Got a phone call from the teachers’ union president. Again encouraging me to withdraw from this school board election—how? I’m on the ballot—and run again in 2026. Because “there’s a very good chance” I’d get their endorsement then. But in the meantime, they are so worried about splitting the vote, so worried about the one conservative candidate getting a seat,
Yet another Twitter (or X, if you prefer) post asking about paying for a manuscript edit before querying and whether it (a) makes the story better and/or (b) increases your chances of landing an agent. Way back when (and I remember those days because I’m old), you could send a manuscript off to an agent and, if they saw potential
I have a bad habit of trusting people. Of stepping up when asked to do so. A neurotic need to help. And it bites me every time. In this particular instance, it got me dragged into local politics. So here is my story from start to, well, current. On February 25, 2024, a current school board trustee named Kristie reached
I’ll say it again: the onus of the cost of creation is shifting towards the creators. Which means that marginalized voices are becoming even further excluded because they cannot afford to create. Used to be, a writer came up with a book, or a play, or a film script, and sold it to people willing to invest in it. The
I’m about to say things that will probably make people angry. Keep in mind I am writing from my personal experience and observations. Yours may be very different! And I would love to hear about them, so long as you remain respectful. Let’s start with why I left screenwriting and chose to focus on books instead. To get a film
Because this subject has blown up recently, and I have feelings about it. I’ve never read a book with a playlist printed in it. I doubt I read the kinds of books and/or authors that would feel compelled to include a playlist. So… yeah. There’s something somewhat juvenile about that, something that (to me) screams “newbie author.” High school mix
The house we moved into after our first child was born was haunted. We didn’t know it when we bought it, but it became clear not long after. It was a split-level ranch, which on its own probably should have alerted us. When you walked through the front door, one flight of steps to the right went up and another
I have been informed by my teens that proper punctuation in texts is seen as passive-aggressive. Sadly, I simply cannot stop myself from typing full words and using punctuation (unless I’m trying to be funny). So, while I acknowledge my feels on these may be old-fashioned, and understand that the point of any communication is to get one’s meaning across,
A year or so ago, I was encouraged to make an “arrow chart” of each of my books. If you’re an author or reader, you know what this is: an image (often animatic) showing the book with a bunch of arrows describing the tropes in the story. I suck at this kind of thing, but I tried. (The animatic one
Someone posted a question on Twitter (X) earlier that caught my eye: What do you think of publishers that don’t offer distribution to bookstores? My immediate gut reaction was, “Nope.” Now, to be fair, my husband will tell you “nope” is my default setting. So I paused to read a few responses. Many requested clarification in that there is a