Writing your Novel: Common Mistakes to Avoid
Previously, I published a post on “How NOT to Start your Novel: Common Mistakes to Avoid.” That post is helpful for optimizing the first 5 pages of your manuscript, which is important if you are querying literary agents or editors. But let’s talk about issues I often notice in the body of unpublished manuscripts. I’m […]
Playlist Prompt #2: The Cowboy of Providence Senior Living Facility
It’s been a minute, but here is the second playlist prompt. It has more classic (mostly soft) country, with a very random Ed Sheeran. Here’s a link if you missed the first prompt, or just want to revisit it. Hope it inspires or amuses, and have fun writing! Playlist Prompt #2: The Cowboy of Providence […]
How NOT to Start your Novel: Common Mistakes to Avoid
When I read queries during my internship at the literary agency, I would often reject an author after the first sentence of the manuscript. That might sound harsh, but I learned that when I continued reading, my first instinct was nearly always right. If you’ve read my post “A Literary Agency: An Intern’s Perspective,” you […]
A Literary Agency: An Intern’s Perspective
In the summer of 2019, I was fortunate enough to intern remotely at a literary agency. Just to give you a sense of what it entailed, the bulk of my time was spent reading queries, evaluating partial and full manuscripts, writing reader reports, and maintaining publishing contacts. I also wrote a few editorial letters […]