My Books
On Writing
The Next Big Thing: What I’m Working on Now
Authors are tagging each other with a questionnaire about what they’re working on now. I was tagged by Karen Krossing, who was tagged by Karen Bass. I’m tagging authors Keely Parrack, Megan Crewe, Anne Laurel Carter, and Kari-Lynn Winters. I …
Posted in On Writing
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Deal News!
Ahhhh! I have been sitting on this news forever, but my agent tells me that the deal for my forthcoming book has been announced in Publishers Marketplace. I am so thrilled, delighted, nervous–and many other adjectives!–to be working with …
Posted in On Writing
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Baaaaaad Blogger: Do I Have Social Media Fatigue? Or Am I Just Lazy?
Wow. It has been exactly one month since I last posted. I don’t think I’ve ever let that much time elapse since I began this blog way back in February 2011. Oh, what interesting things I had to say back then. …
Posted in On Writing, The Business of Book Publishing
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The Truth about Trends–a guest post by Megan Crewe
I’m thrilled to be hosting Megan Crewe on the blog today. Megan and I spoke about speculative fiction at last November’s CANSCAIP meeting and I found her to be nothing less than profound. I asked her to write up a …
Some Thoughts on Scene Structure
I was minding my own business one day when a piece of wisdom floated by on my Twitter feed: “What’s the precise turning point in your current scene? Make its trigger more dramatic—or less obvious.” It was from the agent …
Posted in On Writing
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My Time in Narnia as the Fifth Pevensie Sibling
Loved doing this interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith over on the Cynsations blog–she always asks insightful questions. Have a look!
Posted in Newsy Bits, On Writing, Witchlanders
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A Query Dissected
A number of people have been asking me how I got my literary agent, and it occurred to me that I have amassed quite a bit of knowledge about how to find the right representation. In upcoming posts, I’ll tell …
Posted in Favorites, On Writing, The Business of Book Publishing, Witchlanders
Tagged agents, queries, query letters, Steven Malk, Witchlanders
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Why Fantasy?
When I was a child, people told me so often that I read fantasy for escape that I started to believe them. I did like to be transported to other worlds. And people did seem to think my life was …
Posted in Blog, Favorites, On Writing
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Mind the Gap: great writing advice from the London tube system
In London, every time a train door opens, an automated female voice tells you to “Mind the gap,” so that you don’t fall into that nether space between the train and the platform. When I was in England last year …
Developing Desire: Why Knowing What Your Character Wants May Not Be Enough
I started such a brilliant novel a few years ago. Oh it would have been groundbreaking, won awards, made me famous. At least that’s what I thought after I wrote the first chapter. It was about a girl who was …
Posted in Favorites, On Writing
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