It has been my practice for the last 15 years to write every day—even if I only had a few minutes to spare. I was of the opinion that things get rusty if you don’t. I teach this to my students and I practiced what I preached. But in the lead-up to giving birth to my daughter late last year, I decided I would take a break. It was a conversation with a fellow creative type about some frustration on the business end of my career that steered me toward the trial and I thought, well, it’s a great time to see how I go without writing. Maybe I won’t want to do it anymore. Maybe I’ll be cured and I can move on.
ebooks
Hybrid Author Success: COVERS
Hybrid Author Success: COVERS
As a traditionally published author, one of the days I most dreaded was the one on which my agent would call and say something to the effect of, “Okay, don’t freak out. Your cover arrived and you might not like it,” or “Your cover arrived and you should think about it before you hate it,” or “This is the worst cover I ever saw but we can’t change it.”
On…Ummm…Articulation
Many of us have a word that often escapes our memories. Funny enough, the word I used to forget the most was “articulate.” People would laugh when I told them that, but it was so difficult to yank that word out of my brain that I wrote it down on the inside flap of a little notebook I used to carry around all the time. When I think back to that now, it seems symbolic of a larger issue.
Launch: Princess of Park Avenue ebook
Brand Spankin' New Cover
Dear readers new and old,
I am thrilled to announce the re-launch of one of my favorite backlist titles: PRINCESS OF PARK AVENUE, on sale NOW. For those of you who have become fans later in the game, I am calling this launch series, My ‘Dirty Literary History.’ The name is tongue in cheek and only an attempt to let you know that it’s a
The Year in Reading
Is it me, or has this been a year of fantastic novels? Right off the top of my head I can think of Night Circus, Before I Go to Sleep, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Sarah Thornhill, Room, and The Tiger’s Wife. There were so many wonderful stories, I’m sure I’ve had my best reading year in a long while. I deplore the arbitrary nature of lists, so I won’t get into that here (though if anyone wants to stick my book on one, I’m not going to pull a Jonathan Franzen), but I’ll also say I was pointed to a ton of vintage reads, either by recommendation, happy accident, by way of research (one book leads to another leads to another and so on), or simply scouring used bookstores or op shops.
Books Aren’t Good Enough
To me, this is perfection
I have a prediction: the public will soon be divided into two camps. On the one hand we’ll have these new technology enthusiasts, who not only love their ebooks, but can’t wait to see how the old skool words-on-a-page notion of books can be heightened, made more graphic, more interactive, more like a whole new category of technology—a mook or a boovie. And on the other hand will be people like me, who love books because they are in fact merely words-on-a-page that when done properly, can create a world all their own. People like me might be a minority, but we’ll catch momentum when the nostalgia trend peaks again, and it’s suddenly cool to be old skool.
