Category Archives: Agents

Big Changes and Amazing News…

Posted on December 5, 2012 | 83 Comments

So… Last month I quietly removed the “Represented by…” bit from my blog and Twitter bios and posted all cryptically about being down in the dumps. The reason? My previous agent and I parted ways. While the split was amicable, I was left feeling really, um… grouchy. I know I’m not the only person who has severed ties with her agent, and I know there are far bigger problems in the world, but in my world, the split felt huge and devastating and hopeless. I was smack in the middle of trying to win National Novel Writing Month, suddenly agentless, facing the oh-so-daunting query trenches.

Boo.

But, it wasn’t all bad. I had a complete and polished manuscript (Cross My Heart, for those of you who’ve been around this blog awhile), a decent start on a blurb that would soon become the meat of my query letter, and a few priceless referrals from writing buddies and industry insiders. Plus, I had my trusted friends, people I was able to turn to when I needed to vent, when I needed help with said query letter, and, eventually, when it was time to celebrate. (THANK YOU, Taryn and Alison and Temre and Elodie!)

I queried while I NaNo-ed which, while overwhelming, kept my mind busy. I racked up a few requests, and a week after I sent my first query, I received a phone call from a lovely and enthusiastic agent who wanted to represent me and my work. Oh my God. I was ecstatic. And relieved. And astonished. It took me two-and-a-half years and three manuscripts to snag an agent’s attention my first go around; it was difficult to process the swiftness with which this second effort went down. To make a long story short, I emailed the other agents who had already requested my work, as well as those I’d queried and hadn’t yet heard back from. A few passed on the initial query and a few never responded, but I somehow ended up with numerous fulls out to be considered.

Over the course of the next week, I received several kind and complimentary passes. I also received a couple more offers and had a couple more phone calls. To be honest, each agent I spoke to was delightful in her own way; I’d be lucky to work with any of them. But still… one stood out. She was just SO passionate and knowledgeable. She understood my characters and their journey, and seemed to love my story in all the same ways I love it. Her revision suggestions were stellar, and even in the weird between-offer-and-acceptance phase, she was super quick to respond to my emails and inquiries. As if all that isn’t enough, her reputation in the writing community is outstanding. She’s pretty much a perfect storm of awesome.

On Monday night, two whirlwind weeks after I sent out my first query letter, I formerly accepted an offer of representation from Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency.

Guys. I could not be more thrilled!

Celebratory flowers from my husband, who is amazing and has put up with all kinds of crazy over the last few weeks . ♥

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Posted in Agents, Good News, Tales from the Trenches, The Writing Journey

Tagged Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency, Victoria Marini

Friday Five… Must Follows

Posted on June 17, 2011 | 5 Comments

I’ve recently discovered Paper Hangover, a fantastic group blog that offers writing tips and advice, book reviews, weekly Friday Five topics, and teen interviews. I highly recommend you spend some time exploring the site–they have so much to offer! Today I’ve decided to give Paper Hangover’s Friday Five a shot. Here’s the prompt:

And here are my Must Follows (Click the links to be redirected to each Twitter page):

Savvy Authors - An online writing community for writers of romance, offering tons of diverse workshops, forums, and pitching opportunities. I met a few of my super talented CPs at Savvy.

YA Highway – A group blog focusing on (duh) everything young adult lit.

Gayle Forman – YA Author (If I Stay and Where She Went… LOVE) who always has thoughtful, witty Twitter contributions and awesome blog posts.

Georgia McBride - Founder of YALitChat, extremely knowledgable, host of Wednesday night YA Twitter chats, and overall awesome.

Vickie Motter – My agent… Hello! Of course you should be following her!

*BONUS* If you like reality TV of any kind, you follow Andy Cohen - He’s got nothing to do with writing or publishing, but he’s Bravo TV Royalty, and he’s absolutely hilarious!

Tell me–who are your must follows on Twitter?

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Posted in *Writing Resources & Communities, Agents, Friday Five, Publishing, Twitter, Writing Advice & Tips

On Querying:

Posted on May 27, 2011 | 10 Comments

(I’m slowly making my return to blogging. My husband recently deployed and I have a bit more free time on my hands. Happy to be back!)

A few weeks ago I got an email from a fellow writer who’d read my Holy Crap: I Have an Agent! post. As well as offering congratulations, she asked for advice on querying. At first I was surprised and flattered, but not long after opening her email I started to get a feeling of… I don’t know. Unworthiness? I’m so not qualified to be doling out advice! When I told my husband this, he said, “Uh, why not? You’ve been querying off and on for the last year and now you’ve landed an agent. You’re totally qualified.”

