by Michelle | Jul 25, 2015 | agenty stuff, authors, chapter books, diversity, I like, illustrations, kidlit, MG, MSWL, picture books, querying, recent, social media, writing, YA
Once again #MSWL day is upon us. For the uninitiated, #MSWL is a Twitter hashtag that agents and editors use to indicate the kinds of manuscripts they’d like to see in their query inbox. These include a variety of genres, age groups, subjects, ideas, characters,...
by Michelle | Oct 20, 2014 | authors, blogging, Michelle's books, rant, reading, respect, reviewing, social media
Some Necessary Context In recent years there have been a number of brouhahas involving book bloggers and amateur (in the sense of not being professional) book reviewers. You can see a post I wrote about three years ago that addresses several of these kerfuffles. Note:...
by Michelle | Feb 4, 2014 | publicity, publishing, querying, self-promo, social media, writing
Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re thinking. “But haven’t you told us before that there aren’t rules when it comes to writing, and that there are always exceptions?” Okay, well, you got me there. But these rules are so simple and so, like,...
by Michelle | Jul 10, 2013 | agenty stuff, authors, blogging, bookselling, nitty gritty, publicity, publishing, rant, reading, respect, reviewing, self-promo, social media, writing
I was reminded again recently of a discussion I started a year ago about writers blogging about writing. The original tweet that started the discussion: I wish more writers would blog/tweet about things OTHER THAN WRITING. When you’ve READ as many as I have,...
by Michelle | Jan 17, 2012 | authors, critique groups, editing, grammar, publishing, querying, reading, reviewing, social media, storytelling, writing
While I might seem young, I’ve had a lot of experience with taking criticism in situations where I wasn’t able to offer a rebuttal or excuse—I just had to take it, smile, and say thank you. The most memorable of these public dressings-down came as part of...
by Michelle | Jan 2, 2012 | agenty stuff, authors, editing, grammar, kidlit, MG, NA, picture books, publishers, publishing, querying, respect, self-publishing, social media, writing, YA
I always encourage writers to verify the credibility of people they’re working with, whether it be agents or publishers, designers or printers. It can be tricky, I know, but there are some excellent resources to help authors feel a bit more confident about their...
