I've been a writer all my life. I wrote letters a lot when I was growing up. No one called long distance unless it was an emergency. Then I read the book, Anne Frank - A Diary of a Young Girl. So I got a diary and wrote. In fifth grade, my teacher chose me to write an article for the local newspaper that featured my byline and picture. In high school, I had study hall, and used most of the time to write bad poetry and more. Usually about what I wanted in life, or my feelings and thoughts....
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I sent the completed manuscript of my cozy mystery, A Dream Of A Murder, to my publisher recently. But I'm still thinking of things I could have added/deleted to make it better. That's an author's life. It's easy to fall into the "just one more round of edits" treadmill. I 'finished' that manuscript back in November 2024. I set myself a goal to get it done by the end of that month. and I wrote forward daily, even during Thanksgiving, to get it finished. I wrote over 15,000 words! The only way...
Hello, my friends! I thought I knew almost everything I needed to know about the book publishing business. I know now that I KNOW NOTHING! To be honest, I'm a relative newbie at this, and I thought that since I'd attended dozens of webinars on getting a book published, I was smarter than the average inexperienced author. After all, I'd self-published a book and managed that rather well. I knew how to format a print and ebook, design or shop for a premade cover, and I knew my way around KDP...
When I completed my book, A New York Lady In Helldorado, I was determined to get a Literary Agent and a Publishing deal. I self-published my first book, but getting it noticed was difficult and expensive. I researched how to acquire an agent and looked up examples of query letters that got results. I went to work and wrote a query. And another. I researched agents who represented my genre and sent letters I was sure would bring me success. Nothing. No reply, not “this stinks”, no “drop dead”....
When one decides to be a ‘writer’, there are many things to consider. I thought I needed to have a certain amount of literary skill, a creative mind and a disciplined personality. But that, dear friends, is not the half of what one needs to be a writer in today's world.
I set up my workspace in my home and was grateful for a quiet place to work. Son Todd put the desk together and son Aaron put the chair together. Husband Larry built a beautiful bookshelf that accomodates a small printer and...
The first time I met him in 1881, I was so excited. And so scared. As a twenty-year-old schoolteacher recently arrived from New York, I was more naïve than I owned. I assessed this man of whom I knew so little. He was tall and lean, made of grit and sinew, without an ounce of fat. The angles of his face were sharply unyielding, and I felt a little afraid of his imposing appearance.
Within days, I was sitting across from him at our dining table. I was here because Papa needed my help. I wavered...