Dawn Ius I’m going to let you in on a little secret—I didn’t land my agent from a slush pile. Mandy Hubbard—founder of Emerald City Literary Agency and affectionately known by me as Agent Awesome—never read a single sentence of a query from me. No full manuscript. No verbal pitch at a conference. No gushing […]

Kathryn Craft Turning Whine Into Gold This is a picture of me at the age of 52, swimming the length of Trout Lake in northern New York. My husband Dave is trailing behind in a rowboat with a life preserver—you know, just in case. Off to the left is a loon who popped up to […]

By Harry and Susan Squires Harry and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard from writers frustrated and “stuck” on their current work in progress. Often they say something like, “Why am I such a crummy writer?” “Why is this book so hard to write?” Or sometimes you hear people express goals like, […]

by Laura Drake Some of my best ideas come to me while I’m riding my bicycle.  I had an epiphany during a gorgeous Southern California ride yesterday.  Several pieces fell in place at once; a major “Aha” moment. I love it when that happens! Piece 1: For anyone who is not familiar with Maslow, here’s […]