Rachelle Gardner

It’s Friday and I am one tired puppy. I’m not even going to rant today… YOU are. But first, a few odds and ends. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little weary of all the bad news recently (especially the economy). To put things in perspective, here’s a quote from John Wesley in…

Phew! Those last three days of posts were intense! I enjoyed talking with you about elevator pitches, but I gotta tell ya, that was a lot of work. So today’s post will be brief. I want to say a few words about my new favorite way to waste boatloads of time stay connected with people.…

I hope you’re learning something from this 3-day tutorial on elevator pitches. (I promise, agents and editors will appreciate your efforts!) Today let’s talk about the process of crafting the elevator pitch. I think your best chance for success is to take it seriously as a multi-step process (because I know you have nothing else…

So, how did you do on your self-critiquing? Some of you offered astute rewrites. Way to go! Today I’m going to give you a few more hints about elevator pitches. → Always be prepared. You never know when you’re going to come across someone who will ask, “So what’s your book about?” At conferences, there…

It has come to my attention that I’ve failed you. I asked you to send elevator pitches, without previously teaching you about elevator pitches. Mea culpa, mea culpa. I’ll try to make up for it over the next three days by giving you lots of tips about how to craft a successful pitch. (I won’t…

Okay guys, work with me here. Close your eyes (AFTER you read this post). Imagine you’re at a writer’s conference, waiting for the elevator up to your hotel room. The agent of your dreams walks up and stands beside you. He/she smiles and says “Hi.” You manage to return a coherent “Hello” in response. “Enjoying…

I hope you don’t get too annoyed with me for doing another post about the Kindle. There were several great comments and questions after last week’s post, and I wanted to take the discussion a little further.Here are my answers to a few of the issues raised: → What if I lose or destroy my…

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Randy Pausch’s story and his book, The Last Lecture (co-written with Jeffrey Zaslow). In his lecture and his book, Randy spoke with great wisdom about achieving your childhood dreams. One of the things he said that resonated with me was that the obstacles to our dreams are…

This is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen!

or Get You Out of a Rut* 1. Read a chapter of your WIP aloud to someone other than your spouse, your children, or your cat. Invite feedback, if you’re brave. But mostly, just listen as you read. Do the words flow easily, roll nicely off the tongue? Do you stumble anywhere? Anything sound awkward?…

You didn’t think you’d avoid an American Idol post, did you? (Serves you right for showing up here the day after the premiere!) Can I just tell you how much fun I have with this show? It’s always such a terrific metaphor for the publishing business, and in many ways, life itself. I can’t help…

As I said yesterday, it was fun and enlightening to read your answers to Friday’s questions. One thing surprised me: the number of people who are still thumbs-down on Kindle. Now admittedly, it’s not for everyone. But it is a legitimate and valuable tool for people who read a lot. To all of you who…

O…M…G… did you READ all those comments from Friday’s post??? What fun! Y’all are so entertaining… you should be, like, writers or something. (If you haven’t read them, scroll down and do it NOW.) So I guess the little mixer was a success, what with all the chatting going on. I’ve read all your comments…

Friday is typically the day I ask you a question and let you talk amongst yourselves until we meet again on Monday. But I’ve been remiss as a hostess (as my southern readers will attest). I mean, here you are, all these strangers showing up in my virtual living room, and I haven’t even helped…