Pretending to Blog
Seeing is Believing: Map and Manuscript
In June of 2019, in the middle of my writing retreat in western Massachusetts, I realized I had no idea where I was going. Well, not me but my characters. I was 80,000 words into my manuscript, characters were leaving the city in which much of the action takes place,...
Sneakers Greatest Hits and Sneakers Light
I’m faced with a challenge. A professional resource whose opinion I’ve come to trust advises that I need to cut another 7,000 to 9,000 words from my manuscript to avoid an automatic “too many words” deletion at the hands of prospective agents looking to work through a...
Want to Make Your Case in the New York Times?
Not all writing is just for fun and fiction. Sometimes you want to get another story out there, perhaps your view on some news of the day, community issue, or social concern (as you know, we're not hurting for those types of topics right now). When trying to get your...
Message in a Bottle
The September 13, 2020, episode of The Epic Pencil podcast is titled "Message in a Bottle" and shares the narrative of my experience at Sea Education Association, the titular message in a bottle, and the unexpected audience that it found. I'm happy to share some...
Panic Attack
“The wonderful thing about writing is that there is always a blank page waiting. The terrifying thing about writing is that there is always a blank page waiting.” ― J.K. Rowling “You’re having a panic attack. Write your way out of it.” “Thank you so much for your...
What’s in a name?
As I prepare to start the process of finding an agent and getting this labor of love published, I really started to think about with this novel, its sequels, and the quartet were to be called. LADY OF FIRE (the original name) and LADY OF FLAMES (the first tweak) were...