Before I vanish a train ride away from the city for a secret writing rendezvous, I wanted to tell you about some things coming up in October. 1: LITERARY BLOG RELAY I’m a part of a literary blog relay called “Transformation”—and it’s already begun! Go check out the first leg and read Christine Lee … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Wandering the Streets of Manhattan, Thinking Thoughts
I’m back from wandering the streets. Before I went wandering, in the morning my writing group met—I don’t know what to call it; it’s a “writing group” in the simplest of ways: We get together in a group once a week; we write. We’re each writing separate things—a nonfiction book, a screenplay, a play, an … Continue reading
The Unmuddying of the Idea
I know I only just finished the first draft of a novel, but while I take a break from working on that one, while I wait for revision, it’s the perfect time to play around on Tumblr—kidding—it’s actually the perfect time to try to articulate ideas for another book. It’s the articulation part of this … Continue reading
I’m Auctioning a Manuscript Critique for Hurricane Irene Flood Relief
If you’re writing a young adult or middle-grade novel and would be interested in a critique from me on 30 pages—or your first two chapters, whichever you prefer—you can bid on the critique from me in the Read for Relief lit auction. Bidding starts now and ends Friday, September 16th, at 10:00PM EST. The auction … Continue reading
First Draft Aftermath
I finished the first draft of my new novel late last week and turned it in. This will be my second book with Dutton, but I’m going to keep myself quiet about what it’s called and what it’s about until I’m deeper into the process. We haven’t even started revising yet, so who knows… This … Continue reading
Rescue IMAGINARY GIRLS
…writing this post while also trying to finish the first draft of my novel and fdfdskl my brain can’t make the words sound pretty. This’ll be quick: So you’ve heard about Borders closing, surely. If you live near a closing Borders, you’ve probably seen there are mere days left and the sale is now up … Continue reading
confessions / fiction / first-drafting / novels / writing
Every Novel Is Its Own Distinct and Distinctly Flawed Animal
Writing a novel once—or twice, or four times if you count the adult novels I never published, or eight times if you count the work-for-hire novels written under fake names—does not necessarily mean you understand how to write a novel. Writing workshops didn’t prepare me for writing novels. (Mostly we focused on short stories.) Reading … Continue reading
