Category: Blog

Upcoming Book Alert: Hidden by Megg Jensen

While I’m still a huge fan of traditional publishing, I’m also all for the opportunities that are now available for those who want to go it alone. And as an editor, I’m impressed and admire those indie authors who go the extra mile to make their books professional. Megg Jensen is one such author, which is…
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Eight Ways to Keep Up Your Writing Momentum with Anna Staniszewski

Today I’m thrilled to have a guest post by Anna Staniszewski, author of My Very Unfairy Tale Life and its sequels, My Epic Fairy Tale Fail and the latest, My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending (check out the trailer below). Anna’s got another series starting in January, The Dirt Diary. With all those words in print,…
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2013 Debut Author Bash: Claire M Caterer

There’s nothing more inspiring than debut authors, which is why I’m thrilled to be part of the 2013 Debut Author Bash, organized by YA Reads. Today I’ve got a wonderful guest post by Claire M. Caterer, whose debut book is the middle-grade adventure The Key & the Flame, published by Simon & Schuster imprint Margaret…
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Creating Brilliant Places to Write: The Writing Barn

There are many wonderful things about being a writer in the Austin, Texas, community, and one of the best is The Writing Barn. I admit I’m biased. The Barn was created by my brilliant friend and author Bethany Hegedus (Between Us Baxters). But no one can leave The Writing Barn without being just a little…
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Yellow Bird Editors and Self-Editing

For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the editors at the new editing service Yellow Bird Editors. The company’s moto is “Stand Out. Get Published.” And in today’s market, writers need to stand out more if they’re going to rise to the top and get published. As Foreward Literary agent and founder…
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Interview with Kimberley G. Little, author of When the Butterflies Came

I’m always up for promoting wonderful authors, so when I heard about the Summer Author Blitz, I jumped on the chance to participate. The Summer Author Blitz is organized by Belle Whittington and Tabatha Perry of the Montgomery County Book Festival. Thanks, guys! And there will be a Twitter party for the #2013SummerAuthorBlitz on July…
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Summer Author Blitz

It’s a Summer Author Blitz! Yes, that’s right. A bunch of incredibly great authors, giving tips, answering questions and generally being awesome on a variety of blogs. What could be a better way to spend the summer than reading every one of them? I’ll be participating on Monday, July 8, when I’ll have a great…
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Inspiration at the Austin SCBWI Conference

At the Austin SCBWI conference last weekend, author/illustrator E.B. Lewis pointed out that writers and and illustrators are the same people, all trying to create art the captures peoples’ imagination. Whether we’re using paint or words, we’re both making pictures that tell stories. And those stories have to have a few things to be successful:…
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Character and new agent Alexandra Penfold

In her first event as an agent, former Simon & Schuster editor Alexandra Penfold spent a weekend teaching writers about character, and I was thrilled to be among them. After an impressive career in book publishing, Alexandra moved to the other side of the desk this year, accepting an agenting position at Upstart Crow Literary.…
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Secret of Success: Make Goals and Achieve Them

It’s a new year and that means a perfect opportunity to set goals. As well as the lose the Christmas pounds and floss more goals, consider setting goals for your writing. I’m not talking about big goals, like get an agent or publish a book. You’re always working toward those. But before you can achieve…
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