My adventures in writing, publishing, and book marketing.
Editing has got to be my least favorite part of the job. Reading each chapter over and over, looking for mistakes and places to make the text more evocative and the action more exciting. Searching for those stubborn typos whose superpower seems to be hiding in plain sight. Sometimes it feels like I’m walking into …
Photo by David Law on Unsplash While I enjoy the summer heat, this year has overdone it quite a bit. Being pummeled by a relentless sun isn’t my idea of fun. But putting the final touches to my latest novel is. I’ve been hard at work (grateful for the air conditioning that keeps me and …
Photo by .Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash My editor just returned the manuscript of The Girl Who Broke the Dark. As expected, I have some minor things to correct and tweak. What wasn’t expected was a major flaw in the payoff of the story. Now that she pointed it out, I can’t believe I didn’t see …
Growing up, my friends were Jill, Joyce and Jane. Yes, I was the odd one out with the distinctly strange name of Evelyn. My name never appeared on personalized toys. And I was constantly having to put up with being called Eleven. (This is way before Stranger Things.) Recently I found out that my name …
Photo by Gerax Sotelo on Unsplash “My Mother Had Me Sort the Eyes.” Isn’t that a wonderful opening line? This is how Elizabeth Graver started one of her works. After reading those seven words, it’s nearly impossible to stop reading. Is this a horror story? Or a story about making dolls or planting potatoes? The …
No, I’ve not bought myself some new pets. While I’m enjoying the spring flowers and warmer weather, I’m not thrilled with the birds using my front porch as a public restroom. Not wanting to use traps or poison or anything noisy, I thought I’d resort to trickery instead. Hence the plastic snakes sunning themselves on …
I’m deep in the second act of the Girl Who Wrote on Water, and it’s getting exciting. While I’ve made sure that Derya encounters lots of troubles along the way, now she’s in for some confrontations with magical creatures. First, a sardonic winged horse, then an ambush of wyverns. And she hasn’t even gotten to …
I’m giving The Girl Who Broke the Dark a rest while I draft the second in the series, tentatively titled The Girl Who Wrote on Water. But in between writing sessions, I was a guest on Vlogging Pod’s Podcast with Eri Nelson. It’s a quick twenty minute interview, and you can hear about the inspiration …
Have You Heard of the Miraculous Small Flat Squares? “What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.” — Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird Isn’t a miracle that words on …
Last week I was a guest on the Sample Chapter Podcast, and had a great conversation with host Jason Meuschke. Some of the things we talked about were: To listen to the episode, click here. And if you enjoyed the episode, I’d love it if you’d leave a review.