Shouldn't everything in life be this cut and dry?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized he might be right. While I’m certainly not an expert on querying (is anyone?), I have had a fair amount of experience and I’ve gained some wisdom that’s probably worth sharing.

Below are the top ten things I’ve learned regarding the query process. Of course, the following advice only applies once you have an edited, critiqued, revised, sparklingly clean, complete manuscript, as well as a compelling query letter…

1) You won’t know if you’re truly ready to query until you send out a few letters. Of course you shouldn’t send out your first batch of query letters the same day you type The End at the bottom of your first draft. It goes without saying that there should be much critiquing, editing and revising before you ever contact an agent about your manuscript. But, you can theoretically spend ages seeking feedback and tinkering with your story. At some point, scary as it is, you have to be DONE. That isn’t to say you won’t want to revise again (and again) sometime down the line–especially after you start receiving replies on that first batch of query letters.

2) Put a blurb about your manuscript (and possibly a short excerpt) on your blog, and don’t forget your easy-to-find email address. Last fall I had an agent (one who is legit and respected, but isn’t open to unsolicited queries) happen upon my blog. She read the blurb and excerpt I’d posted about a previous WIP, and emailed me to request pages. Talk about surprising! While most agents probably don’t spend a lot of time trolling writer blogs, it does happen. Why not entice them any way possible?

3) Take advantage of helpful agent-focused blogs like Casey McCormick and Natalie Aguirre’s Literary Rambles, Krista V.’s Mother. Write. Repeat., and Jay Eckert’s Sharpened Pen. These people have graciously put hours and hours of time into their agent lists, databases and interviews. They are amazing resources! I learned about new agents, agents’ tastes, current clients, sales, query pet peeves, and more from sites like these. Querying is incredibly time-consuming, and accurate information on agents and agencies is sometimes hard to find online. Don’t reinvent the wheel. It’s quicker (and easier) to cross-check information that’s already been compiled for you than it is to start from scratch.

4) Stay organized. Be on top of outgoing queries and incoming replies. Know which agents you’ve queried and when. Know the name of their agency. Know their usual response times, or if they’re of the no reply is a no school. And keep querying! I tried to have about eight queries out at all times. When I received a pass, I sent out a new query letter. Rejection is easier to take when you know you’ve got other options out there. On the flip side, when I received a request for pages I sent them immediately, PLUS a new query letter to a different agent.

5) Follow the blogs of agents who interest you well before it’s time to query them. More often than not, they post wish lists, favorite published books, and/or general hints about their tastes. This is a fantastic information to reference when personalizing query letters, and also a great way to gauge whether an agent might be interested in your concept.

6) Follow agents who interest you on Twitter. I reluctantly joined Twitter about a year ago (I did NOT need more social media to suck up my time!). Now, I’m so glad I did. Not only is Twitter is an excellent way to connect with other writers, but it’s taught me so much about querying and literary agents. Many agents tweet tons of helpful publishing information, plus hints on what they’re seeking in their slush. I also made a habit of following the clients of my top-choice agents. A lot can be revealed about client/agent relationships (or lack thereof) through social media interactions.

7) Participate in blogfests, contests and online conferences like WriteOn-Con, especially if they relate to query letters, pitches, voice, or opening lines/pages. Not only are blogfests, contest and many online conferences free, they are a great way to get feedback and connect with writers in the same stage of the journey as you. Plus, they keep your mind occupied while you obsessively refresh your email. Added bonus: Contest finalists often receive prizes like critiques and/or requests.

8 ) Keep an open mind about feedback from CPs/betas, blogfests/contests, and agent replies. Not all critiques are good critiques, but there’s room for improvement in any work. I tried to keep a flexible attitude about my pitch, query letter, and manuscript. When I received a critique, I truly considered it (sometimes for days) before deciding whether to make the suggested revisions. At the end of the day, this is your work. You don’t want to have eventual regrets about making changes you aren’t truly comfortable with.

9) Make friends at all stages of the game. I’m the last of my CPs to snag an agent. At times, this sucked. They were all moving forward, finalizing agent-requested revisions, going out on submission, and making sales(!) while I was stuck in the query trenches. However, when I ended up with two offers of representation and needed to make a choice, I was so thankful to have friends with experience who could offer sound advice. That said, while having writing friends who’ve progressed farther than you on the path to publication is fantastic, it’s also great to know people who are flailing in the same stage as you. Commiseration is a powerful thing, and sometimes it’s nice to know you aren’t alone.

