Q4U

Books, Books, Books

I’m a great believer in reading. Shocking, huh? I believe that you, as a writer, should read lots of books in the genre or category in which you are writing. If you write literary fiction, you should read literary fiction. If you write suspense, you should read suspense. It’s a great way to learn. I…
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Q4U: Advice for Literary Agents

Remember a couple weeks ago when we had Help Your Fellow Writers Day? Well, you stepped up to the plate and it was a rousing success. Since you all did such a great job of offering advice, I decided to let you do it again. This time, the theme is “Help your local literary agent.”…
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Help Your Fellow Writers

It’s Friday and I’ve declared it Help Your Fellow Writers Day. Everyone did such a terrific job earlier this week, sharing their advice on “How do you learn to write?” that I decided to keep it going. I’ve received several questions on the blog lately that YOU might be more qualified to answer than I…
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Something About YOU

Let’s have a little fun today, shall we? And by fun I mean word fun, of course. A little writing exercise to start the weekend right. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Write about yourself in the third person. Tell us something we wouldn’t guess simply from the fact that you read this…
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Three Questions for You

Okay, first up: Allison went home. Awwww. Hard to believe, but I think we’ll be hearing that girl on the radio in a year. So that leaves us with Adam, Danny, and Kris. Remember when we made our predictions on the top three? (This post.) I was wrong on Kris—I had Allison instead. How did…
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QueryDay… and a Q4U

Okay, now that we’ve all had sufficient time to totally deconstruct QueryFail and AgentFail (and hopefully recover), I wanted to let you know that today is QueryDay on Twitter… and yes, I’m participating. Why, oh why, would I do such a thing? Well, here’s why. In the interest of grace, and second chances, and the…
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Flowers and Butterflies and Rainbows

I originally wrote this post two weeks ago, and I’d planned one of my “your turn to rant” days. But recently I’ve noticed there seems to be a lot of negativity being expressed in the blogosphere. Everyone needs a chance to rant, but Jessica at Bookends gave writers a chance to rant about agents this…
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Q4U: The Most Important Question

Who will be in the Top 3 of American Idol? Give us your prediction! My daughters and I had a hard time coming to a consensus, but here is our guess: Adam, Allison, and Danny. However, I absolutely love Alexis. I’m thinking she might be in the top three. But who would she replace? Danny?…
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Q4U: The Bucket List

Yesterday I was listening to Tim McGraw’s great song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” and it got me thinking about my proverbial Bucket List, the things I really hope to do or see before I die. I’ve already done some cool things like jump out of an airplane (parachute opened just fine, thank you) and…
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Is It the Economy?

Yesterday I was chatting with my friend, literary agent Sandra Bishop, and we found ourselves pondering whether it was our imaginations, or have the number of incoming queries really skyrocketed over the last couple of months? We’re both receiving incredible numbers, and as my post yesterday illustrated, most of them are simply not ready for…
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The Passion of the Writer

I have just come from a superbowl party after watching that AMAZING game. Apologies to all you sports haters, but I am going to use a football metaphor in today’s post. You know I love pop culture – and the superbowl is about as pop as it gets. And wasn’t that an EXCITING last few…
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Q4U: What’s Your Book About?

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…
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It’s All About YOU

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…
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A Holiday Q4U

Here we are in the Christmas season, and many of us are struggling to find just the right gifts for those on our lists… for just the right price. But today, let’s dream a little… and let’s take a moment to be utterly selfish. If money were no object, what is the ONE THING you’d…
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