GRIT + PEARL is my monthly letter about all the annoying stuff that goes into writing books and being a person who writes books (or other stuff, I don’t know, I’m not your boss). You can sign up here. Here’s November’s letter.
Writing
I turned in my revisions early!
Right now I am writing to you with Elvis all around me. And I do mean *all* around me. There is Elvis music playing in every room. There are photos of Elvis on every wall. The soaps in the bathroom are all Elvis themed. And just out of sight is a PB+J bar that the other hotel guests talk about with unflinching reference.
Summer Revisions for REVERIE
I’ll be honest, it’s super cool to be posting about revisions for REVERIE. I’ve spent years watching writers online lament their revisions, conspicuously mourning their success, gif’ing their way through the trials and tribulations of circling a deadline. The usual stricken glitter of writers on the internet.
Interview: How I got my agent via Twitter
Anyone that’s been following my writing journey probably knows two undeniable truths about my so-far-success:
- My boyfriend’s iPhone X has portrait mode and I’m not afraid to use it
- I owe a tremendous amount of my success to a contest on twitter known as #DVPit
I’m writing short stories again
I began a new short story yesterday. It started as a warmup for a day of writing, but a few hours later I was still within it, toiling away. I think this was a trick I played on myself. I’ve already resolved to write short stories this year, though yesterday was not the day I planned to start. So why was it the thing I started with? Probably because it’s the thing I should be writing.
Writing in 2018
I didn’t write a ton in 2017, mostly because I was busy revising a project, revising it again, and then creating auxiliary resources (like a series synopsis) for submission. Once that all got handed over, my job as a writer became: WAITING. For the first time in two years I was without a project to hold my attention, and it was a feeling that was both liberating and stupefying. What was I going to work on next? I’ve avoided asking myself this for ages, for two reasons.
Plotting new things in 2017
For a while I avoided considering writing another book because it seemed like an act of defeat. It felt this way because my first book was this big, messy thing that lived in pieces upon my desktop, and I hadn’t really sent it around to agents, and it wasn’t published. For that reason alone, the idea of starting a new book felt like giving up on the old one.
How to avoid your publishing dreams in the summer of 2016
It’s hard to write in the summer. At least for me. And maybe I’m alone in this — other people brag about how much writing they’re doing on Twitter, but the quiet irony of this pleases the jealous and bitter part of me (which is, really, most of me) greatly, and so I have to repeat myself: It’s hard to write in the summer.
Read moreHow to avoid your publishing dreams in the summer of 2016
What the hell is a Praline? An investigation
The other day I posted a status on Facebook that earnestly asked what a praline might be, because honestly I’ve never been able to figure it out passively, and by god I do NOT plan on googling that. What if it’s horrible? I hate googling horrible things.
On Being an Adult and Avoiding Quicksand
I know someone who is my own age, and who knows how to do taxes. This, to me, is nothing short of arcane magic. Something forbidden and locked away. A knowledge so base and powerful that even a vague understanding threatens to undo a carefully calculated peace in the universe. If you are a millennial and you know how to do taxes, what’s next? Alchemy? Necromancy? Horcruxes and 401K’s?