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 you about how I went about my agent search, but for today I thought I’d start by posting about that all-important query. A query is a single-page letter introducing you and your book. If you have finished a novel and plan to search for either an agent or a publisher, you are probably going to have to write one. I won’t lie: It’s a daunting task. Agents and editors see many, many...
Read MoreA Good Time Was Had By All–Especially Me!
As you can see, one of the many things I’ve gained in the writing of this book is a community, which is why I would consider these last ten years time well spent even if I didn’t get a book out of it. From my thank-you speech I had such a wonderful time last night at the Toronto launch for Witchlanders! Here are a few pictures of the event at the beautiful Ben MacNally’s Bookstore. Many, many thanks to the wonderful people at Simon and Schuster Canada for helping me to organize it, coming out in full force, donating the door prize and for being all-together awesome! For...
Read MoreWhy 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 something I should want to escape from. I don’t talk much about my childhood. This is because, in my mind, it was a good one, but when I start to give people the details—my mother’s s schizophrenia, my father’s death, living with a number of different families—they tend to want to sit me down and make me a cup of tea. Maybe I read fantasy because the problems in contemporary novels of that time...
Read MoreBut Enough about Me…Some OTHER YA & MG Fantasies I’m Excited to Read This Fall
Well, the blog tour is over, the Kindle winner has been announced, and I am officially sick of myself. I missed Random Acts of Publicity last week because…I was too busy blathering on about my own book! But there are some OTHER wonderful fantasies coming out this fall that I’m very excited to read. (And by fantasies I mean fantasies and paranormals–I tend to use the term broadly.) Whenever I do a post like this I always feel I have to preface it by saying: I don’t know what they heck I’m talking about. By which I mean: There are many, many other bloggers that are more up-to-date...
Read MoreIt’s the Last Day of the WITCHLANDERS blog tour!
But there is still time to comment on the posts below to win the Kindle 3 Wifi, gorgeously dressed in this WITCHLANDERS Kindle Skin. The big winner will be announced right here on Tuesday, September 13th. Monday August 22nd –The Page Turners – Character Interview between Ryder and Falpain Tuesday, August 23rd – The Unread Reader – When I’m not writing Bonus Stop and Giveaway of a Witchlanders Copy – The Zealous Reader Wednesday, August 24th – Books Complete Me – The World of Witchlanders Bonus Stop and Giveaway of a Witchlanders Copy...
Read MoreHappy Birthday Jorge Luis Borges
I should really be writing something else today. After all, I’m in the middle of a blog tour and I haven’t finished writing my guest posts yet. (*Bites nails*) But I couldn’t let the 112th birthday of Jorge Luis Borges go by without writing a quick post about how much his collection of short stories, Ficciones, meant to me when I first read it at age eighteen. I was spending the summer after my freshman year with a friend on the Greek island of Spetses. Her family had rented a beautiful, secluded house, with stone steps leading down to the Mediterranean Sea. I don’t know who owned the...
Read MoreAbout Me
Hi! I'm Lena, a young adult fantasy author from Toronto.