10) Know there are no guarantees, but that everything happens for a reason. Personal story time: A few months ago I had a phone call with an agent. We had a nice little chat during which she told me she torn and wasn’t ready to offer representation, but offered some revision notes and asked me to resubmit. I was ecstatic. All I had to do was revise to her notes (which were good) and I’d have an agent. I poured my heart into that revision and was so pleased with how it turned out. I sent my manuscript back to her and spent the next week vibrating with excitement: I was positive I was going to get an offer! Imagine my disappointment when I received her reply and another comment about being “torn,” accompanied by an additional list of new issues she had with the story. She wanted me to revise and resubmit AGAIN. At that point, I had to make a decision. Would I revise indefinitely for an agent who didn’t seem to truly love my story, or would I consider her feedback and continue my search for an agent who “got” what I was writing? I decided to move on, and that turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. Sure, I was discouraged at first, but I eventually realized that had I not completed the original revision for that first agent, my story wouldn’t be what it is today. I might not have received the offers of representation I eventually did.

There are no guarantees, but every query, every request for pages, every revision, every NO…

What about you? Do you have any fantastic querying advice to pass on?

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Posted in Agents, Critique, Editing, Queries, Revising, Tales from the Trenches, Wisdom

Good news, good news, GOOD NEWS!

Posted on May 11, 2011 | 52 Comments

Remember how I was going to take a blog hiatus? Well, I’m thinking there’s no better time to interrupt that hiatus than to share some pretty amazing news… I’ve signed with a literary agent!

There’s a lengthy story behind my search for an agent. Here’s the moderately exciting condensed version (because I’m aways curious about how others arrive at agentdom): I wrote a story, queried it, and soon figured out it wasn’t fit for publication. I trunked it. I wrote another story, queried it, and soon figured out it was in need of rewriting. I shelved it. I wrote another story, truly believed in it, queried it widely, raked in some requests and then some “This is lovely, but I just didn’t fall in love” rejections. I revised, then revised again, queried some more, raked in some more requests. And then… THEN…

I scheduled a vacation with my family. I resolved not to stress about writing, not to query, not even THINK about querying. I climbed on a plane with my kiddo and turned off my phone. I flew, then landed. I turned my phone back on. And, of course, there was an email from one of the agents who’d been reading my full: I’d like to schedule a phone call to talk about your story.

Isn’t that always the way it is? When you stop obsessing, big things happen.

I spoke to the agent on April 29th while I was in Georgia, the day my husband graduated from Ranger School. She offered representation. Naturally, I was thrilled. A fun side note: A few months ago, my husband and I set goals for 2011. His was to get through Ranger School. Mine was to sign with a literary agent. Though I didn’t actually sign with an agent on that day, I had serious interest. It was as if my husband and I both hit our goals right at the same time, and it was very cool.

I happen to have a picture from April 29th (because all blog posts are better with pictures!).

After speaking with the offering agent, I emailed the agents who were reading partials or fulls of my manuscript and asked them to get back to me within ten days (serious torture for an impatient girl like me!).

Turns out the wait was worth it. Another offer came in about a week later, from Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management. Vickie had been at the top of my list since I started reading her blog a few months ago. (She has awesome taste in YA literature and does a fantastic Wednesday Reads series. Check it out!) When we spoke on the phone the next day, I just knew she’d be amazing to work with. She’s friendly, smart, collaborative, and has some incredibly thoughtful revision ideas for my story. Still, I made myself think, really consider my choice from all angles, and as much as I liked the first agent who offered, I kept coming back to the same conclusion: I wanted to work with Vickie.

It was seriously difficult to contain my enthusiasm when I emailed her to accept her offer of representation.

Me and my I-Have-An-Agent Bubbly!

So, now I’m agented (so surreal!) and I get to tackle another revision of Where Poppies Bloom, (one recommended by Vickie ). I can’t wait to get started!

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Posted in Agents, Good News, Queries, Tales from the Trenches, Where Poppies Bloom

Show Me the Voice!

