Manuscript update: Still perfecting my query letter and synopsis. I’m attending the Austin SCBWI conference on Saturday — so excited — and hope to have a fantastic, shiny, brilliant query letter and synopsis ready to start sending out to the conference speakers soon after. Yesterday, I wrote about why it’s important to write the perfect…
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I’ve been going through a reading spurt lately, after I finished the third (and hefty) Eragon book, Brisingr, and I’ve noticed that you can’t judge the validity of the “rules” of writing based on what’s selling in stores. There are plenty of “rules” that we hear when we’re just starting. I put the word in…
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I know. I was AWOL last week. Sorry. Actually, I was in Oahu promoting the Sir Newton Color Me Hawaii book. It was an impromtu trip, so I didn’t have time to set up too many events and get good marketing around them. But I did do two retailer events and spent the rest of the…
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Yes, I was one of the many who saw Star Trek this weekend. And, apart from a few holes, it was good, very entertaining and lots of fun, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise and can appreciate the references. But one of the best parts of the movie is the surprises. J.J. Abrams is…
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As with many other industries, the last couple quarters have been rough on publishing, with houses downsizing with huge layoffs, closing imprints, and restructuring to bundle imprints together with the same staff. Some smaller publishing houses have closed altogether. Before Christmas, calls went out on many blogs, including mine, for people to put books on their gift…
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My middle-grade novel revision is moving along, but not as quickly as I’d like. Part of the reason is that I’m editing faster than my critique group meetings. Sounds weird, I know, but I’ll explain. You see, we meet twice a month and can take up to five pages to each meeting. After each meeting,…
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