How it feels to have a book coming out (that nobody has read)
Upon announcing a Big Fancy Book Deal™, a certified Author-In-Training starts to hear some of the same things over and over. But no oft-heard reaction perplexes me more than: Obviously, this is a very kind, if unfounded, thing to say about me. And people say it all...
How to Flirt with a Shepherd in Ninth-Century Oxford
(I’m nailing that organic google searchability) Ah, December. The air is crisp. The Starbucks cups are red. We’re all packing our bags for our annual trip to the year 842 to celebrate the holidays with our families in the English...
Is “Woman” Sexist?
As a certified Internet User™, I’ve seen a lot of re-spellings of the word “women” recently. Wimmin, womyn, and womxn Womxn, in particular, aims not just to deemphasize the suffix -man but to specifically include transgender people and people of color, which...
Grammatical Alley-Oops: Quotations Marks
In rewriting my book for the seventeenth time, I realized that I will go to extreme lengths to avoid certain difficult rules of grammar and syntax. I would rather rewrite the whole paragraph than choose between “It is me” and “It is I.” For the record, it’s...
“When can I read your book?”
A year and a half ago, I sold my first two books to a publisher. People asked, mostly: What’s the title? Oh, awkward, we’re retitling it so I don’t know yet!What’s the cover? Oh, oops, so I won’t see the cover until closer to the release.Is it written? Yes! It’s...
So You Graduated College and Want to Read Again…
My fellow 2018 grads keep asking me for book suggestions. First, *confetti*. I am delighted, comma, honored that you think I can recommend a book you'd like. Second, I am delighted, comma, heart-warmed that you are interested in reading again. You know, now that you...
An update on life, lit*, and the pursuit of happiness
*By which I mean literature, not, like, “Suh dude, lit party.” Though in my opinion, books are also pretty lit. Hi friends! Well, we’re here. Four months after college graduation, and I’m finally doing that “life update” all my friends did in June. Oops. And what a...
Pitch Wars 2018 Wishlist!
Who are you? Hello! I’m Laura. I write YA fantasy and I want to mentor your manuscript! If you’re not familiar with Pitch Wars, go check it out here. Essentially, it’s a writing competition/community/event that helps writers edit their manuscripts and connect with...
Writing Character Motivation
For more on writing motivated characters, check out this post on the difference between internal and external motivations. All my favorite stories are character-driven. Oh, sure, you can write an action-packed tale of car chases and dragon slaying and all the...
How to Write a Query Letter
So you want to write an epic query letter, hmm? I queried 24 agents. Those queries turned into 17 full or partial requests. Those requests turned into four offers of representation (and a fifth request for more reading time, but I was so in love with Danielle that I...