Apr 17, 2024 | On Writing
“There’s always the next book.” Louise DeSalvo That’s what Louise DeSalvo says. DeSalvo is the author of The Art of Slow Writing, which I purchased as a kind of hair shirt and read as a kind of guilty pleasure. As a mystery writer expected to turn out a book a year,...
Nov 22, 2023 | On Writing
Persistence counts. In the film A Million Miles Away, Jose Hernandez’s teacher tells the migrant workers’ kid who dreams of being an astronaut that “persistence is your superpower.” (If you haven’t seen this film, based on Hernandez’s real-life story, do. It’s a...
Mar 15, 2023 | On Writing
Selling stories is not much different than selling anything else. As a writer turned acquisitions editor and now literary agent, I learned that the hard way. It’s not enough to write a great story; to sell that story, you have to be able to milk its selling points and...
Jan 11, 2023 | On Writing
New year, new ideas! We’re all planning our writing for 2023 now, but we need to make sure that we prime the pump throughout the year. Here are seven ways to jumpstart your imagination that you can write right into your calendar: #1 Take a walk. Walking has been...