Posted on March 19, 2011 | 1 Comment

Brenda Drake is hosting a blogfest/contest, and Natalie Fisher of The Bradford Literary Agency has agreed to judge the finalists. How cool is that?! Here’s how it works:

On March 20 and 21 (tomorrow!), post the first 250 words of your finished manuscript (any genre) on your blog to get critiques from your followers and then hop around to the other participants’ sites and give critiques. Polish those 250 words and email them to brenleedrake@gmail.com with CONTEST in the subject line by (12:00AM EST) on March 22. If your 250 words ends in the middle of a sentence, please go to the end of the sentence. All entries submitted before the cut off time will be considered. The first round will be judged by a chosen panel of your peers (agented and unagented). We’ll pick the best 20 entries and post them on my blog by March 24. The 20 entries we pick will be judged by Natalie. The winners will be announced on or before Monday, March 28.

Bet you’re wondering what prizes Natalie is offering, right? Well, here they are:
1st place – a critique of the first 20 pages
2nd place – a critique of the first 10 pages
3rd place – a query critique

For more information (or to sign up!) please visit: Brenda Drake Writes…

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Posted in Agents, Blogfests, Contests, Critique, Where Poppies Bloom

Thankful Thursday

Posted on March 3, 2011 | 9 Comments

Oasis for YA knows that the surest way to get good things in life is to be thankful for what you have. So why not encourage a group thankful-fest once a week in which we all send out good energy and hope to get some back in return? Plus, participating in Thankful Thursday is a great way to connect with other writers.

Here are the rules:
1. Do your own blog post on what you’re thankful for today. It doesn’t have to be book or publishing related (but it can be!).
2. Be sure to grab our badge and include it in your post.
3. Post a link to your blog in the comments here so that others can find you.
4. Go forth and share your gratitude! (And when friending new blogs, be sure to let them know you found them because of their participation in the meme.)

Today I’m thankful for Literary Rambles, a forum focusing on all things children’s literature, hosted by Casey McCormick. Now, if you’re reading my blog, you’ve most like heard of Casey’s, but if you haven’t you’re SO missing out! Trust me, I speak from experience.

Last year I queried a manuscript. I “researched,” but I did it the hard way, and frankly, I probably didn’t do as good a job as I could have. There’s information about pretty much every agent out there, but it’s scrambled and sometimes dated and often hard to find. Agent research can be intimidating.

Good news! Casey has taken much of the difficulty out of the process with her Spotlights–in-depth profiles on dozens of the top agents representing kidlit. She shares information on what they’re looking for, their editorial style, query pet peeves, client lists, sales records, submission guidelines, and web presence. She also includes thoughts on an agent’s buzz, as well as links to interviews they’ve done. Truly, it’s just about one-stop shopping for anyone about to dive into the query trenches. And if that’s not enough, Casey’s also done helpful posts on blog topics, royalty statements, beta reading, character arcs and more.

As I prepared to contact literary agents about the book I’m currently querying, I spent HOURS combing Literary Rambles for information, clicking interview links, and perusing comments other readers left about particular agents. And because of this, I was able to select agents who I truly believe are a good fit for me, and my query letters are personalized and thoughtful.

Casey’s blog is organized, well-written and comprehensive. I can’t get over how selflessly she’s given of her time in an effort to help other writers. So this Thursday, I’m thankful for Casey McCormick and Literary Rambles.

What are you thankful for today?

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Posted in *Writing Resources & Communities, Agents, Publishing, Queries, Writing Advice & Tips

Tales from the Trenches: To Be, Or Not To Be…

Posted on February 18, 2011 | 9 Comments

… Prepared, that is.

So, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m querying. Several amazing agents are in possession of my full manuscript, and we’re nearing the time I should begin hearing back from some of them. In the back of my mind, I’ve had this cheerful yet persistent voice reminding me to prepare a list of questions to ask should one of these agents want to speak to me about my manuscript and possible representation. Promptly, a darker, more pessimistic voice sneers, “Don’t do it! You’ll jinx yourself!” Then, last night, I had a little epiphany.

With it being awards season and all, I was thinking about the actors, directors, singers, and producers who take the stage to accept awards. They fall into two pretty distinct categories: Those with a prepared speech, and those who wing it. While I’d rather watch the winners who are flustered and weepy and completely unprepared, it’s the winners with the succinct, heartfelt, well-written speeches who come away looking like professionals. And that’s what I want to be should I ever have the pleasure of speaking to an agent on the phone: Professional.

So, I’ve buried the fear of jinxing myself and assembled a list of must-ask questions so I’ll be prepared if I happen to get that oh-so-exciting phone call. Here they are:

1. How close is my manuscript to “ready?” What are its strengths? Weaknesses?

*2. What do you think my comp titles would be?

