Category: Let’s Discuss

Things I Didn’t Know About Publishing (And Things I Know I Still Don’t Know) Let’s Discuss

When I started writing, I wasn’t really doing it with the hope or expectation of getting published. I honestly felt like I was starting too “late.” I mean, when I was younger, I had dreams of being a writer. I took novel writing classes and did workshops and tried (and failed) to be disciplined and actually write. Then life happened and kids happened, and the dream sort of got away from me… But I still wanted […]

Posted October 19, 2018 in Let's Discuss, Writing Tips / 42 Comments

Book Box Subscriptions. Yay or Nay? Let’s Discuss.

I’ve only tried a few book box subscriptions, but determined that they’re not for me. There are a few reasons for this: I’m disappointed when I get books I already have. The first book box that I ever got was a Page Habit box, and I LOVE the idea behind this box! It includes an annotated book. What could be better right. When I got my first box, I was so excited. I opened the box … and it […]

Posted September 7, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 76 Comments

Where to Find Book Series Recaps. (Since most books don’t have a synopsis.) Let’s Discuss.

The other day, I posted a random tweet about how I wished there was a synopsis at the beginning of new books in a series. Based on the response I got, I’d say quite a few people agreed with me. Why is it that TV producers don’t expect us to remember what happened last week without “Previously on” reminders, and yet book publishers expect us to remember the details of a story for a whole […]

Posted August 29, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 43 Comments

I Love Me Some Purple Prose. Let’s Discuss.

We all have specific writing styles that we gravitate to. And it’s interesting how one style can resonate so strongly with one person and totally turn someone else off. I was reading a review of A Thousand Perfect Notes the other day and the blogger mentioned that while she didn’t dislike the book, she wasn’t a fan of the purple prose. My response: “WHAT? That’s my favorite part!” First off, I should give a little […]

Posted August 15, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 56 Comments

Goodreads’ YA Books Lists. Let’s Discuss.

For their celebration of YA Week, Goodreads created a few lists specific to YA. I know I just did a post on Goodreads Mid-Year lists, but I couldn’t resist checking these out too. I was curious how many of the books I’d read. CLICK ON THE CATEGORY HEADINGS TO SEE THE LISTS ON GOODREADS. 100 Top YA Books: This is an all-time list that Goodreads came up with using books that are most often on […]

Posted August 8, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 57 Comments

Goodreads’ Mid-Year Book Lists. Let’s Discuss.

Annemieke over at A Dance with Books mentioned Goodreads’ mid-year book lists, and I thought it might be fun to do a quick post about them. The Best Books of the Year (So Far) Goodreads put together this list using a combination of popularity (on the most shelves) and rating. They listed a few books in each category: Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Young Adult, Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, and Fantasy & Science Fiction. Not surprisingly, […]

Posted July 19, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 38 Comments

The WIFYR Workshop Experience

Illustration Credit: Ginny Tilby I’ve had a couple of people ask about how the WIFYR workshop worked, so I thought I’d explain the process. This is the first workshop I’ve done, but from what I’ve heard from others, it’s pretty typical of the way writing workshops are run. (Though sometimes they might have a more specific genre or age range focus. And I’m sure there are some that are handled differently.) Preparation: There were 12 writers […]

Posted July 13, 2018 in Let's Discuss, WIFYR, Writing Tips / 14 Comments

The Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag

I saw this tag first over at Read All the Things, but it’s been around for years and it’s making its way around the blogosphere! Best book you’ve read so far in 2018? Aru Shah and the End of Time is definitely my favorite MG I’ve read this year. This book has such gorgeous writing and the best MG voice I’ve ever read. It’s the kind of book that makes me wonderfully happy and weep in jealousy at […]

Posted July 11, 2018 in Let's Discuss, Tags / 42 Comments

Top 10 Writing Tips I Learned at WIFYR

I took in a lot of fantastic writing advice at the WIFYR conference. I thought I’d share my some of the lessons I learned with all of you. All of these came from the breakout sessions or keynotes. I tried to keep these specific to writing advice rather than publishing/querying advice, but I’ll probably do another post with some great points that were made when it comes to querying! Top 10 Writing Tips I Learned […]

Posted June 29, 2018 in Let's Discuss, Top Ten Tuesday, WIFYR, Writing Tips / 27 Comments

My Personal Connection to Pride Month, Some Recent LGBTQ+ Reads, and Integrating My Faith and LGBTQ+ Issues

Be forewarned, this post is going to be more personal than book-related (though I have some books at the end if you scroll down!). A lot of you have been around my blog since the beginning and you’ve gotten to know me a bit over these past five and a half years, so you know things have been going on in my personal life. Things I haven’t addressed directly, but I’ve alluded to over the past few years. […]

Posted June 26, 2018 in Let's Discuss / 32 Comments