I’m not sure how it’s already the end of March, but it is. My book comes out in two short months, on May 24. I have a couple of launch events lined up if you’re in the Southern California area: Thursday, May 26, 7pm Pages, a Bookstore 904 Manhattan Avenue Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 — Read More
Writing: Art and craft
I’m late to the 2014 party and just finished (and loved) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. As usually happens when I finish a novel I love, I Googled the author for insights into her writing process and found this interesting snippet on The Millions: “I took a lot of notes as I was — Read More
My thoughts less than 3 months from publication
The other day, I was talking to a friend about the expectations I have for my book. Which are none. Seriously, none. I am far too naïve to have expectations. This is my first publishing rodeo, folks. I still get a flutter when someone posts an advance review on Goodreads, thinking, “Oh my god, people — Read More
Enough with the artistic plight
This past weekend, I was having another bout of self-doubt (hey, I rhymed!) as I worked on a new novel. I started whining to my husband about how I don’t know where this book is going or if I can pull off the story and emotion I want. He said, “You’ll figure it out. Just — Read More
Oh, the anxieties.
I’m shin-deep in writing a new novel and running up against anxieties that always plague me when I start something new. I have regular freak outs, wondering what the hell I’m doing. I doubt myself, thinking on particularly bad days that I have no business trying to write this book. I wake up in the middle — Read More
Writing when you have a day job
I’ve had a rush of inspiration lately. I want to write, write, write all the time and I can’t, can’t, can’t. Here’s where I’m at, fiction-wise: PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME comes out on May 24. I’ve had some marketing assignments related to the launch that are keeping me busy (more on this soon). While I was — Read More
Writing beyond fear
I’ve started working on a new thing (I’m hesitant to call it a novel yet) and I had a mini breakdown about it this weekend. I’m having all these “Can I pull this off?” thoughts. I’m overwhelmed by the task of piecing together the story, which has come to me in disjointed segments. It’s like a — Read More
Holy sh*t, people are reading my book
So, my publisher (St. Martin’s Press) is doing a giveaway of advanced copies of PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME on Goodreads. There are a couple days left, FYI. This is the second Goodreads giveaway. They did one a little while back and readers are starting to post… GULP … reviews. A while back, Stephen Colbert interviewed Jesse Eisenberg — Read More
Publishing Journey: Why pre-orders are SO important
In my last post, I wrote about how I really don’t want to tell you to pre-order my book. I feel weird doing that. So, instead, I’m going to explain why pre-orders are so important and let you draw your own conclusions. Sound good? Good. It’s like this: Pre-ordering an author’s book is pretty much the — Read More
Why I don’t want to tell you to pre-order my book
My book releases in less than 5 months. It seems like just yesterday that it was a year off. The other day, my friend said, “You should start telling people to pre-order it” (because pre-orders are very important, which deserves a post in itself. Stay tuned). I said, “Um, I can’t tell people that.” I — Read More