I wrote a song for you when I was sixteen. It was 1986. I dressed in “Like a Virgin” Esque hand-me-down clothes from my thirty-two-year-old mother, permed and teased my hair to your likeness and wrapped my wrists with bangles and crosses. I fantasized that my words would be so profound that you would demand …
I am constantly scouring the internet for tips on landing an agent. Recently, I read something that I had never asked myself before. Would an agent continue reading past the first sentence? How about the first paragraph? The first page or chapter? Oh, my, God. I don’t know. I don’t even dare to ask my …
Narcissist. Consider its curvaceous pronunciation–the incline of ‘narc,’ and the river of ‘issistic.’ How can such a poetic expression describe the havoc afflicted on your psyche by a person labeled as such? The dictionary definition–much too compressed. It reads similarly to: a narcissist seeks admiration for their physical and mental attributes. Isn’t that a normal …
Querying literary agents for THE AMIRAH DIAMOND has been long and enlightening. I have learned a great deal from the writing industry that could only have come to me by way of error. I will soon be a fully trained Jedi Master; the dark side will not prevail. Click here to view my Query for …
About Me: I am more than a reflection of what you see. I am complicated yet plain, insecure yet vein. I am fractious and composed, loved, and loathed. I am bitter also sweet, outlandish also discrete. You’ll find me candid and forward, however, silent and reserved, trusting, or doubting whichever is deserved. My biography must …
I’d like to coin the term inundation-hostility. Its definition is simple: an abundance of digital suitors seeking recognition. AKA too much pressure all at once. Imagine your teenager’s cell-phone and the constant pilling of messages they receive just during dinner. Hundreds. How do they keep up? A letter to hard working agents, editors and publishers, …
A guided writing exercise escorted me to a hidden door within my mind. One whose beckoning I have ignored for over four decades. Inside is a memory. A moment in time pleading to be recalled. To be written about, and to be healed. My earliest childhood memory. The chaperone, Catherine Murray–Momoir 101, began the exercise …
Let me be very clear, I am not a silver-linings kind of person. My life motto generally is that if I don’t get what I want it’s because I didn’t commit enough time, I did it wrong, I wasn’t worthy, or there is a best effort that I have not yet achieved. So I find …
Memoir 101 was mind-blowing. Seriously. One single memoir is like ten years of therapy. Who knew? Thank you Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance for the connectivity you provide your members. Writing is intentionally and uniquely lonesome. But, that gets lonely. I’ve met so many other quirky writers who love to share their process, however, not …
