This blog is no longer maintained, but it contains posts dating back to when I was first trying to get published, so I'm keeping it here in the hopes that it might help other aspiring writers.
Wisdomous Wednesday: Try Everything
Jun 01, 2011
One of my new goals moving forward is to become a more consistent blogger–I tend to let the blog grow cobwebs far too often! So as step one, I’m starting a weekly feature called (oh-so-creatively) “Wisdomous Wednesdays,” wherein I will share tidbits I’ve gleaned over the years about writing. It’s a bit cheeky, as they’d say in my other homeland of Australia, given that I barely know what I’m doing myself on any given day, but hey. If we can’t pretend to be wisdomous now and then, then why are we writers? I can only share what works for me, but if even one other writer out there finds something in here that’s useful, then I say huzzah!
Transitions
May 23, 2011
Almost exactly one year ago, I got on a plane to fly to Australia. I had about 20,000 words of a new book, a lot of emotional baggage, and a metric ton of doubts. Not much to go on, really, but I knew I had to get moving on my dream of being a writer or I’d be waiting for something to happen to me forever.
FAQ: Do I Need an MFA?
May 20, 2011
A question I see pop up a lot from aspiring writers has to do with creative writing MFA programs, and whether they’re a necessary or even recommended step toward getting published. Someone just asked me this question the other day, and after I rambled at the poor girl for a while I realized that it was a subject on which I have a lot to say.
Suddenly I Know Things!
May 18, 2011
Firstly I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s congratulated me here on my blog or on Twitter or Facebook over the past week. It’s been overwhelming to see the kind of cheer and support this community gives. Just thank you, thank you. <3
Anyway! So today I got to do something I’ve always looked forward to as part of the author gig: talk to a group of students about books and writing. To be completely honest, though, I’ve always dreaded it almost as much as I’ve looked forward to it, because like many writers I’m a naturally somewhat shy person. Public speaking gives me the heebie jeebies. Plus, I don’t actually feel different on the other side of the book deal–who’s to say I know stuff now? What gives me the right to pretend I do? I even emailed my ninth grade English teacher, who I’m still friends with, to ask for advice. Turns out, though, that I didn’t really have anything to be worried about!
Big news!
May 11, 2011
How do I even start this post? I’ve even had months to sit on this and try to figure it out, and here I am on the day and I’m still at a loss.
I could write an entire novel about this announcement, but you know what? For once I’m just going to be concise and let the news speak for itself.
This:
Books That Make You Want to Quit
May 10, 2011
Do you ever finish reading a book and just want to throw it across the room and cry and never touch paper/keyboard again, because you’ll never be that good? I was chatting the other day with my friend Caitlin about this–“So good you just want to kill yourself,” was the way she put it, though with her it’s film and animation and opera that gets her. I always end up with this unbearable desperation when I read a book like that, this fury and passion bubbling up inside me where I want to dive into my chair and write until my hands fall off, and simultaneously move away and change my name and never think about writing again.
Why YA?
May 07, 2011
Sometimes when I have the “What do you do/I’m a writer/Oh, what do you write/Books for kids” conversation with new people, I get a Look that I’ve come to recognize. It’s the “Oh. For kids. So not real books” look. (It’s similar to the “Oh, fantasy” look, but that’s another blog post.) I always find it amusing–and a little sad–because it makes me realize that these people have forgotten what it was like to read books when they were a kid.
Miscellany!
Apr 21, 2011
I’m about to head out to the wilderness (a well-established camp site on a beach) to camp out (stay in a massive tent and sleep on an air mattress) which will mean, gasp, that I will have no internet for the next five days! So I will post a few miscellaneous things today, and be back with you next week.
Is the end nigh for end-of-the-world fiction?
Apr 19, 2011
The other day my friend Ellen pointed me toward an article on Tor.com by Scott Westerfeld discussing the reasons he felt dystopian fiction–or “dyslit,” as he calls it–is so popular among young adults right now. (He also talks about post-apocalyptic fiction, as it often gets lumped in with dystopian.) It’s a great read, so definitely go check it out. Of course, it made me ponder why I think dystopian fiction is popular, but since I’ve already written about that, it might be time to talk about why I feel it will stay popular.
I return from the grave!
Mar 15, 2011
Only hopefully not, you know, zombified or anything.
So this blog has been a bit of a ghost town lately, to the point where it took me fifteen minutes to remember my password. Whoops. It’s been a weird couple of months, and unfortunately I don’t have much of a better explanation! For one thing, though, I’ve been buried in revisions, which for me involves of a lot of self-loathing “What the heck were you thinking?!” I know this is not the healthiest approach. Me and my internal editor are working on being nicer to each other. It’s a process. 😉