I SOLD ANOTHER BOOK! Actually, my awesome agent did. More on that and other details later. I’m going to try to keep quiet until it’s officially announced, but I just had to say it. That’s all. Carry on.

Over the weekend, my two older boys (7 and 8) - who each got a basic Kindle for Christmas – spent their own money, earned from chores or saved from birthdays, to buy books*. This makes both writer-me and mom-me tres happy. I can’t remember them ever doing this before and it got me thinking about how having Kindles has changed our [...]

This came up on one of my online writer groups last week – whether customer reviews on Amazon are important.  And how important?  Is it bad if a book only has a few?  Do they play a part in whether a book shows up as “recommended for you” or “viewed by other customers” or whatever? I don’t [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about feedback this week.  A friend of mine – let’s call her Jane – asked for my thoughts on her novel so I emailed her my feedback, both positive and constructive, a couple days ago…and haven’t heard a thing from her since.  Jane and I aren’t super-close - we talk once in a [...]

Finally.  Well, for now since this is just the smoothed-over draft and I really have no idea whether or not it might suck completely.   At this stage, lots of different things can happen to a manuscript, depending on where you are contractually.  Sometimes, after a book or two, writers sell fiction on proposal, which means their publisher buys based on [...]

Yesterday’s post was about the typical pre-publication to-dos and milestones.  Today’s is about the atypical stuff, all of which I’ve seen happen over this past year… Your editor gets laid off, your book dies.  Even though you had a deal. Your editor gets laid off, you get a new one.  Who you totally click with.  [...]

Congratulations!   That’s a big deal.  You’ve probably worked for years on manuscripts, written and revised countless query letters, read rejection after disheartening rejection and finally, you’re there.   If this is your debut novel and you’re anything like me, you have no idea what comes next.  Or you have some ideas, most of which will turn out to be [...]

Sort of.  Really more like some rambling with photos included.  Here’s the thing: I’ve been wanting to talk about editing since I’m in the middle of it for two manuscripts, but have completely blanked on finding a workable analogy other than sculpting which I’m sure has been used a gazillion times (first draft = lump of clay, yadda, yadda) and [...]

Someone asked me the other day if it cost a lot to get my book published.  No, I told her, when you sell your book to a publisher, they pay you and take on the costs of producing it.  It doesn’t cost anything.  Which is only partially true, because as any writer will tell you, a big [...]

The Online Launch Party continues!  Read the giveaway rules, prize list and enter here.    Almost any conversation about The Mark that I’ve had in person or online includes talk about the awesome cover.  So pretty, no?  Of course, I had absolutely nothing to do with it.  Danielle Delaney, who designed not one, but two beautiful covers for The Mark, graciously agreed to answer a [...]