So You Want to Write? Blog
The Submission Package: Your One Chance to Impress
By Jessica De Bruyn, Professional Editor
The scariest time to be a writer is when you’re sending your work out into the world for the first time...
9 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Editor (by a Professional Editor)
By Jessica De Bruyn, Professional Editor
As an editor, one of the most common questions I get is, “When should I hire an editor?” This is not a q...
Find Your Literary Agent
By Emily Potter
When querying time arrives at last, the thought of plunking “agent” into a search engine and firing off a letter to anyone with a...
An Interview with Literary Agent & YA/Kidlit Expert Ali McDonald
For this post we interviewed literary agent Ali McDonald. She’s the lead agent specializing in YA (Young Adult) and children’s literature at lite...
The Top 10 YA Tropes & How to Avoid Them
No time to read this article? Download it as a PDF checklist!
Download this Checklist!
By Michael Pietrzak
The Young Adult (YA) ge...
How to Get Unstuck During NaNoWriMo by Emily Potter
The halfway point of NaNoWriMo has come and gone and, if the writing gods happen to be smiling upon you, you are sailing into the home stretch with...
NaNoWriMo Self-Care Tips by Brian Whitmore
1. Eat healthy!
Even though National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) may seem like a purely mental game, it's also intensely physical. Your body ha...
Why You Should Participate in NaNoWriMo - By Karina Kaushal
This article original appeared at karinakaushal.com
The mere fact that you opened this post indicates there’s a book you’re itching to write. Natio...
"Still" by Mary Jo Garrido
“Joe, Joe!!!”
That’s mommy’s voice calling daddy. I was sleeping and it woke me up. My heart knocks on my chest. She sounds like when Melissa got ...
Falling out of Love in Stalingrad by Michael Pietrzak
(an excerpt)
III
The radiators in Viktor’s apartment still work—not with their past fervor—but they keep out the frost. He sits nex...
Voyage into the Unknown by Brian Whitmore
Gale force winds tore the mainsail from the mast, leaving it in tattered shreds. A cabin boy was knocked out by a swinging boom and his pruned body...
A Perfect Darling by Mackenzie Belcastro
I spun left, then right, watching the silver silk ripple.
“Smile,” I told myself.
My lips twitched in their corners, then fizzled, straightening...