authors, writing

Profread One Least Time

In submitting a manuscript to an American publisher last week, I wrote a cover letter mentioning that one of my books (All Good Children) was nominated for two YALSA awards. I read through the letter and manuscript excerpt, made a few revisions, proofread it a final time, and was just about to send it off by email when I made a tiny last-minute… Continue reading Profread One Least Time

writers' markets, writing

Places for Young Writers to Publish – Updated January 2017

As promised... To the young Canadians out there who feel like their words are all dressed up with no place to go, here is a list of traditional publishing opportunities – print and online magazines - just for you. Remember, if you’re not ready to submit to a traditional publisher, you can self-publish your work on your own… Continue reading Places for Young Writers to Publish – Updated January 2017

writing

Freewriting

Freewriting is a practice I first learned about in Spilling Ink (A Young Writer’s Handbook by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter). It’s simple: Once a day, begin to write and don’t stop – don’t take that pen off the page or those fingers off the keypad - for five minutes. No thoughtful pauses to get… Continue reading Freewriting

books, Friday Fables, writing

Friday Fable: The writer and the Goodreads reviewers

You may have heard the old tale, The Bear and the Bees: One day a bear was rooting around in a fallen log where there just happened to be a beehive. One little bee was on her way home with some pollen when she spotted the nosy bear and stung him on the snout to chase him… Continue reading Friday Fable: The writer and the Goodreads reviewers

What's New, writing

Balls in the air

Did you notice the new blog name? I got an email from a total stranger asking if I was still alive and I figured it was time to get back to blogging and Facebook and all that putting-myself-out-there stuff. So here I came. And imagine my surprise when I saw that I'd given myself a deadline to… Continue reading Balls in the air