My career has felt like a long series of searches, and nothing is ever illuminated until I am practically standing right on top of it. Trying to get published, to get an agent, in the beginning, was crushing. I slipped back in my archives to see if I should share a post, found something painful, … Continue reading Finding My Place
rejection
The Surprises, the Failures, the New Chapters in This Author Life
When I entered the YA world in 2010, with the impending publication of Imaginary Girls (before that I didn’t feel a welcome part of it because my debut was middle-grade), I looked around at all the authors and thought there was one single kind of career to aspire to, the Best Kind, and of course … Continue reading The Surprises, the Failures, the New Chapters in This Author Life
Using Pinterest to Inspire (and Get a Peek at 17 & GONE if You’re Curious!)
You may think I've found a new distraction to share with you (distraction no. 100? surely by now we've gone long past 100 distractions and are into the thousands). But no! Thanks to Kelly Jensen's recent post on Stacked on "Books, Reading, and Pinterest," I decided to give Pinterest a try. She sent me an … Continue reading Using Pinterest to Inspire (and Get a Peek at 17 & GONE if You’re Curious!)
Shredding the Old to Celebrate the New
Last night—while I probably should have been writing—I was home in the too-tiny apartment I share with E and I tripped over a carton of books I'd left on the floor because there was nowhere else to put it. This carton contained my author copies of Imaginary Girls. Another carton had been sitting on the … Continue reading Shredding the Old to Celebrate the New
One Month from BOOK, and One Person Who Believed in Me
Today is May 14, which isn't a holiday per se, but it does mean we are now one month exactly from the pub date of Imaginary Girls. In lieu of telling you how anxious and insecure I've been the closer we get to the pub date—I've deleted a whole post I was writing about this—I … Continue reading One Month from BOOK, and One Person Who Believed in Me
Before the Novel was THE Novel
Today, there was a click-through to my blog from an old post I wrote here in 2008. That post was about Imaginary Girls (formerly called Mythical Creatures, so in the old post I called the novel "M"), which I had just begun rewriting from scratch. At this point, I had no idea what would come … Continue reading Before the Novel was THE Novel
The First Yes of 2011
My first yes of 2011 came early this week. I'd been hoping, quietly hoping, that I'd get a call from a writers colony telling me a space had opened up for me. I was well aware what an impossible feat this would be, but I also knew what a gift it would be for the … Continue reading The First Yes of 2011
The Last Yes of 2010
The year 2010 ended for me on a yes. Yesterday afternoon, on the last day of 2010, I got into a writing-something I'd applied to! I'll reveal more once I'm sure it's happening. But let's just say it involves some foreign travel and if you have any suggestions for travel grants for writers please let … Continue reading The Last Yes of 2010
The Race No One’s Running
I used to be in a race. With every writer I knew. With writers who had no idea who I even was. With you. With myself. I thought I was running toward something and that I had to get there, or else. And I thought how long it took actually determined my worth as a … Continue reading The Race No One’s Running
Up in the Air
I've been hearing a lot of maybes lately. With a volunteer position I applied for, with residencies... I'm not surprised that I'm not getting unequivocal yeses, but I do like to know what's happening, you know? For now, I look ahead at the year 2011 and have no worldly idea what to expect from it. … Continue reading Up in the Air
