How to Find the Right Agent by Joelle Anthony

How to Find the Right Agent You don’t want just any agent; you want the one that’s right for you. By Joëlle Anthony When looking for an agent most writers ask the wrong question: “Where do I find the agents?” But you don’t want just any agent; you want the one that’s...

Do you hear what I hear?

Actually, I didn’t hear it, but if I had TV, and I’d known it was on, I could’ve watched ABC Family Chanel’s original Christmas movie called Snow 2 Brain Freeze and apparently in the bar scene (a bar scene in a family Christmas movie???), I...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

I’ve never been that good at math, and throw metrics into the mix and well…let’s just say I’ve had to go back to school. But I’m trying to be a good Canadian, so here’s what I think are approximately correct statistics for this...

Two hits, two busts…

One bust was an audio book. No need to mention it here as if you pick it up, you’ll know right away yourself. The second was a MG fantasy that came recommended. It was okay for a while, but honestly, it seemed like “and now I’m going to make up some...

No sugarcoating, please!

There are a few people out there who I have helped with writing hooks/pitches/queries who will probably think I got my comeuppance* yesterday. You see, if you ask me for help with your query, I am tactful but ruthless. After I sent my agent my new manuscript, he sent...

Launch Party

Sadly, not a launch party for my book (just yet, but trust me, there will be a big one someday!). Today I’m helping my husband, Victor Anthony* celebrate the launch of his new website. Visit him here. The actual URL is http://www.victoranthony.ca (note the .ca...

Facing The Past

When my book sold, my agent advised me to get on Facebook. He said it would be important later on with teens. He was probably just hoping I’d find some other people to email/chat with besides him! I’d actually had a Facebook account for six months or so,...

The Joy of Audio

I can’t remember if I’ve already posted a post about this or not. I know I wrote an article about how listening has improved my writing that got one rejection and I never bothered to send out again. Perhaps I should dust that off and try again. Anyway,...

Avalon High on audio

I read Avalon High by Meg Cabot when it first came out and I didn’t really like it that much. It was before I knew about her paranormal tendencies (!) and was looking for more Princess Diaries type stuff. Eventually I got totally hooked on The Mediator and the...

A plug & a quote

There’s lots of good stuff on Need To Read (although not all of it’s available yet). However, the following warrants front page on my site. My friend Eileen Cook’s debut YA novel will be out in a few weeks! Congratulations, E!!! It’s called...

ARCs and misc. book

As you may or may not know, I tried to take a week off reading last week. I lasted until Wednesday when I broke down and read: CHOPPING SPREE by Diane Mott Davidson – fun, as always! And then I held out until Friday when I listened to this: I AM AMERICA (and so...

Pastry Party Time!

I know y’all have been listening to me say for months, “I’m almost done with my WIP” only to have me come back later and say, “Umm…well, I read it and now I have a bunch more work to do…” And then I wrote here, “I...

A clarification

Hi All, I just wanted to say a quick word about the post below Hurry Up And Wait. When I wrote that yesterday, my intention was to compare the movie and publishing process favourably and humourously. My husband pointed out that it sounded a little like a subtle way of...

Hurry Up And Wait

When you’re involved in the filming of a movie, there is a saying, “Hurry up and wait.” It comes from the fact that as soon as you arrive, at the crack of dawn, or often before, you are rushed into action. Not movie action…”getting...

Food failures

As you know, I like to cook. Sometimes writing and cooking are a lot alike. Sometimes you are not quite sure what you’re doing but you have to trust that everything you add to the pot (story) will meld together into something fabulous. Other times…there is...

I love Monday!

Garfield I am not! I love Monday. I always have. I was the nerdy kid who loved school. In fact, at the Senior Awards Night in high school, I received an award certificate for missing less than 5 days of school in my entire four years there (and one of the days I did...

Friday 5 – Five Reasons I’m blogging…

…even though I’m supposedly on vacation. 1. OMG! I am sooooo relaxed bored! Here I am at the end of my vacation rope! Yeah, yeah…It is true I needed some time off, but a whole week? I took five days. Give me a break. I’m not a European who is...

Too Many Words

No…I’m not talking about the word count on my NOW FINISHED AND SENT OFF TO MY CRITIQUE GROUP MANUSCRIPT!!! Although, maybe after they read it, I might find that I do indeed have too many words. For now though, it is just right! Can I just say how good this...

A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSIBLE LIFE by Dana Reinhardt

Okay…I know I ALWAYS say this, but seriously, I mean it. This is the most incredible book!!!! I loved it!!! I actually listened to it on audio instead of reading it, because I was looking for some audio books at the library to listen to while I knit and it was...

Finding the Right Agent…

I am very excited to see that my latest article for SCBWI is now out in the new bulletin. It is called How To Find The Right Agent and is chock full of tips that I learned the hard way! But the most exciting thing for me was to see that they added a sidebar with my...

Betsy-Tacy and Meg Cabot

You all know I love the Betsy-Tacy books…just look at the background of my website. So the other day, I was chatting with Meg Cabot, okay, okay…I wasn’t “chatting” with her, but I had emailed her and she did email me back…anyway,...

Meeting “Molly”

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, or clicked the link about my book RESTORING HARMONY, you’ll know all about Sarah Tradewell and how she looks just like Molly (the main character in my book) and how I found out about her because of the magic of...

Crazeeee…that’s me…

I am revising. I thought I was almost done with this book, but after reading it, I saw that I needed to raise the stakes and so as I’m going through it again, I am adding and streamlining one particular facet of the story. Still, for the most part, this is a...