Guide to Writer’s Workshops
You’ve signed up for your first workshop, and you are freaking out. You have no idea what to expect, except a vague idea that your work will be shredded and you’ll be found out as a complete fraud. OR you’ve been told that your work is amazing so many times…
How to Beta Read
“A beta reader (or betareader, or beta) is a person who reads a work of fiction with a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public.” (Source: http://www.fanfiction.net/betareaders)
Your first foray into beta reading can be an uncomfortable process as you step into unchartered territory. Armed…
Editing, Wordles, and the Color Gray
I am editing.
Pause.
I. AM. EDITING.
If you haven’t written a novel, you have no idea how tedious this process is. On the plus side, my agent’s changes have been minimal. On the also-plus side, I have taken this opportunity to hoover my manuscript. I am tightening up every line, removing unnecessary words and phrases. The times I was lazy and told the…
On Her Birthday
This one is for my mom.
——-
My Mother’s Body
My mother’s body curves and folds in bold
and bounteous beauty. Her legs are blue-
green webs of spider veins, war badges few
can claim they earned from years they spent on cold
and lonely fronts. Her hands are bent, wrinkled
and pruny from washing ten-thousand loads
of dirty…
How I Got My Agent
Full confession. I am a Twitter addict. Since I succumbed to my obsession in November, I have surreptitiously been following AKA stalking fellow writers, editors, and agents. One particular name would set my heart beating a little faster when her address would pop up – @bradfordlit. Last year, she requested my full manuscript with the kindest handwritten note that has since…
Christmas, Drugstore.com, and Nut Clusters
This post is so late coming, but its arrival was delayed by a sinus infection inhibiting my ability to breathe and a serious homework deadline inhibiting my will to live. Lucky for me, I took notes about my vacation back to LaLaLand for the holidays. Here is another top ten list.
- Shopping=Hell – Okay, I like shopping. I love going to the…
Road Trip Wednesday: My Real YA Writings
Okay, if the goal of YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday is to shamefully embarrass ourselves with our youthful writing, I am so in. Here are two snippets of two of my eighth grade efforts, which I believe can fall into the YA category. Double the pleasure. It was so hard not to edit this for the thousand obvious errors,…
101 in 1001: Better than a New Year’s Resolution
The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple goals…
FUN Day: Or Fricking UNcomfortable Day
Like most families, mine practices the ancient art of dysfunction, and my mother is our shaman. By the time I was fifteen, she’d been married five times with my father holding the glittering crown of Lucky #2. Of course, he was a prince, my mother being his second princess, after which he moved on to marry Princesses #3 and #4. That…