3. How collaborative do you intend to be? What kinds of editorial/revision ideas do you have for my manuscript?

4. Do you represent a book, or an author? How do you see us working together in the future?

*5. Would you expect me to only write for one age group (YA) or in one genre (contemporary)?

6. What are your submission plans for my manuscript? Do you already have houses/editors in mind? How many will you submit to at a time?

*7. If my manuscript doesn’t sell in the first round of submissions, will we go on subsequent rounds?

*8. Are you willing to sub more than one manuscript at a time? In the same genre? In different genres?

9. How are fees and charges for submission charged ? What kinds of charges should a client expect to pay, and how is it accounted for?

10. What’s your disclosure style during the submission process? Will you give me all the details of editor feedback, or just the most constructive criticisms?

11. What is your communication style? How quickly are you usually able to respond to client inquiries? What is your preferred method of communication?

12. What are the terms of your client contract? *How is it different from contracts at other agencies? (Assuming there is a written contract…)

13. What are your commission rates?

14. How long have you been an agent? What do you love about it? Do you see yourself agenting into the foreseeable future?

15. How many clients are on your list now? How many clients would you like to have?

16. What sales have you made recently? (Assuming I can’t find this info on my own…)

17. How involved is your boss/other agents at your agency in your client relationships?

18. What do you expect from your clients as far as production in a given year?

19. What qualities do you like in a client? What do you think makes a good working relationship between you and a client?

20. When you receive a new manuscript from a client, how long does it usually take for you to get back to her with feedback?

*21. How do you handle clients wanting to work on similar projects/subject matter?

22. For what reasons would you terminate a relationship with a client? What if, for some reason, I should feel our relationship isn’t working?

*23. Would it be possible for me to contact a few of your clients?

*24. Do you have any questions for me?

* Recent additions thanks to input from a few generous and well-informed writing friends. Thanks, Kate Hart, Heather Howland, June G. and Caroline Tung Richmond! Many of the other questions were compiled with help from brilliant posts at Literary Rambles, and Writing For Children and Teens.

Okay, so those are the questions that feel really important at this totally-in-limbo stage of the game. Am I missing anything glaringly obvious? Please let me know in the comments!

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Posted in Agents, Queries, Tales from the Trenches, Writing Advice & Tips

Friday Five: What’s Up This Week

Posted on January 7, 2011 | 5 Comments

1) Queries – I’ve sent out several. Two (at least) every day this week. It’s tedious business, but exciting too. I found a great database of middle grade and young adult publishers and agents over at Jay Eckert’s Sharpened Pen blog. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the querying trenches like me. I found some agents on his list that, while they don’t have a huge web presence (Twitter, blog, etc.), seem to be pretty amazing. Here’s to some positive responses in the coming weeks!

2) Six Feet Under – Best. Show. Ever. (With the only exception being, possibly, Dexter.) My husband and I started watching Six Feet Under sometime around July. We started with Season One (thank you, NetFlix!) and have been plowing through the series ever since. I LOVE IT. Fully realized, terribly flawed characters. Completely unpredictable. It’s heartbreaking and funny and pushes all sorts of envelopes. Plus, it’s got Michael C. Hall, who is nothing short of fabulous. You know what cemented my Six Feet Under love, though? The series finale. The strongest of any series I’ve ever watched. Total and complete closure, which I appreciate because I’m the kind of crazy that wonders what happens to characters I love in the future. Seriously. I can’t sing the praises of this show enough.

3) Authors vs. Writers – I read a lot about this debate… What makes you an author? What makes you a writer? When do you get to call yourself either? I’ve always gone with this: You’re an author when you manage to get a book traditionally published. You’re a writer until then. In other words, writers are the people who haven’t quite made it yet. Well, today I read literary agent Sarah LaPolla’s wise blog post, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, and completely changed my tune. Here’s what Sarah said: To me, a writer is a person who is serious about his or her craft and has the drive, knowledge, and skill to someday get published. An author is someone who has been published. See? I like her take so much better, and therefore I am officially adopting it. You should check out the rest of her post as well.

4) Living Dead Girl, by Elizabeth Scott – I finished this book the other day and I’m still thinking about it, though I struggle with words to describe it. Horrifying, definitely. Beautifully written, yes. Also courageous, heartbreaking, graphic and important. And the ending… Though it was a quick read, this book kept me up most of the night because I could not get ”Alice” and her story out of my head. Do I recommend it? Yes… but perhaps not if you are easily disturbed.

