Romanticizing Reality

Over the past few years or more, I've had a refreshing view on pain. Something shifted, and now it seems for me that a common theme emerges when dealing with pain of any kind: embrace it. Or, as my natural labor childbirth book put it, "Become one with the pain." It may sound all new age or like a bunch of bologna, but I've learned that statement couldn't be more true. Whether it's becoming one with the pain in your body, in order for you and the pain to work together at healing or giving birth to a child, or becoming one with the sorrow of rejection that we, as writers, face almost daily, it is the same. Yes, I compared a writer's rejection to childbirth, because...well, duh. As a culture--and correct me if I'm wrong, but especially for men--we are taught and conditioned to tough things out. Shove away the pain. Fight it. Deny it exists, even. We see it all the time, in parents who scold their children for crying, who tell them to ...

Well, it happened. The first huge step in realizing my dream has come true. I am now represented by Beth Campbell of BookEnds, LLC. *screams, dances in imaginary confetti to the tune of "We Are the Champions"* And before I get to how it happened, here's an interesting side-note: BookEnds was the first agency that ever caught my eye years ago, when I first decided I wanted to make a career out of writing. Back when I decided to look into the business of getting an agent, back when I had no idea how it all worked, I came across the BookEnds blog. No joke, between this and the Nelson Literary Agency blog, I learned every single thing there is to know about the publishing and agenting world. Everything . I owe my passion for it to this blog. Unfortunately, they stopped doing posts because of time constraints, but they keep the blog public for anyone to reference. Because of this immediate love for them, and in researching their agents and agency, they were my dream agenc...

Some people during this #PitMad contest have been requesting that, if at all possible, a longer pitch and excerpt of their work can be put up on their websites, for any who are interested. So here's mine, for HEMLOCK VEILS. I'm posting the blurb from my query letter, as well as the first 250 words: When Elizabeth Ashton escapes her damaging city life and finds herself in the remote town of Hemlock Veils, Oregon, she is smitten by its quaint mystery; but the surrounding forest holds an enchantment she didn’t think existed, and worse, a most terrifying monster. The town claims it vicious and evil, but Elizabeth suspects something is amiss. Even with its enormous, hairy frame, gruesome claws, and knifelike teeth, the monster’s eyes speak to her: wolf-like and ringed with gold, yet holding an awareness that can only be human. That’s when Elizabeth knows she is the only one who can see the struggling soul trapped inside, the soul to which she is moved. Secretly, Elizabeth b...

In following and internet-stalking fellow writers and authors, I came to a realization today: I've got NOTHING in the form of a formidable website or platform (fellow Grammar Nazis, fire away at that last sentence). All I had going for me was a measly Twitter account (which I would love to grow one day). No author Facebook page (since I don't feel I've earned the privilege to have one yet, being unpublished and all), and only an outdated, less than par blog. So here I am, contributing to one of the necessary evils of the industry: keeping a writing blog. Or really, just revamping an old one. I hadn't blogged here since 2010, I think, and with how much I've written, learned, grown, been trampled in the dirt , and realized in the past three years, the old stuff--the posts before this one--is only here for record-keeping purposes: so I can look back one day and say, Aw, look at the little, naive writer . (And then say that again about this post in three more years...