MY PUBLISHING JOURNEY

I am so thrilled that I am now represented by Maria Whelan from InkWell Management! It’s been seven years of writing seriously and 4.5 years of querying in the making. How did I get an agent? The short version: I queried Maria, I got a full request the next day, then I got an offer…

Through Author Mentor Match, I got a knowledgeable mentor, a revised manuscript, and insight to take with me as I work on future manuscripts. But there is one thing I got that I didn’t expect, and it ended up being one of the highlights of the program… A community! I know, it sounds kinda lame…

Part 2 in my AMM mini-series is about craft and my revision process. My mentor sent over a “Homework Schedule” (yay, writing homework!). It covered everything, such as voice, outlining, premise analysis, character development, beats, and so on. Each topic had videos and articles to go along with it, and I tackled each individual item…

Revising a manuscript can be TOUGH. I knew it wasn’t easy, but when my manuscript, TTYL, got selected for Author Mentor Match in January 2022, I wasn’t sure how difficult it could be. I buckled up for intense character development and plot outlines, and when my mentor pointed out some plot holes I thought, “Sure,…

I have some exciting news: I am officially an Author Mentor Match mentee! What is Author Mentor Match? According to their website: “Author Mentor Match (AMM) pairs aspiring writers with completed manuscripts with experienced authors for mentorship.” In other words, I get personalized help on my manuscript from an experienced and talented author, and I…

Throughout my publishing journey, I have met the most AMAZING authors! Everyone needs a support system for when they hit those plot holes, are deep in the querying trenches, and when they publish their first book. On my journey, I met the wonderful Chelsea Lauren. She is the author of Creatures Most Vile, a spooky…

Every age range, every genre, has a target word count you should aim for. It can be a pain in the butt, and there are outlier, but it’s industry standard: Adult fiction: 80-100k Sci-Fi & Fantasy: 90-120k Romance: 50-100k Crime/Mysteries/Thrillers/Horror: 70-90k Young adult: 50-80k But, when my finished my adult fantasy manuscript, it was 160,000…

When I wrote my first draft, I had an outline, character sheets, and everything I needed to get going. But once it was on paper, it lacked the magical appeal I saw in my head. I knew the story could be stronger. So, I stopped writing it before I even wrote the ending. All I…

Drafting your manuscript is fun, but you can’t forget the most important step: editing! Whether you hire an editor, get feedback from a beta reader, or get an edit letter from an agent or publisher, you’re going to have to digest the information. These are the steps I take to whip my novel into tip…

I took on the mother of all writing sprints: National Novel Writing Month. A.K.A. NaNoWriMo. It’s the event where you attempt to write 50k words throughout the month of November. It can be a challenge, full of distractions and writers block, but it’s also a great way to develop the habit of writing. I recorded…

Mentorship Contests are big in the writing community. They’re a great way to find a mentor or an editor to whip your manuscript into shape. Who wouldn’t want that? The chance of winning may be slim, but these contests offer SO MUCH more than winning mentorship! Watch my video to find out how to get…

Unleashing your writing into the world is hard, but necessary! As a writer you need to get feedback because… Others will catch things you can’t Discover how your work is perceived by others Make connections and friends Keep you in the writing mindset What to do with feedback: Take what you think makes sense, but…

April means #CampNaNoWriMo! Camp Nano is a virtual writing retreat driven by your own writing goals. Watch my video to learn more, and to find out what I did to prep my new novel for the event. I’m going to light a fire and get typing!

The goal of PitMad is to write such an amazing book pitch that literary agents around the globe want to know more about it. They’ll tap/click that little heart, validating your idea is decent, and wait for your query letter and pages to hit their inbox. But… how do you gain the interest of a…

It’s the end of a decade, which naturally means the start of a new one. It’s often viewed as a blank slate, like a blank piece of paper waiting for a novel to be put onto it. For us writers, we know how difficult it is to put a new story down on a blank…

This year for #NaNoWriMo2019, I chose to write multiple short stories with the goal of honing my writing ability. To do that, I did a few different things: I wrote a short story in first person, when I usually write in third. I’m often times too dialogue heavy, so I wrote two characters who spoke different…

I DID IT. I submitted my query letter for my novel, THE GAME OF SENET. Watch my video to see what steps I took before submitting, along with what I included within the letter and how I’m going to play the waiting game.

You’ve done it! You’ve written an amazing novel! …Now what? Well, in a nutshell, you need to get people to read it. When I started doing research on how to get published–and from my experience in marketing–I kept finding the same thing: build an audience. If I build an audience, I’m creating potential readers. Obviously,…

Hi! I’m going to chronicle my journey in getting published. To make this first blog post not completely worthless, I’ll kick off this category right here! Let’s start with what I did before needing to find a publisher: I wrote it! The Game of Senet is the first legit book I’ve written (I’m not counting…