Today marks the release of BECOMING JOSEPHINE, a fabulous debut novel by Heather Webb. BECOMING JOSEPHINE tells the story of Rose Tascher – better known to history as Josephine Bonaparte (Napoleon’s first wife). I loved this book for many reasons. I’ll address them in more depth in my review (look for that a week from Friday) but the book is beautifully paced, tightly plotted, and takes a close, personal look at the life of an extraordinary and complicated woman. People know Josephine as “Napoleon’s wife,” and many books on Josephine focus on her years at Napoleon’s side. Heather’s Josephine starts out as
Read moreMonth: December 2013
A Merry Christmas … On the Reef
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the reef Every creature was swimming, with fervent belief That an afternoon feeding would surely appear, Every seahorse was on Santa’s “good list” this year. Emo the clown nestled snug in his host, An Anthelia coral grown larger than most. The fish on the reef called a Christmas-Eve truce, and made Wilson the urchin the “Christmas-tree” spruce. From the back of the tank there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the desk to see what was the matter. I flew to the tank, started looking around, To determine what made such
Read moreThe Dreaded Second Draft
I’m working on a new Shinobi Mystery this morning. I wrote draft one in November (it’s not intentionally a “NaNo Novel” per se, but my normal writing schedule puts me into first draft mode in November, so I run with it) so now I’m working through what always proves the most difficult draft for me. In my world, first drafts offer a time of excited discovery. I work from outlines, but the characters and plot threads always change themselves around on the page, so the first draft rarely turns out exactly the way I thought I’d write it. The second draft,
Read moreThe Long, Dark Potty-Break of My Soul
This week, the five lovely authors at the Debutante Ball blog are heading “into the dark” to talk about the times most writers would rather forget: the difficult times, when writing–and rejection–hurts the most. In solidarity with my Deb sisters, and to encourage this year’s #PitchWars applicants, I thought I’d revisit my own darkest days — the long, dark potty break of my soul. June 15, 2011 was my mother’s birthday. We spent it together in San Diego, right before the start of the Historical Novel Society conference. After our celebration, Mom hopped a train to her home in Malibu,
Read moreCopy Editors Are Cool (Copy) Cats
After the author and acquiring editor reach a consensus about the content-based edits on the author’s manuscript, the manuscript enters the copy editing phase. In some cases, the acquiring editor also handles copy edits, but most publishers have separate copy editors. That’s the case we’re looking at today. The copy editor reads an author’s manuscript for spelling, grammar, and house-specific formatting and stylistic issues. In addition to correcting errors, the copy editor ensures the manuscript complies with the publishing house’s style sheets. A style sheet is a standardized set of grammar and punctuating conventions, used to ensure that a house’s publications
Read moreOn the Topic of Christmas Trees
First off, I’d like to wish a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Holiday, or non-Holiday to everyone reading this, regardless of what you celebrate – whatever it is you do (or don’t do) over the next few weeks, I hope that you do it in a way that makes you happy. All of which said … I love Christmas trees, and I have since I was a very little child. I love the lights and the ornaments. I love drinking hot chocolate (or coffee) while I unwrap the various balls and baubles that carry so many memories, and hanging them on the tree while
Read morePublishing 101: Enter the Editor …
Today, the Publishing 101 series continues with a look at the editorial letter. An “editorial letter,” sometimes also called “developmental edits” is a letter (now, often in email form) which the acquiring editor sends to the author after the contract is signed. Editors wait to send (and often, to prepare) the editorial letter until after the contract to ensure that the editor’s work isn’t wasted if the deal goes sideways at the contract stage. In very rare cases, and editor might send the editorial letter before the contract is signed, but this is definitely the exception to the rule. The editorial
Read moreA Shiny New Yamaha for Christmas
Last week my husband accompanied me on my regular trip to the fish store. He likes to go from time to time, to look at the fish and the corals. A seahorse tank has strong restrictions on species compatability, so many lovely specimens will never come home with us–we have to enjoy them at the store. This trip, my husband saw a brilliant purple pseudochromis (sometimes also called a purple dottyback or a strawberry gramma) swimming around in the reef store’s tank. The fish’s brilliant color caught his eye – in part because he used to have a Yamaha FZR motorcycle
Read morePitch Wars – and What Makes “No” So Hard
Many of my readers know I’m one of the mentors in the 2013 Pitch Wars competition organized by the amazing Brenda Drake. For those unaware, the situation in a nutshell, is that during December a group of published authors act as mentors for authors seeking representation. In January, a group of agents review the pitches written by the authors and their mentors and may (and hopefully do) decide to review the authors’ manuscripts. TL;DR: published authors helping other authors hopefully catch an agent’s attention. WOO! Last week, the pitch wars applicants submitted queries and sample pages to the mentors of their choice.
Read moreIndiana Writer and the Contract of DOOM … Or Not
Today, the Publishing 101 series takes a look at what happens when the publishing contract arrives. We won’t be dissecting contract language today – though contract issues will show up in other posts during 2014. Instead, we’re looking at what the author, and agent, will do when the contract comes. A note: as the publishing industry changes, a larger number of unrepresented authors are getting publishing contracts. If this happens to you, and you choose not to work with a literary agent, be sure to find a publishing attorney to review your contracts before you sign. Do not sign in
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