One of my projects while at The Hambidge Center was to rewrite my proposal. I wrote my proposal once already, at the beginning of this year, before I began writing the book. Back then it served as an outline and guide as I began to draft chapters. But as I prepare to seek out an […]
An author wrote to me last week with this advice: “There’s no substitute for finding your voice and writing brilliantly.” While he seemed to think my travel memoir had potential, he told me, very frankly, that I was spending too much energy figuring out the publishing industry when I should be focusing on writing a […]
Sometimes when I wake up in the morning and sit down in front of my computer, preparing for a productive day, I remind myself: Lexi, you have lots of information here — advice from authors; instruction on how to write a query letter and find an agent; ideas for staying motivated — and you could […]
I don’t believe in writer’s block. I know, it’s a confession writers aren’t supposed to make, akin to standing up in church and announcing that I don’t believe in the Devil. So I’ll add a caveat: Maybe writer’s block exists for fiction writers, who have to make up plot, characters and everything else they put […]
A friend recently asked me, “When you find the right title, will it hit you over the head? Will you just know?” I hope so, because I haven’t felt smacked by one yet. That’s why I’m turning to you: Wanna help brainstorm a title for my travel memoir? You’ll first need to know what my […]
Readers of this blog increasingly ask: Can you tell us more about your book? Most of you know I’m writing a travel memoir about my solo journey through French-speaking Africa. It’s based on my travel blog, Inkslinging in Africa. I’m recounting my backpacking adventure, which took me overland through West Africa — across Senegal, Mali, […]
Please indulge this word-count newbie for just a few moments. What should I use to determine word count? Is Microsoft Word’s word counter a good measure? Here’s why I ask: I’ve been told manuscript pages usually contain about 250 words per page. But I’ve got one-inch margins all around, and when I highlight a page […]
Memoir includes elements of both nonfiction and fiction, as I’ve discussed before on this blog. While literary agent Miss Snark calls it a pesky category buster, until today I was ready to call it the forgotten genre. Although literary agents seem eager to represent memoir, most don’t specifically address the genre or its submission guidelines […]
I hate word counts. The numbers mean nothing to me — How much is 10,000 words, anyway? It’s like describing the cost of dinner in Japanese yen, a currency I don’t understand. Word count is so useless to this newspaper journalist that when a magazine editor assigns one to my story, I immediately translate it […]
Whenever I have a question about publishing, I turn to Julie Kraut. She entertains all my idiotic newbie inquiries, cracks me up with her sense of humor, and still manages to make it seem like she’s not laughing at me. Julie: I'm 26! This age defying moisturizer isn't working at all, is it? Tell us […]