It can't be December already, can it? I started looking through my Kindle and bookshelf to create my Top 10 Books of 2013 list (coming soon to the blog) when I realized that several of the books I read this year came out well before the last 365ish days. That’s what I get for letting my book queue get so backlogged I’ll never catch up! So while I continue working on my list of favorite books I read this year, here are…
"[I] read books because I love them, not because I think I should read them." – Simon Van Booy While on a recent bargain table binge at a local bookstore, a certain cover jumped out at me: shades of blue, the Eiffel Tower, the name Christopher Moore. I’m a fan of Moore’s Lamb, so I grabbed one of the multiple copies of his Sacre Bleu that lined the table. The fact that Vincent Van Gogh factored into the plot of…
A book is a gift you can open again and again – Garrison Keillor Today I read the sad news that screenwriter Syd Field died over the weekend. I learned the techniques of writing for the screen from some of Field’s books while in college and have carried the skills into future projects, including novel writing. It got me thinking about the various books throughout my life that have taught me and inspired me. The books that encouraged my love of…
"A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life." – Henry Ward Beecher Recently, at the annual used book sale hosted by the Kanawha County Public Library, I was handed a button reading “I Support the Library.” But it wasn’t just a chintzy giveaway. Today I cast a vote to show that support. For you non-locals, there is a special election happening in my county regarding an excess levy that would provide needed funding to the…
“New York is a writer’s city.” – Blanche Devereaux, The Golden Girls Several months ago, I wrote a post called How I Got My Agent, which told the tale of my becoming a client of Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency way back in August of last year. Funny thing about having an agent: unless you live in the same geographic location or cross paths at a writing conference, there’s a chance you’ll never meet him or…
Oh that the day has dawned, ladies and gentlemen: a marketable manuscript of Blades of Grass is upon us! My loyal readers will attest to this project’s nearly yearlong journey from a hurried NaNoWriMo attempt last November, to a scrapped and reimagined novel in the winter, to a revised and revised and revised final draft by summer’s end. This week – after my gazillionth revision – I finally saw these elusive and sought-after words in my inbox from Steve, agent…
Hey writers, where do you write? The office? The coffee shop? A cold, dark basement, away from the world outside? I always find it interesting to see where other authors do their best creating. I so wish I could do the coffee shop thing, but I'm too easily distracted. And my neighborhood java joint had the audacity to move out of the neighborhood, lured by the bright lights of downtown. (Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Daily Cup!) Generally, most of…
I have a confession to make. Are you sitting? Here goes… I am not a full-time writer. There. I said it. Is everyone okay? Perhaps someday I will be a full-time writer, but in the meantime I’m a full-time communications director at a university. And I also teach an online course at another university, raise two attention-craving cats, make time for a relationship, serve on a non-profit board of directors and maintain some semblance of a social life whenever possible….
You’ve all heard it before, the old adage that says writing is rewriting. It keeps playing over and over in my head as I trudge through another polish of Blades of Grass. But, to be honest, I'm struggling a little this week. As my last post discussed, I’m now rewriting the manuscript based on my agent’s feedback, but my writing sessions the past few days have consisted of staring at the screen in frustration. I know I should just let…
Regular readers of this blog (hi Mom!) have followed the journey of Blades of Grass since it began last fall with NaNoWriMo. In a nutshell for you latecomers, I churned out 50K words, chucked them all and started over in March. Along the way, I had my wonderful agent, Stephen Fraser, checking in with knowledge and advice. Upon my urging, Steve gave me an end of summer soft deadline for getting him a manuscript to review. I translated that into…