When I was ten years old, my parents gave me the thrill of my life: they finally agreed to adopt a cat. We chose a cat at the shelter and named him Punkin (Punky for short), a name I pulled straight out of a what-to-name-your-pet book filled with photos of fluffy felines. Punky was arguably …
New Year’s Eve, 2006. Four months earlier, I had moved to a different state to attend graduate school, leaving behind my family, my church, and a particularly good friend in whom I was romantically interested. It wasn’t a huge secret that I wanted this friend to be more than a friend, but I’d never outright …
Back in March, I participated in my first pitch event on Twitter (you can read about that experience here!). While I didn’t come away with any likes from agents that first time around, I garnered enough benefits to do it again, which I did on June 3, armed with three brand-new pitches (for the same …
Continue reading Saturday Six #27: When I Could Have Given Up
For a long time, I thought giving up on books made me a quitter. But as a busy person (mom of four, full-time employee, part-time novelist), I’ve realized there’s not time for everything. And there’s especially not time for books I don’t love. Choosing not to finish a book might mean I'll miss out on …
Recently, another writer complimented the heroine in my novel when she read the first few chapters. She said, “I absolutely LOVE that Esther is not a 21st century heroine stuck in 1911! I can’t tell you how annoying it is to read about a character whose beliefs/thoughts/feelings are just not realistic for the specified time …
The last romantic comedy I read (Shipped by Angie Hockman...super fun, I recommend it!) was set in 2019. The publishing industry runs a couple years behind "real time," so despite its 2021 release, the novel was likely written well before 2019. But it also felt like a very deliberate decision to set the book before the …
Before developers purchased the fields, I went strawberry picking with my parents and brother every summer. It was always one of our first family outings once my mom finished the school year as an elementary secretary, together filling flats of locally grown berries. I’m sure crouching and bending in the hot sun wasn’t always the …
The first time I watched The Sound of Music, it was my grandma’s copy, recorded from television onto a VHS tape. When I was 10, I was thrilled to get my own copy (also on VHS – a double boxed set!). I can’t say how many times I’ve seen it and listened to the music. …
Continue reading Saturday Six #24: The Sound of Music Revisited (Again)
I didn’t realize the 20th century had become such a popular setting for historical fiction, until I looked back and saw that six of the last seven I’ve read fit that description, all of which I've read this year. Honestly, this gives me a boost of confidence, considering my finished novel and the one I’m …
Continue reading Saturday Six #23: Twentieth Century Historical Fiction
Every once in a while, “How I Got My Agent” stories trend on Writing Twitter. At first, I gobbled these up, drawing encouragement from the sheer variety of journeys. There is no such thing as normal in the publishing industry, no matter the stage. Eventually, though, I had to stop reading them. I got overwhelmed …
