Rachelle Gardner

“When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.” I’ve been reassessing my client list and workload lately, and have had to make some tough decisions. I’ve decided to stop accepting queries until further notice. This could be two months or it could be the rest of the year.…

If you’ve been reading this blog long, you might know that I love reading memoirs. I almost always have one (or more) on my nightstand. I recently finished Lit by Mary Karr, Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor, and She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel. Love ’em. Can’t get enough. So imagine…

Kati Patrianoceu asked…Do you get tired of writing about the same things on your blog over and over? Do you enjoy writing dozens of blogs about good-and-bad-queries, or does it drive you nuts?I like writing the same things over and over. I like writing the same things over and over. I like writing the same…

Recently on the blog, Kelsey Sutton asked… I’d like to know why and how you began your career as an agent. Would you change any of your choices? Best and worst aspects of your job?Since many people express an interest in becoming an agent and ask me how to do it, I thought I’d explain…

Last week, guest blogger Camille Eide wrote about her first experience with a Revision Letter. Some of you may wonder, what exactly does that letter address? Simply put, it addresses whatever your particular book needs to make it the best it can be. But to be a little more specific, here is a rundown of…

A few days ago, a commenter on this blog wrote, The Xbox 360 is the greatest writing-avoidance device ever created. How many book ideas have died at the feet of “just one more game” of Guitar Hero, Mass Effect, or Bioshock? Well I wouldn’t know an Xbox if it dropped on my head, but it…

If you’re an unpubbed/unagented writer, then you probably know that writers’ conferences are a great place to meet agents and editors. But today I want to make clear: There are plenty of other good reasons to attend a conference – even if you already have an agent and/or a publisher. First, the workshops can be…

I’m teaching a webinar for Writers Digest this Thursday at 1:00 pm EDT (90 minutes). “Critique Series: Pitches and Queries” I will teach about crafting an effective pitch and query letter. Then I’ll do real-time critiques of query letters and pitches. Everyone who registers will be able to send a pitch ahead of time for…

I’ve received several questions lately about how to handle things when an agent calls (or multiple agents call) offering representation. How do you decide what to do? It’s exciting to get The Call, but it also means you’re going to want to find out as much as possible about the agent before agreeing to representation.…

I’m wondering if the plethora of publishing blogs and the wealth of advice available for aspiring writers is making it more difficult for you, rather than easier. It seems the more information and advice we give via our blogs, workshops, webinars and books, the more writers clamor for even more detailed advice. It also seems…

Cartoon from xkcd.com. Click for many more. Thanks to Rachel Held Evans for the link to the site! (Comments are closed.) .

Recently I visited the U.S. Olympic Training Center here in Colorado, one of only three in the nation, where elite athletes live and train full time. It’s like a college campus, but instead of classrooms there are different kinds of gyms for everything from martial arts to volleyball, gymnastics and weightlifting. In order to qualify…

I was wondering… if I go on vacation for almost two whole weeks and I never Tweet or post to Facebook about it, did it really happen? If I travel through six states, put 3500 miles on the SUV, and never mention it on my blog… was I ever really gone? And if I go…

(Re-post) Several people have asked me about “voice” lately. I’ll barely be able to scratch the surface because it’s a big topic, but let’s get started. What do we mean when we say we’re looking for “new voices”? What do editors mean when they say it’s the writer’s voice that captures them—or doesn’t? Let’s start…