference, Amy Boggs was the first agent on the list. As an agent with the Donald Maass Literary Agency, I found…
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First Writer’s Retreat…and I think I’m addicted
Last weekend, I attended my first writer’s retreat. Four story tellers gathered at a lake view property in Rancho Viejo, TX. We left friends, with better stories and shared camaraderie. I think I’m addicted. Just outside of South Padre Island put the house five hours from my home in Houston. Too close to fly (or…