Lately, I’ve been spending much of my free time in the kitchen. I made up my mind to lean into probiotics by making things like brined pickles and sourdough bread. I also wanted to finally master cooking fish. It’s coming …
Creating Your Own Style Sheet
I was recently talking to Brittany Stonestreet, a friend who is finishing up her Masters in Publishing at the prestigious Emerson College in Boston. She mentioned she was just completing the style sheet for her newest YA novel. I
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A Retreat to Remember
I’m still jet-lagged from my cross-country flight home from Savannah, Georgia, but the afterglow of our eighth Books & Such Retreat has not begun to ebb. What is it about spending time with those who understand what our life is …
Avoid Character Labels
I read a fiction manuscript last week that described a character as a cripple. I winced when I read the word and stopped to think about why I had such an immediate revulsion. After all, it was historical fiction and …
How to Avoid the Historical Fiction Wall-Banger
Let’s talk about what makes an historical novel a wall-banger. That’s what author Elizabeth Chadwick calls the kind of book that annoys the reader enough to chuck it at the wall in disgust. Medieval mysteries have been my dessert reading …
New Year • New Challenge
Did you set a new challenge for the new year? A few months ago, I asked my primary care physician what I could do to remain cognitively sharp as I age, He’s a young guy and the best doctor I’ve …
Is There a Perfect Time to Submit?
Ever since I became an agent, I’ve been trying to figure out the rhythm of this industry— the perfect time to submit proposals. Every industry has “seasons” and because we agents are always trying to second-guess things, we are ever …
If Wishes were Horses. . .
Ever wonder what a literary agent wishes for? Let me tell you a few things I wish for on the last star of the morning or when I blow out the candles on the birthday cake.
Wish #1: That …
Work vs. Rest
It’s ironic that on the day we honor labor, I’m beginning a week of vacation. Well, not really vacation since I’m going nowhere. It’s important to recognize when we need a rest from labor. Our creative souls starve for adequate …
Brain Fitness
We writers have a challenging job. We try to eat healthy, drink water, move our muscles and improve our health to keep up with the pace of marketing and deadlines without flatlining along the way. All are important for fitness …