It’s been an exciting few weeks! Most importantly, here’s the book cover: Designing a Book Cover – Tips #1 – Do market research. What are people buying now? Go to Amazon and type in your keywords. For my book it might be “historical fiction, witch”. A list of the top selling books with their covers…
Y’all, I’m so excited!!! My book cover is almost done. The big reveal happens in 10 days…which also happens to be the same day I turn 50. If you must admit to being half a century old, at least your designer will be able to present you with your book cover art. I’ve been working…
The other day I was brainstorming ideas for a blog post about how witches are portrayed in movies and television. Conferring with Professor Google, I found articles about Willow from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And then I remembered, hey wait, I was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Think back to 1999… I…
Are you a book nerd? I sure am. But where do you think you rank among other readers? If you read just one book, congratulations – you’ve read more than 46% of the American public! According to an Economist/You Gov poll, 1,500 Americans were asked how many books they read last year. “Reading books” included…
Happy New Year! If you’ve been following this blog you know that I’ve written a book, To Rescue A Witch. Set in 1739, To Rescue A Witch is about an abused girl accused of witchcraft who must be protected by a Scottish lawyer married to an actual witch. Goals 2024 Release the book in March!…
Everyone is always busy. That’s our default, right? But did you ever have one of those months that was crazy-busy on steroids? In November we decided to remodel our home (while living in it), doing the demolition ourselves to save money. Here’s the catch: it had to be completed within three weeks because my brother…
It’s been a minute since my last novel update because life. Final Edits – To Rescue A Witch To Rescue A Witch is in it’s final edits! Yahoo! It’s literally been years. I’ve tried the traditional publishing route and had two agents interested in the manuscript but it didn’t pan out, so I’m going the…
Last year when I went to Scotland, Boris Johnson got fired as Prime Minister, Donald Trump’s house got raided by the FBI, and there was a heat wave. This year when I went to Scotland, Boris Johnson had to quit parliament entirely, Donald Trump got indicted for stealing classified documents, and there was a heat…
There are some scary and exciting things on the horizon… Agent Query Another agent requested the manuscript! That filled my heart with joy and dread and hope and fear and an acknowledgement that I’m just a wee bit neurotic. The query process continues and until I have a signed contract I’m sending out at least…
You know how some people have those Cinderella stories where they write a novel in a month with no prior experience whatsoever and they get signed by the first agent who reads it and it hits the NY Times Best Seller List and a friend-of-a-friend is a movie star who options your novel to make…
Hello fellow Succession fans! As a writer I’m interested in watching fantastic TV shows to study how they create great characters and storylines. For those of you who have not watched the show, it’s about an aging media mogul, Logan Roy, and his four children as they battle and backstab to see who will be…
Hello! I’ve got some interesting news. This month I sent my first agent query letter and… she requested the full manuscript! Now it’s an eight week wait-and-see process, but I’m taking it as a good sign at not being rejected just based on the cover letter. In the mean time I’ll continue to research other…
Why say something in one word when you can say it in 36 words, right? Wrong. Unless you’re Charles Dickens and getting paid by the word, today’s reader doesn’t have the time/attention span to read tons of exposition or lengthy descriptions of the sunset. Sure, if you’re an established New York Times bestselling author, you…
First Agent Meeting There’s a scene in the mob cult classic movie Goodfellas. Teenager Henry Hill (Ray Liotta’s character) is doing some shady work for the local mafia and gets busted. He’s at the court house facing jail, a pretty scary situation for anyone and his mob friends greet him saying, “Hey! You popped your…
Every year for my birthday I do something to scare myself. It’s like having a bucket list only instead of doing a hundred things then dropping dead I do one thing and then eat cake. After my dad died, I was cleaning out his desk and found a note. 1994: Start my own business. It…
The most important thing in a book, TV show or movie is to have a killer opening. Afterall, if you don’t hook your audience immediately they’re likely to move on. But I think the second most important thing is to have a satisfying ending. I say this, because it’s been several years since the TV…