As Confucius once said, “If you get an agent but don’t tell anyone how you did it, did you even get an agent at all?” (He also said “don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”) (In case you missed it, I am lying.) But I’m not lying about this: Getting an agent took a…
Tag: motivation
The Road to Submission
After years of focusing on my writing, I’m finally getting ready to submit to agents.
The Good Kind of Pressure
It’s no secret that life at the moment is absolutely insane. This virus has the whole world on edge, hiding in our homes to avoid infection. Some people are coping better than others. As an introvert (mostly—the Myers-Briggs always has me one point away from extroversion), staying home isn’t so bad. I’ve worked to make…
Riding Another Post-Conference High
My second writers’ conference ended two days ago, and yet here I am, still floating around in my shimmering pink cloud. What a phenomenal experience it was! This was the same conference I went to before, the Southern California Writers’ Conference, but this time it was at their San Diego location, which was fun for…
Bullet-points Are For Busy People
As the title states, I’ve been very busy lately, what with work, and the holidays, and many overlapping writing projects. Over Christmas I was alternative between two different submissions: one for SCWC San Diego (I enjoyed the previous conference in Irvine so much that I signed up immediately), and one for FogCon, which I’d honestly…
My Reflections on the Southern California Writers’ Conference
What a whirlwind of a weekend! I think it’s safe to say my first conference was a success… I was so worried about the networking, but there’s one thing I hadn’t been considering: the fact that MOST of us writers are weird introverts, which means 1) we’re all in the same boat, and 2) we…
Pre-Conference Musings and the General Panic of Existence
Hi everyone, remember me? Lara Henerson, fiction writer? Yeah, it’s been a while… You know what’s ironic? I just re-read the first post I ever posted on this blog, and it’s all about how I am terrible at sticking to resolutions, particularly of the blog-writing variety, but that “this time it would be different!” Spoiler…
Total Character Makeover
After much anticipation, I finally received some valuable feedback on my first novel, three things. Of course, the optimistic compartment in my brain was hoping for only a few minor suggestions, so I could finally send my digital baby out into the world. I am so naive. What a rollercoaster. In general, the feedback was…
Validation, Motivation, Elation.
One week ago, I received some great news. The funny thing is, I was in the middle of teaching my ESL students, and the unit topic we were studying was “Good News, Bad News”. I just happened to check my email during the ten minute break, and there it was: a notification that my short…
Two Novels, Both Alike in Dignity…
Lately, I’ve been working on my second novel, and I can’t help but to be amazed at how different it is from my previous one, in so many ways. The reason I’m so staggered by this fact, is that when I first began it (maybe two months ago), my number one concern was making sure…
Sending Letters to Strangers with Cancer
A few months ago, I discovered this amazing nonprofit organization, From Me To You Letters, which allows people to write uplifting, anonymous letters to people suffering from cancer in England. I heard about them from one of my all time favorite podcasts, The Allusionist, hosted by the amazingly witty Helen Zaltzman. (It’s no secret, I…
Start with this…
Not sure where to begin writing? Here are some random sentences to get you started… The beast lunged, straining at the chain around his neck. I can’t believe you forgot the egg… Do you know how much it’s worth? There I was, standing in front of the vault. Time was running out… I racked my…
Lara Henerson 