NaNoWriMo -

Right down to the deadline (11/30), but I did my 50K words–maybe 30K of which are any good–for the National Novel Writing Month challenge. I even got a badge. The NaNoWriMo organization also offers badges for a couple dozen categories, like Pantser, or Planner (do you write

Another full MS request

Whoo-hoo again. Got a third request from an agent for my Losing Normal manuscript. Balanced against that are the fifty-one unanswered queries and the thirty-six “thanks, but no thanks.” Keeps my head from getting too big for my hat.

The Writers' Digest Novel Writing Conference, 2017

I went to the Writers’ Digest Novel Writing Conference in Pasadena. I was pleasantly surprised. My  first writing conference was disappointing. That con—which shall not be named, in case I get invited to the next one to speak—was more of an opportunity for vendors to sell stuff than

Hi-Desert Star article

Finally!   Our local paper’s interview about me.

Fun with queries

Whoo-hoo! Got my SECOND request from an agent for a full manuscript of “Losing Normal,” my YA-soon-to-be-MG novel.

Useful writing tool

Writing TV, you’re always outlining. You have to make it the right length, figure out the act breaks, and make sure you have an act-ending hook to bring ’em back after the commercials. Books, not so much. Some people do detailed outlines, some wing it (seat-of-the-pants writing). I go

Local News

The Hi-Desert Star, our local paper, interviewed me about my writing career. Here’s the article.  I vacillate between feeling all cool and superior to reminding myself, “big fish, small pond.” Not that I have anything against small ponds: we have one in our yard that, while it has no

SCBWI - Los Angeles

I attended the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in LA last weekend. Being an old cynic, I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of writing cons I’ve been to seem to want to sell you stuff: websites, consulting, self-publishing kits, and so on. Not here. This was

Interesting dream

I was in a room with a crowd of people I didn’t know. A guy stepped away from the crowd and pointed his finger at a book, leaning on edge against a wall. He waved his hand and the book slid behind a piece of furniture, hidden. “Wow. Telekinesis!

Same ol' lesson, every time

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, during the writing (and thinking about writing) of KillGirl. I tend to agonize and fret about how I’m writing badly, or I’m out of ideas for this or that part of the book. Then I go sit at my

Social media 101

Here’s a chart showing the importance of the most influential social media–Facebook, Twitter, Instagram–as related to search engine visibility. Of course, if you don’t have a blog, it’s of little importance to you. But it might encourage you to start blogging. by johnmnelson. Explore more

SoCal Writers Conference, continued

Besides the workshops and Rogue Reads, the SCWC  was a great place to meet fellow writers. Oz Monroe liked my ten pages, and I got good feedback from John Rudolph of Dystel, Goodrich and Bourret. As an encouraging side benefit (more emotional than strategic), there were many writers there as

Southern CA Writers Conference

Spent the weekend in rainy (!) San Diego at the Southern California Writers Conference — SCWC — and I have to say it was very good. I learned a lot, met some wonderful, talented writers and writing experts, and got some great feedback on my book, Losing Normal. Among the best for me

Good, maybe great book for kid and YA writers

Those of you writing, or thinking about writing, a children’s or young adult book ought to read The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein. As the Amazon review says, it’s a “master class in writing children’s and young adult novels…

Great blog for querying writers

I discovered a great resource called QueryShark. There’s nothing I’ve found that’s quite like it. The blogger is Janet Reid, an agent with New Leaf Media. Her blog is http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/, but the site I found most useful is http://queryshark.blogspot.com/. There she

R.I.P. "The Story Store" - Long Live "Losing Normal"

After two-plus years of clinging to a title that I should have known wasn’t working 18 months ago, I finally let go of it. It wasn’t just that the title didn’t fit: the whole concept began to feel shoehorned in to another, very different story. I got

The Story Store - revised opening pages

Based on feedback and the PCCWW workshop, I’ve rewritten my first ten pages of The Story Store. You can read them here. Let me know what you think.

Relevant cartoon from the New Yorker

Sent by a friend…

PCCWW

Our condo. …or the Pacific Coast Children’s Writers’ Workshop. It’s a two half-day, one full day intensive, where we critique and get critiques on our work. A gorgeous location on Monterey Bay, south of Santa Cruz.  For some reason I am the only male writer among about 15

Fall writing workshop

I’m heading for Santa Cruz at the end of the month to take a three-day writing workshop, put on by the Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop. It was recommended by a long-time writer friend, Sheryl Scarborough, who’s attended and been on staff. Attendees get a chance to

New writing

I’ve added another chapter to my work-in-progress, KillGirl.

A Reader Response edit

I went to a writers conference in LA and met a freelance editor, Laura Garwood. She agreed to give The Story Store a read. What follows (here and in subsequent posts) are her observations, abbreviated for length. ==================== Thank you so much for entrusting me with The Story Store. I sincerely

KillGirl

While querying agents and publishers about The Story Store, I got started on a new book, KillGirl. You can read the first chapter here. Deborah is 15 when she becomes an assassin. I’ve written about 10K words for the book, and about 20K words of notes. Obsessive? Maybe a

The Story Store

After numerous requests — I think it was Andy who asked — I’ve decided to post the first pages of my book, The Story Store. I’ve been sending out queries and getting rejected — 41 and counting — but at the Chicago BookExpo, I met an editor for a big publishing house

BookExpo cont'd

Day 3. So many books! The publishers are waving them in our faces as we cruise the aisles, probably because attendance is down 20% from last year, and they don’t want to haul books back to wherever. Also, NY publishers don’t (apparently) want to come to Chicago, and