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! 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…
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…
Big Name Change! After taking everyone’s feedback to heart, I’ve changed the name of the book from “Trouble the Water” to “To Rescue a Witch”. My friend, Syd Young, who has an agent and is getting her book “Lady Bird Takes A Train” ready to publish, gave me the suggestion so it can be more…
That time I accidentally deleted my manuscript… It’s been a really crazy month! For Thanksgiving I treated myself to this super-awesome writing software called Scrivener, because all the cool kids in my writing group use it. But here’s the thing. I’m not good with technology. Like, not even a little bit. I think the reason…
Here’s my Goal Check in from last month: Status: I finished the villain arc edits! And they are deliciously evil. Status: The witchcraft themes are loosely connected, but I wouldn’t say they’re done yet. NaNoWriMo November is NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. Here’s the crazy premise: You can write a 50,000 word novel…
I’ll confess: I’ve been fascinated by witches since I was a little girl, which is why they’ve ended up in my historical fiction, Trouble the Water (coming 2023). Set in 1740, my novel Trouble the Water is an adventure book that shifts between Scotland, London and Virginia colony. Last year I spent a week researching…
Good news: I went to Scotland to research my book back in 2022! Bad news: I caught Covid! I had a very mild case and tested negative quickly, so I was able to still see a lot. It also helped that the tour guide, Anne Daly with Mary Meanders had recently overcome it a month…
I’m going to Scotland! My novel Trouble the Water is going to be part of a series. The bulk of Book 1 takes place in Williamsburg, Virginia and on a ship but some action also takes place in Glasgow, Scotland. Book 2 will take place mostly in the Scottish Highlands, so I thought it would…
After the whirlwind of finishing my book to hand into a structural editor on May 31, I’ve found June a bit of a let down. It’s like when you’re a kid and have been waiting for months for Christmas to come and then an hour after opening your gifts you feel…meh. All these characters have…
Hi everyone, May should be about Mother’s Day and the unofficial start of summer. Instead, I’ve blogged about the Uvalde school shooting and after the leaked draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade I wrote about Abortion and Birth Control in the 18th century. I hope our country can get its act together. Beyond awful…
April has been a particularly bumpy month. My daughter came down with Covid (along with five other kids in her theater group) and I managed to tear my calf muscle a week ago, so I’m limping, taking glorified Advil from the doctor, and start physical therapy next week. Good times. Beyond that, there are some…
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