When kids are little, they often ask why. Why is the sky blue? Why do spiders have 8 legs? Why do people hiccup Why, why, why? If you’re a parent or caregiver, your reaction may follow this trajectory: ah, I love … Continue reading →

When my husband complimented me the other day on my resilience and optimism about my writing, I gawked at him. He should know me better than that. I’m the pessimist in the family; didn’t he realize there was so much … Continue reading →

When Jennie Nash, my new book doctor, offered her initial assessment of my manuscript, I feared Phoenix Cells was on life support (“You are totally not telling a story. You are narrative outside events, and putting cardboard puppet characters through them. It’s … Continue reading →

Goal: getting a book published. Therefore success = getting a book published. Simple, right? But who knew? Turns out there’s more to the equation. When I broke down my goal even further, I looked at why I wanted to be published: to … Continue reading →

Laaadieeees and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Umpteenth Annual Biggest Fight in the Writing Process!  Here again, going head-to-head is Outliner vs. Panster. In thiiiiis corner, is Outliner, the plan-out every-plot-point-of-your-novel-before-you-start guy! He’s here to prove that the only way to write … Continue reading →

My 10-year-old daughter came downstairs the other day, with a big smile on her face and a stack of old papers in her hand. “Mama, look at my stories from when I was a kid!” (You know, when she was … Continue reading →

Remember when you were a kid watching the Olympics (Summer or Winter)? There was one (or maybe a dozen) sport(s) that captivated you, enthralled you, made you sit up and announce to the world (or just your parents) that you were … Continue reading →

“On average, approximately 99% of submissions to publishers and literary agents get rejected, especially if you’ve never been published.” –P.S. Literary Agency “Now, the more realistic number of queries I received and answered and considered in 2016: 3,053.Total New Clients … Continue reading →

This is me before I took my semester off, hard at work teaching and marking: This is me now during my semester off, hard at work brainstorming my new novel: Livin’ the dream… livin’ the dream… 🙂

Living the Dream: A Rumination on the Writing Life in One Act ACT 1: Writer impatiently waits for rejections from literary agents (’cause what else would there be?) while she starts a new project, a YA fantasy based on angels that’s been in … Continue reading →