Happy September, friends! You may recall a few months ago I talked about tackling a self-edit for my current manuscript. One thing I didn’t get into during those posts is that I had tried something rather ambitious when I drafted the book–and I already knew it might not work. In the first step I mentioned…
revising
Easy Words & Phrases You Can Cut to Tighten Your Manuscript
How’s everyone’s summer going? I just returned from New York with my family, where we filled the week with Broadway shows and all the major tourist attractions you’d expect. It occurred to me on our return home that both of my books have ties to New York. Jenny (Your Life Has Been Delayed) boards a…
How I Self-Edit A First Draft
Happy summer! It’s in full swing here–at least schedule wise. The weather has been unusually cool the past few days thanks to a storm that came through over the weekend, but I expect the heat to return soon. Missouri is notorious for jumping from 60 degrees to 90 in a single week. On Friday, I…
Revision Tip: Why You Should Read Your Manuscript Aloud
Before I get into today’s topic, I want to mention that my November newsletter is out today, and in particular, I have several events coming up over the next month. I have two signings at St. Louis Barnes & Noble stores, a virtual panel you can tune in to from anywhere, and will be participating…
On Revising and Killing Those Darlings
Last week when I posted my review roundup I noted that it had been a while since I’d shared a writing post. So here we go! What am I even writing these days? Well, I didn’t really talk about it here on the blog, but I wrote a whole book last year–or maybe it was…
Publishing Behind the Scenes: Developmental Edits
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have seen my After the Book Deal posts back in 2019. As I have some new followers both here and for my newsletter (which is out today), I’m revisiting the topic of what happens behind the scenes when you’re working with a traditional publisher….
How NaNoWriMo Shaped My Writing Process
One of the most common questions I receive from readers and at events is about my writing process. I don’t remember exactly when I started writing my first middle grade book, only that I started querying it in 2011. It could have been 2009 or even 2008. The reason I don’t know is that it…
After the Book Deal: Copyediting Fun!
It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED. I think I’ve mentioned here on the blog that the book is now coming out Aug. 24, 2021. (I have, right? I’ve kind of lost track of this whole year… ) Anyway, you can even pre-order YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN…
Dear 1995 Michelle
For the month of September, I participated in daily prompts on Instagram and Twitter with other members of of my debut group, the21ders, to introduce ourselves–and books, of course!–to the world. (You can also visit our website, www.the21ders.com, for info on all the amazing books coming out next year!) The final prompt of the month…
Chop Chop: A Revision Tale
Last month, I posted about how I had finished my longest draft ever, ending up at 90,983 words. Quite honestly, I had no idea how I had written that much. Even before I started reading through the manuscript, I was sure it was too long. So I went into my initial editing round with the…
After the Book Deal: All the Doubts!
Hey, friends, I promised I would give an update once I had gone through another round of edits, and I just finished on Friday. Boy, was I glad to send those edits in! But, first, let me just share that I got to do something very exciting earlier this month, which was to meet my…
After the Book Deal: Next Steps
So, it’s been a couple of months since my book deal was announced, and invariably I get the same question from friends and family when I tell them my book will be coming out in winter 2021: Why is it so far away??? Um, do you know how much goes into publishing a book? If…
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog, where I offer writing tips and share thoughts about reading, my writing journey, and other random stuff. If you subscribe, you’ll also receive news about my books and upcoming events. Check out the categories in the sidebar to narrow down some of my older blog posts, including book reviews, or if you’re a writer pursuing traditional publication, visit my Resources page for more targeted links. If there’s something I haven’t tackled on the blog that you’d like me to address—including questions about my books!—please contact me and I’ll do my best.
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