Month: April 2015

  • Q&A: Have you experienced any challenges in writing for different age groups?

    Have you experienced any challenges in writing for different age groups?

    Ooh. Yes. YES.

    I won’t even say it’s confined to age groups. Different genres have different pros and cons, highs and lows, ups and downs, chunkies and creamies.

    Writing chapter books can be challenging because the intended readers aren’t seasoned readers (obviously, since they’re like 7). They haven’t yet learned a lot of what is essentially shorthand. So lots of dialogue tags, adverbs and adjectives, short snappy sentences and paragraphs, exclamation points, other explainy things.

    I had a similar learning curve with category romance. I tend to be a very plot-driven writer, and I had to go back to basics and learn how to come at a story from a character-driven perspective. So scary for me, since I look at outlines as security blankets, and it’s hard to map out feels beforehand and have them still be authentic. 

  • Q&A: how is your writing routine different now that you have an agent?

    how is your writing routine different now that you have an agent?

    Considering I’ve been agented all of 20 days, 17 of which were spent either bogged down in edits, recovering from edits, or barfing my guts out, my writing routine hasn’t changed all that much. 

    But based on the three days I’ve actually spent writing, I find I simultaneously have more time and less time than I did before. 

    I never realized how much time I spent querying, whether actively (sending things out) or passively (reading agent interviews, pitch tips, etc). So much of it had become habitual that I often find myself checking for emails that have already come, etc. I’m still in the process of reclaiming that time and allotting it elsewhere. 

    There’s also seems to be less time, because for now, at least, I’m hyper-focused on one particular flavor of book, whereas before I was more or less doing whatever I felt like doing whenever I felt like doing it. 

    There’s also that whole afraid-I’m-going-to-disappoint-everyone-slash-be-outted-as-a-writing-fraud thing, too. But I like to ignore that whenever possible.

  • Q&A: My bra is killing me. Thought you should know.

    My bra is killing me. Thought you should know.

    *puts on bra specialist hat*

    You’re likely wearing the wrong size. If you haven’t been professionally fitted for a bra in the past six months, you should go into your favorite lingerie store and ask a salesperson to measure you. Don’t worry about getting naked–it’s a simple measure that can be done over your street clothes.