Today I am so excited to be hosting literary agent, Mary Kole. Aside from her role as Senior Literary Manager at Movable Type Management, Mary is also the mastermind behind the website KidLit.com where she shares tons of excellent information for writers. While her primary focus is children’s books (affectionately called “KidLit” by those in… Continue Reading »
Reading
Have you ever read a book that changed the course of your very existence? If the answer is yes, chances are it was a book you read as a child or teenager. The books we read when we’re young tend to leave a profound mark on us. Even if these books aren’t strictly children’s books… Continue Reading »
Reading
This week, we are looking back to the best DIY MFA Articles of 2012. As you know, the DIY MFA consists of three components: Writing With Focus, Reading With Purpose and Building Your Community. All three of these elements are integral to building a writing life. Yesterday, we talked about the best articles to help… Continue Reading »
Reading
Ever wonder what literary agents look for when they read your first pages? While at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar I had the opportunity to sit in on some small group workshops and observe how agents responded to the opening pages from different writers. By listening to agents give feedback, I got an inside look at… Continue Reading »
Reading
When I was a kid, my local library did a summer reading challenge. You had to keep track of your books in a reading log, move your name tag across a giant game board with each book you read, and if you got to 25 books you’d win a T-Shirt. In middle school, I won… Continue Reading »
ReadingOf all the books I read in a given year, I’d estimate 90% of it is young adult literature (YA). This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, I only started reading it a few years ago, when I was well past my teen years. The truth is, YA wasn’t very popular when I was… Continue Reading »
Reading
To finish off our lists of favorites before tomorrow’s Blog Party, we’ve put together one last list: Top Book Picks. Every writer needs a personal library but even if you don’t have these books on your shelf, browsing a library or bookstore can be the next best thing. Next time you have a severe writer’s… Continue Reading »
ReadingThe first thing you learn when writing for children and teens is that you have to get rid of the parents. With parents or other adults around, the kids don’t have as many opportunities to go on adventures or get into trouble. The easiest way to solve this problem is to kill off (or otherwise… Continue Reading »
ReadingI struggled to come up with a perfect suggested reading list for this month’s Master Class on Short Fiction, but I kept finding myself hitting the wall. Some of you may have heard me lament the absence in the world of a perfect short story anthology . I’ve found ones that are OK but never… Continue Reading »
Reading
I have long been on a quest for the perfect short story anthology, some book I can point my students to and say: “this is the only short story book you’ll ever need.” I’ve even tossed around the idea of someday putting an anthology together myself (a project which comes with its own host of… Continue Reading »
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