I’m a total over-thinker which can be a good thing while I’m brainstorming a project idea, but when it comes to actually writing, sometimes I totally psych myself out. The other day, I ventured out to the Writers’ Loft for some much-needed writing time. Since I’d driven 40 minutes to be there, I was determined [...]
Copy edits for MY SORT OF FAIRY TALE ENDING are done! What do I do with myself now, you ask? Why, draft another book, of course! As I go ahead with the next project, I’ll be keeping in mind the advice I’ve found myself sharing with my students quite a bit recently: Give your character [...]
(If you have a minute, check out an interview with yours truly over at the GroggSpot.) I’m happy to report that I sent UnFairy 3 to my editor yesterday. Woohoo! Even though this was supposed to be a “first draft,” the publishing schedule is pretty tight, so I wanted to get the initial draft nice [...]
You know when you send your manuscript to a beta reader, hoping to get small comments back? And instead, you get feedback that makes you realize you still have a long way to go? Yup. That’s what happened to me this week. I’m grateful to have such honest beta readers who point out when things [...]
Reminder: Today is the last day to enter the Super Sourcebooks Giveaway! It’s the end of the semester, which means that I need to put aside revising for a little while and focus on reading papers, grading, etc. Luckily, I managed to get UnFairy 3 ready to send to one of my beta readers last [...]
First, just a small “Eek!” because I found out MY EPIC FAIRY TALE FAIL is now up on NetGalley. That means people could be Reading It Right Now! So scary and exciting! Okay, so as I’ve been revising UnFairy 3, something about the opening chapters has been bugging me. Finally, I created a spreadsheet that [...]
Yesterday, as I was combing through my draft of UnFairy #3, I realized that I was severely under-using the setting in the story. I’d sort of sketched in the setting, but I hadn’t really developed it or thought about the history behind it. Finally, it occurred to me that I could use the setting to [...]
My brain is going every which way today, so here are some random thoughts for you: -I’m over at YA Outside the Lines today talking about drafting UnFairy 3 and the power of smiley faces. -I just finished Hysteria by Megan Miranda (via NetGalley). It was a fantastic read. I really enjoyed her first book, [...]
On Friday afternoon, I finally typed “The End” on the initial draft of the third UnFairy book. (I’m not calling it a “first draft” since I did revise along the way.) After I put the draft aside, I was already thinking of things I would need to fix. Now that I’m organizing my revision plan [...]
Last week, I sent a new picture book manuscript to my writing group with the note that I needed help making the story feel special enough. After our meeting on Monday, I came away with some ideas on how to punch up the story so that it will stand out and be memorable. I realized [...]