Lately on Twitter, I’ve seen many hopeful authors announcing they’ve finally gotten some kind of request from a query. Though the most excitement stems from “full requests” (meaning an agent has requested to read the full manuscript), even partial requests are a cause for celebration. And… Yeah. I think authors need to embrace even small victories. But I fear, based
I was thinking… Well, I was feeling a little bit irritated, really, about the way a few things had turned out. But that’s neither here nor there, except that these musings brought a certain clarity to me about how the publishing industry has shifted the bulk of the work onto authors. These thoughts came about, as many often do, during
I’ve finally finished the major arcana, at least! Click here for the PDF.
Last night I dreamt about Anne Rice. I don’t normally dream about people who have passed away, so I always take note when I do. In this dream, Anne and I were traveling together—I recall passing a cemetery, in fact—to a school, I think? I remember a school being involved in some way, and there being difficulty about how to
What did I accomplish in 2021? Well, I released a couple books. Went on a couple family vacations (remember those?). And tried to make peace with my health. In spring of 2021, our schools reopened with a reduced schedule. Kids who wanted to continue learning from home could do so, but all three of our kids wanted to go back.
Um… I’ve read a lot of rave reviews for this movie. And I’ve also read a lot of reviews talking about how great it is to see with a crowd. But my experience jibed with neither of these sentiments. It was a packed house, to be sure. But a number of the people sitting nearby decided to pull their phones
As often happens, a question arises on social media (in this case, Twitter) and I spend way too much time answering it via a long thread. So I thought I’d also put it all here in a handy, dandy blog post. Does anyone read blogs anymore? Well, just in case someone does, here’s the setup: I admitted that I once
I was featured on The Authors Show, an Internet radio program. Click here to listen to me talk about The Ghosts of Marshley Park. (You will need a program that can play an mp3, such as Quicktime.)
A few weeks ago, I received a wondrous package in the mail: a cameo from Wonderland by Hand, accompanied by some amazing hand-drawn illustrations. (You can view the unboxing on my TikTok or my YouTube.) Such cool stuff moved me to ask the creators at WbH—mom and daughter team Jude and Larissa—a few questions:. MPL: Your website mentions you are
This is just a story in which I try to make sense of, or come to terms with, yet another disappointment. Late last year into early this year, I was querying agents with THE GHOSTS OF MARSHLEY PARK. I got such great feedback, and yet… ultimately, no one took it. Most of the feedback boiled down to: This is great,