In the past few months, I’ve gotten a couple of compliments that I never used to get before. Three people referred to me as a “ray of sunshine” (that exact phrase), and two people called me a “powerhouse.” I was super pleased about both of these, which is probably why I’m writing a post about them. I’m basically just bragging here. But
“My novel is similar to another one. What do I do?” “Is my story too much like another book?” Authors worry a lot about whether their story is original enough. And I think they worry about it too much. What if someone told you they were going to write some young adult books about a boy who goes away to
Last week, like everyone else, I was gutted by the news of Prince’s death. His music has been so much a part of my life. Mr. Donovan and I even danced to a Prince song (“Forever In My Life”) for the first dance at our wedding! His individualism, imagination, and frank treatment of sexuality were a big influence on me
One of the main ways that people get a book of poetry published, particularly a first book, is by winning a poetry book contest. There are dozens of these book contests out there. A few years ago, I read for one of them, helping to make the first cut of submissions. It was not an anonymous contest, and the applicants provided short
Once in a while I’ll hear somebody ask this question. Many writers prefer publishing under their real names, taking full credit and full responsibility for what they spent so much time creating. And that makes a lot of sense! But there are many good reasons to use a pen name, and here are a few of them. If you’re deciding
Soon after I began this blog, I wrote about ways I have kept depression at bay for years. I thought people might be interested in ways to treat depression besides meds, although for some cases of depression, drugs are needed. Then I deleted the post. Like many people, I feared that if I talked about past mental health struggles, people might
A friend of mine suggested I write this post. The other day, she called me because she was feeling embarrassed about an awkward meeting. When she first got to the meeting, she introduced herself to someone who turned out to be a high-ranking executive — someone she maybe should have recognized. He said they had met before, although they had