Writer Unboxed

Sometimes you don’t see the gold beside you because you’re too busy searching for it elsewhere, assuming it will be hard to find. Such was the case when I opened my eyes to BookBuzzr recently–a service that had been mentioned on Twitter, but that I hadn’t explored. When I did take the time to explore [...]

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Last week, I interviewed Amy MacKinnon about her debut novel, Tethered, which has just been released in paperback. (Missed it? Click HERE, then come back.) This novel, which has been or will be published in ten foreign countries, is not only suspenseful, it’s beautifully written. Today, Amy and I chat about her way with words, [...]

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This issue of Snippets will have to be super brief because I’m on overload today, but I wanted to say RIP to Dominick Dunne, one of the greats among magazine feature writers. He chronicled the crimes committed by the wealthy and elite, and did it with such panache that his non-fiction read like fiction. I will miss his feature in [...]

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Some of you may have already learned that valued contributor Rosina Lippi is bending her life in a new direction. As she wrote in her weblog: “The reason for this sudden departure is fairly straight-forward: I’m stepping away from writing for the foreseeable future.” It’s never easy when a fellow writer leaves the profession, and we feel [...]

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Both Therese and Allison have talked this month about the anxieties surrounding the publication of a book. It has been on my mind, too. In my other role as a writing teacher, I sometimes have the pleasure of watching an aspiring author cross the barrier of a first sale and join the ranks of published [...]

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Julie Buxbaum is the author of the wildly popular novel, THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE, which Hollywood snapped right up; the adaptation is currently in production, and the film should be released sometime in 2010. Her second novel, AFTER YOU, is being released in the US today. We’re thrilled she took time out of her busy [...]

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While I wait for word on one of the projects that I’m up for consideration, I have a story brewing in my head. Normally I’d scribble the idea on an oversize Post It note, stick it in my idea file and get on with the other projects rumbling around my desk. But this time I [...]

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Amy MacKinnon’s debut novel, Tethered–now out in paperback–is a stunning story loaded with voice and a rarely seen attention to detail. It’s also a dark tale of mystery and suspense–about a female undertaker and her relationship with the dead and a past that has snaked its way into her present with crushing force. Here are [...]

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While my first day at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference was pretty busy with my workshop/presentation “Creating a Killer First Page” and being on an editor’s panel, the other days I was free to go to other presentations. One of the other editors on the panel was Kathy Dawson, Associate Publisher at Dial Books for [...]

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If you are creating a fantasy novel or one with a supernatural theme—say with a character who has a psychic gift—one of the crucial things you need to get right is the depiction of that magical or supernatural power. And that means you need to think clearly about just what it might be like to [...]

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Fifty-six days from today my debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, will be released. I learned recently that my novel will be reviewed by Publishers Weekly next week (8/24) and Kirkus the week after next (9/1). My immediate reaction was to feel nervous. This. Is probably natural. No one wants to see their [...]

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The release of my first book for Working Partners, CONFESSIONS OF A FIRST DAUGHTER, is nigh. It was exactly this time last summer that I delivered the final revisions to the editorial team. September 1, 2009 seemed so far off into the future. And now it’s almost here, and the hardcover edition releases in a [...]

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