Anna Staniszewski

Categories: Writing Rants

• Post-Revision Crash

  On Monday afternoon, I finished reading through my fairy tale revision one last time and decided it was finally ready to send off to my agent. After it was out of my hands, I was excited and exhausted all at the same time. And that was the beginning of what I’ve been calling the “post-revision

• Starting Your Story in the Right Place

  The other day I picked up a book I’d been looking forward to reading for a while. Sadly, I couldn’t even get past the first chapter. The first few pages were almost all description of the setting and of characters we hadn’t met yet. After that, the narrative launched into an extended flashback; it felt

• WIP Update: Working Through Distraction

  I’ve been a little distracted recently. Between book deal excitement and new dog excitement and it’s-so-hot-my-brain-is-melting excitement, my WIP has been a tad neglected. But this week I decided enough was enough: I was going to work on my retelling if it killed me.
  Monday was hard. I couldn’t stop checking my email every two seconds

• How It Happened

  One of the things people have been curious about with MY UN-FAIRY TALE LIFE is the process of writing it and finding a publisher.  It’s a bit of a winding story, so pull up a chair and kick back. Here it is, the (somewhat long) story of my funny little book.
  The Story is Born
  Way back

• WIP Update: Doh!

  Last week I posted about the game of 20 Questions my friend and I played with my WIP. The session was immensely helpful and got me excited to work on the story again. On top of that, my friend offered to read part of my story to help me figure out if I’m on the

• Characters Aren’t Action Figures

  Yesterday, I was talking to a friend online about my WIP. Well, “talking” isn’t really the right word – “whining about” is more accurate. I was telling him how stuck and uninspired I’ve been feeling. After he asked me some questions about my story and my characters, I finally realized this: “Sometimes it feels like

• Giving Yourself Permission to Take a Break

  So I’m back from NYC, tired and rejuvenated at the same time. We did all kinds of fun things like biking around Central Park and watching the World Cup with a bar full of strangers. I didn’t write a word all weekend and you know what? That was absolutely fine. What’s funny is that ordinarily,

• WIP Update: Stuck in the Muck

  Things have been a bit sluggish with my WIPs recently. I’d hoped to get my fairy tale revision done by June 15th but things haven’t quite worked out that way. I know which areas need work, but figuring out how to fix them has been a bit daunting. I finally went back to doing some

• Finding Your Middle Grade Voice

  In a recent post on Children’s Writing and Illustrating, David Caruba shared some of his “State of the Children’s Book Publishing Industry” presentation from this year’s NJ-SCBWI conference. There was lots of great info there, but what really stood out to me was his report on the middle grade market.
  Middle grade stories remain strong, although

• Should You Write Every Day?

  Brian Yansky has an interesting post about the importance of writing every day. He states that “getting to the ‘writing place’ where you can pour out words is easier if you open that door every day.” Even a snippet of daily writing time, he says, is better than nothing.
  When I’m working on something new,