5) Tangled - Rapunzel’s story might be my new favorite Disney movie (and I’m a Disney fanatic!). It is amazingly well done. My three-year-old daughter has seen it twice and is completely obsessed. The other day we bought the soundtrack and have been listening to it CONSTANTLY in the car. And you know… I don’t even mind. In fact, I’d venture to say that I enjoy the songs just as much as my Munchkin does. They are that cute. That clever. If you haven’t seen Tangled, you should. Even if you don’t have little ones.

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Posted in *Writing Resources & Communities, Agents, Entertainment, Queries, What I'm Reading

Why You Need An Author Site…

Posted on September 27, 2010 | 6 Comments

I should begin by saying: I started out a reluctant blogger. It was one of those everyone’s doing it things that I felt I better do too. The last thing I wanted was to appear less than serious about my writing, and I had heard many times about how important platforms and connections and networking are to a writer.

So I started a blog (a major challenge for the technologically delayed!) and updated it here and there. It didn’t take long before blogging became fun… something I look forward to doing. Now I post about books I love, things I’ve learned throughout the writing/querying process, my WIPs, occasional status updates on where things stand on my road to publication, anecdotes about my family, songs I adore, and more recently, Road Trip Wednesday posts.

I’ve read more than one industry professional site that says aspiring author blogs/sites should have a blurb about current projects, and possibly an excerpt, just in case an agent happens by and likes what they see. So, I included those things on this site, along with a contact email address. And wow… I’m so glad I followed THAT advice!

A few days ago I woke up to an email I never in a million years would have thought would come my way. A literary agent was browsing author blogs, came across mine, and was intrigued by my story, Loving Max Holden. She read an excerpt, thought my writing style was strong, and emailed me asking for a query and the first three chapters of the manuscript. Flattered and excited, I sent the requested material to her right away. This particular agent is not opened to unsolicited queries, so if it weren’t for my blog and the blurb I included about Max, I never would have had the opportunity to contact her.

Who knows what will happen with this submission. Hopefully, she likes what she sees and wants to read on (fingers crossed!). All I’m sure of at this point is that I’m very thankful I joined the blogging community. Not only am I having a lot of fun, but I’ve gotten an opportunity I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

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Posted in Agents, Blogging, Cross My Heart, Wisdom

What’s New?

Posted on September 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

I recently realized that I haven’t done an update post in a while, and thought this might be a good time. But, before we begin, if you haven’t had a chance to take a look at the improvements I’ve made to this little corner of the internet, please do. Above, I’ve added ABOUT ME, LOVING MAX HOLDEN, and WHERE POPPIES BLOOM tabs. Check ‘em out!

First, I’m stilling querying and waiting on replies for my YA romance, Loving Max Holden. I’ve had some good responses and have gotten several requests for pages. I’m currently waiting to hear back about two full submissions (both requested from partials) and two partial submissions. My absolute dream agent is currently reading my full. I can’t fully express how much this both terrifies and thrills me. I also have four recent queries still out and am hoping for more requests. Fingers crossed!

Second, I’m beginning a mentorship program through Savvy Authors with romance writer Lori Wilde. During the six month program, my classmates and I will: Learn the nuts and bolts of creating a novel from start to finish, emerge from the class with a completed, revised novel, learn the ins and outs of marketing our fiction, and have fun while developing new writing skills. I’ll be working on my new paranormal YA romance, Where Poppies Bloom, and I’m so excited to begin. I’m absolutely thrilled about getting feedback from an author with so much experience and success. If you’re interested in learning more, click HERE.

Finally, I just got home from a mini-vacation with my husband and daughter. We drove about four hours southwest to the Oregon coast where we enjoyed fun in the sun, sandcastle building, kite flying, yummy food, and great shopping. This trip was two-fold. First, we packed in some lovely family time, and second, I saw first hand the small, touristy coastal towns I’ve based the setting of my next book on. Astoria, Seaside, and Cannon Beach were all on my radar when I started building fictional Bell Cove for Where Poppies Bloom. Now that I’ve spent time in each of these cities and absorbed their ambience, I’m certain I’m on the right track. We detoured to Portland on the way home, specifically to visit Powell’s Bookstore, an enormous independent new and used bookstore. One word: AMAZING. Now that I’ve been, I’ll be tempted to drive south for all of my book buying. Anyway, here are some inspirational photos from our trip: