Can we talk about (book) blurbs?

I drafted my thoughts on blurbs back in December. Then last week I saw Jami Attenberg also got in the blurb discussion game. You can read her take here via her Substack. Jami also mentions Rebecca Makkai’s detailed post (that I link to below) and it was in response to announcement that one of the Big 5 Publishers’ flagship imprint (Simon & Schuster) is no longer “requiring” blurbs. Since I already drafted my thoughts, I’m gonna stick with this post. If you find it helpful—great! At the least you get some varied opinions and background on the whole blurb thing.

First (or kinda second now), let me point to Rebecca Makkai’s really helpful “Blurb No More” post on Substack where she expounds on why she’s taking a hiatus from blurbing. She lists a brief history and Best Practices for authors, editors & publicists—which I cosign and also want to laud the section on “providing as much advance notice as possible.”

Let’s get philosophical for a moment, shall we? 

• Do you need blurbs? Depends on who you ask. 

• Do blurbs influence whether someone will read or buy your book? Also depends on the person. 

• Do people tend to freak out over blurbs? Absolutely. (Or in even more colloquial terms: hell yes.) 

While some may have a hard line on what is and isn’t needed when it comes to publication, I will say that seeing 20 blurbs doesn’t necessarily sway me to buy a book and that in various cases I have not necessarily enjoyed books that received 3 pages of endorsements. More and more folx in the biz are noting how much word-of-mouth is precious to the longevity of a book. What so many things come down to in the arts is that much of it is subjective. Remember that. 

While Rebecca does get into some nitty gritty as mentioned. I’m gonna use this post to note what I’ve done, which you can take or leave. Well, take or leave the rest of them, but maybe try to adhere to Bullet #1 at the very least? (There are 6 points total.)

• Time: Time is precious, y’all! It only took me 15 years into adulthood to fully embrace: “I’d rather have time than money.” This means a few weeks is really not enough time for anyone to blurb anything. I mean, maybe a picture book, but let’s not make it a habit, friends. Last year, in a span of 2 months I was asked for several blurbs with a turnaround time of less than 2 months. While I initially felt 2 months was a good minimum, after seeing Rebecca’s post noting 6 months, I’m setting a new boundary that 4 months is going to have to be a new minimum for any requests to me as an author to blurb someone’s work. And anything less than this will lean into hard “no” territory. (My forties have become the embrace boundaries era.) 

1. Choose your own minimum! There are people we’d bend over backwards for, perhaps literally if our spine or personal agility allowed it. But in general, it’s helpful to have a clear standard that you can provide within a quick reply to the person asking. Perhaps the requester will be able to adjust knowing you need more time.

2. Publishers (namely editors, agents, or publicists at a publisher) know when a book is going to publish (and more importantly, the To Printer date). And yes, crashes happen (see end of blog post for definition of a “crash schedule.”) But all in all, the higher chance of success is by providing as much time as possible. I had requested blurbs for Forgive Me Not a little over 3 months in advance, which still didn’t feel like enough time. When my pub date moved I contacted everyone immediately to say I could extend to 5 months if that helped. The majority of folx met the original 3+ month timing.   

3. Provide people the best thing you have. You don’t have to wait to send the ARC to blurbers, especially if it cuts down the window for someone to read the book. If you need a blurb in October, then I’d reach out to someone in June, perhaps even earlier, especially for a book that is 80,000 words or more. For one thing, people may teach, have a book coming out (or one they’re actively working on), have kids in school, may be on sabbatical and not checking email regularly, etc. You never know what someone has on their plate. But if you do I’d suggest planning and providing a super clean manuscript and offering not just a PDF but a bound copy ASAP. (Your publisher can hopefully help cover costs on mailing a print copy or you can use it as a tax write-off if you have to pay for printing & shipping.) 

4. Please do not assume how fast one can read based on your need rather than their own schedule. I turned down all but one request based on the fact of length. And one I had to read in my own time due to bandwidth. I care if you respect my time and the effort that goes into crafting praise along with juggling various responsibilities. As someone who has been in the seat of the asker, and will be again on my own and others’ behalf, the best way to set yourself up is to show respect with as much leeway as possible, provide everyone all the info upfront including deadline, link to PDF, and offer to send a printed or bound copy (or ARC) ASAP. This is basic courtesy. Me having to ask for a printed version, when my eye strain is bad—plus, it was confirmed I have astigmatism last month—just adds another reason why I may decline. Make it easy for someone to say “yes,” and please reduce back & forth. This is the same for any ask, be it to moderate/attend an event or do an interview, etc. All info upfront as succinctly as possible. 

• Gratitude: As with everything here, I’m not gonna say this is what everyone “should” do. We all have different methods. But here is what I did as thanks to the wonderful writers who took the time to provide me blurbs. (And I will do it again, if/when I’m so blessed to receive such support for my published work.) 

1. Final copies: I made sure to mail everyone a hardcover from my author copies with a short thank you note.

2. Gift: I sent treats via mail or in-person. (Make sure to ask about allergies!) In the case where 2 were convo partners, I gave them gift bags (and bought them dinner) as thanks for not only that evening, but for being so generous in general. 

3. Donations/Giveaways: I also purchased a few copies of the authors’ latest book to give away at a launch event and asked if there were any schools I could donate a copy to. Or I donated their book to schools that I also donated my book to. 

My main reasoning for Bullet #2 is that most times you get a copy and that’s it. Which is totally fine! When I love a book, I gladly sing that love from the rooftops because I want everyone to know how much I love it! (See my end of year Fave lists over the past several years.) For me, because I deeply respect and really like each writer I sent an early copy to, it meant the world that they even took a moment to read my book let alone provide kind words for it. And I wanted them to know how much that meant to me. If you want to go above and beyond, do it. But at the least, I’d suggest letting someone know via a personal note how much you appreciated their time & words. Whether you asked the blurber directly or not, it’s your book, and it helps when the author acknowledges that time & consideration. 

• Blurb Tally: I do believe in overkill when it comes to most things, except water (stay hydrated y’all!). But it’s really every individual's choice as noted, and as I’ll continue to note. I didn’t love an instance when I, same as Rebecca, was asked for a blurb and steadily reminded about the deadline only to see the author had 12 people blurbing it. So there really wasn’t a need for my name as well, at least to me. Especially since it wasn’t going on any promotion. Now, I don’t need to see my name. Though… if you have 5 or more people blurbing, I have to wonder why you may need me to add to the mix? There is but so much room on the back cover. If you have 10 blurbs in for the hardcover edition, you probably don’t need mine.

Quick Note: Where do all those blurbs go? If not on the back cover of the physical book they may end up on early praise pages in the front matter as well as on the book page of the publisher’s (and/or author’s) website. But praise printed inside a book also depends on page count and timing, to name a couple factors. For hardcovers an abundance of blurbs may or may not go inside the book, but paperback reprints (pubbed a year or so after the hardcover in the U.S.) usually make space for the praise to be collated and put in the front since there’s less room on the actual cover due to the format.

• Maybe this is controversial (welcome to my life), but maybe those of us receiving the ask should inquire how many people are already blurbing to gain a sense of urgency? No??? TOO CONTROVERSIAL, you say? 

• For every book I draft, I make a list of potential blurbers/convo partners because I want to be targeted, not random. I don’t connect people to my work simply because of their name—and maybe that’s an error on my part. But, I do want to reach out to folx I (a) may have a relationship with whose work fits the audience I’m writing for as well, (b) someone who may enjoy my work (or has), and (c) someone whose work I also admire in the same genre (realm of story). I considered this for Forgive Me Not and told each person why I was asking them to read it. They all had experience as educators, are people who wrote deeply about important topics for young audiences, and each had at least one book I felt mine was in conversation with that I referenced & enjoyed. And if none of them were able to blurb, I’d figure it out. Mainly, I wanted to be better about targeting rather than casting a wide net. Casting a wide net may serve some people well—again, do you. And in some cases it may serve the author very well. But please consider both parties. It’s not easy or a quick process to review books and it’s not easy to blurb them.

• Don’t Assume: What’s wild is that, for some, the words “I’ll consider it” or “I’ll take a read” or “I’ll try to read” seem to translate to “Yes, I will give you a blurb.” This is not the case, friends! The only guarantee is a firm “yes” or the blurb itself arriving in your inbox. (Huzzah when that happens!) If someone says they will read or consider or take a look or try to find time or see what they can do, or any variation of this, that isn’t a concrete “Yes!” or “Absolutely!” or “You’ll receive it from me on XX.” If you receive any of the noted responses that is not a firm yes, I’d suggest replying with: “Thanks for agreeing to take an early look at my book. If you can provide a blurb by XX date that’d be deeply appreciated. Please let me know if there’s another format I can provide for ease of reading.” 

Even though people I asked said they’d be happy to read my book, no one guaranteed me a blurb upfront. It wasn’t until I received it or updated folx on the date and they said they’d provide one that I knew. I did not assume even those who knew me would enjoy my book or deem to provide an endorsement. So please do not assume even when you have a relationship with someone. Timing matters. Approach matters. And it’ll be okay if someone may not totally jive with your work. Perhaps they may be able to be a convo partner, just not a blurber. Perhaps they can do social media championing, but not read it in a certain timeframe. Perhaps they can offer many other areas of support that may not appear on the book or book’s web page. Support looks different for everyone. 

• Don’t Take It Personal: Cue the Monica song! Just a quick note, that may sound repetitive at this point, but I feel a need to emphasize: If someone chooses not to blurb your book, please try not to take it personally. If someone does provide some (helpful or thoughtful) feedback on the book, consider if this is something that may be worth applying to your work or not. 

1. If someone doesn’t like your book, they are probably not going to tell you out of kindness. And honestly, I don’t feel it’s my place to tell someone a book doesn’t jive with me. At the same time that’s often not the reason I decline blurb requests—timing is. If a book may be problematic, however, I may consider how to frame feedback or if I want to take time to say anything—especially if it’s through a publishing representative rather than the author.

2. You are not entitled to anything when it comes to blurbs. Not to anyone’s time or anyone’s good graces. If someone can’t do it who you feel “should” do it, perhaps re-examine why you feel this way. Perhaps someone said they would and did a takeback. That is a bummer, but if they can’t do the blurb perhaps you can circle back and check in if they may be able to help in another way. 

3. Sometimes people are just awkward and ghost. As a very direct person and proud Aquarius, I cannot explain why. But it does happen, unfortunately. It may be due to anxiety, overwhelm, or guilt for taking too long to respond. All of which has nothing to do with you necessarily, especially if you’ve been cordial and respectful in your follow-up. You have a right to be in the feels if someone said “yes” then went quiet. And if the relationship is one you’d like to retain, it may be worth trying to broach the subject gently to check if maybe they had a lot going on they couldn’t verbalize. Something I learned in therapy is sometimes what occurs isn’t because of something you did. But if it is, there’s no harm in asking. If someone isn’t ready to broach that you can’t force it. Take what you need from this situation and try to move on.

4. People forget, so don’t be afraid to follow-up. A friend of mine totally forgot to give me a blurb because they were so busy with their own book pubbing. They asked me after my book was at the printer if they could provide one and told me they needed reminders in a specific method to remember things. This was helpful for me to know as I had used a method that wasn’t working for them (email). As someone who has had to rethink how to not fall behind on personal email account(s), it made sense to me. I also very much appreciated their candidness about enjoying my book, but simply juggling too much to think about one more thing. (So very, very relatable.) 

• Keeping Up Appearances: “But does it look … bad that I don’t have any blurbs?” If you happen to have a physical copy of the short story anthology I edited, Everyday People: The Color of Life, you’ll notice it has no blurbs. Not a one. And that is because my editor never told me I needed to get them, nor did he provide me a deadline or any reminders/inquiries about them. This was my first published book, mind you. I worked full-time mostly in academic publishing at this point. And guess what? We don’t always have blurbs on books in educational publishing! So when I did ask, it was too late. My editor told me he thought I was getting them this whole time. This was just one of several frustrations when it came to not great communication between author and publisher. As an FYI, I didn’t have an agent at the time so I was going solo on this one. And learned a lot. 

Was I pissed? To get colloquial again, hell yes. Because I did know people I could have sent it to who were willing to provide a blurb–or at least consider it. I felt like I was letting the contributors down by not having blurbs. The reviews were positive and, even after my request, my editor didn’t even add those to the back cover. Another frustration. But, at the end of the day, there’s nothing I could do but ask if they could add it to a reprint—the book was a paperback original. (This did not happen either.) Did it ruin Everyday People? Not at all. Did it mean I didn’t have “connections”—I hate that word— or that no one wanted to blurb this title? Nope and nope. It meant I didn’t have blurbs for reasons no one but I cared about in the end. I’m sure blurbs may have helped in some ways. Before the book pubbed I had 12 requests from bookstores to appear, which was because of the talent inside this anthology. I think one reason the editor didn’t make a big deal was because he felt the content would sell itself—and honestly, it should. So I can understand why the S&S imprint is asserting that another task for authors & editors is not the best use of time when we all want to focus on making the best book possible. But again, it’s subjective and dependent. Everyday People continues to have a long life, especially in schools/areas of study and, yes, word-of-mouth. I’m quite proud of that. 

If the blurbs help you feel better about your book because you can look at the praise when everything else may be going haywire, then that’s great! But if you don’t have blurbs, you didn’t fail and certainly shouldn’t feel embarrassed. I honestly don’t even think about that issue with Everyday People anymore. Mainly because the world is cracking like an egg and so am I some days. But really, because it was a moment, I learned from it, and I moved on, as does everyone else. 

Well this was a lengthy post, wasn’t it? I hope the above, along with Rebecca’s thorough post and Jami’s thoughts, are helpful in terms of understanding the blurb process as blurber and requestor. Publishing is already stressful, so please do not freak out or stress over blurbs and how many you do or don’t have. I know receiving them or any type of praise from creatives you admire can be incredibly heartening as you prepare to share something personal and vulnerable in the world. Please don’t hesitate to ask people to engage with your work, simply respect the time it takes to do so. Write (and/or illustrate) the best book possible and continue to build the community that will reciprocate the love you share for this creative life. 

Some Definitions
ARC: Advanced Reader Copy. Early book copies that may not be considered final and are sent out pre-publication for reviews & early buzz. 

Big 5: In the United States, there are 5 major publishing bodies that make up a good portion of sales % in the marketplace. They are: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster. 

Blurb: An endorsement of one’s work that usually goes on or inside a published book. 

Bound Copy: Manuscript pages bound like a book without a cover (usually 8x11 page size in the U.S.).

Crash: Fast-tracking a project by consolidating due dates for deliverables. In book publishing a crash schedule can be less than 5 months to produce a book from the time the manuscript goes to production to the time it has to be in the warehouse. 

Flagship Imprint: Main imprint (may or may not have the same name). 

Front Matter: Initial pages before the content of the book officially begins that usually includes copyright page, title page(s), dedication, table of contents, epigram, previously published books, etc.

Read the Fine Print: The Pawnee Treaty, Perception, and Questioning Rather Than Accepting “Truthiness”

Yesterday, on an uncharacteristically pleasant day since I arrived in Nebraska, I decided to go to the local park. Going further I figured I’d swing by Arbor Lodge mansion, heralded by locals. A little bit further and I ended up inside, purchasing a ticket to roam the 50+ room home that housed the family of J. Sterling Morton (his eldest son may be known for Morton Salt fame and his youngest of Argo (corn)starch). 

The place has three floors, not including the basement where the restored bowling alley is; it’s a lovely renovation with a teal lacquer to the walls I wish was in my own apartment. Making my way to the next landing I saw the largesse of an oil painting of the Pawnee Table Creek Treaty of 1857 by William Haskell Coffin. In this painting, Native American men dance in an open field wearing nothing more than headdresses and loincloth of sorts. Some carry hatchets, others spears. The settlers, all white, stare stone faced, dare I say questionably, at those in celebration. The imagery itself disturbed me knowing the broad strokes of the history between colonialists and Native Americans (short version, the first group steadily massacred the second). 

On a table to the far right of this painting was a copy of the actual Pawnee Treaty of 1857. If the visual didn’t incite pause, the treaty itself had me stupefied. 

Words like “civilized” were used as were a lot of promises with the caveat that, at any time, the President of the United States could come and take it away. There wasn’t so much fine print as there was blatant print detailing what the Native Americans who would be “civilized” by the new Americans would receive and also the terms to which they needed to agree. They would need to send their children to school to make sure they learned the ways of the immigrants. They would have white people on their land in certain industries the new Americans felt they needed to know. They would receive materials “not to exceed” a certain amount (that came up often) as though they were being bestowed a favor. The first line of Article 5 sums it all up pretty well: “The Pawnees acknowledge their dependence on the Government of the United States” — translated it’s a different form of peonage signed 8 years before the abolishment of slavery.

Now, I’m not getting into a further debate on whether this was right or wrong for the Pawnee Tribe to sign. Strife didn’t stem from the new (white) inhabitants of the country solely, but from other tribes as well. What I am getting at is that when the treaty was right in front of my face for me to read and decipher on my own that I could see how messed up the terms were from the start. How condescending and righteous these clauses were. It reminded me a lot of what the most recent head of U.S. office as well as his Republican predecessor said about people overseas. That they needed to be cultured; that they needed to learn our ways; that by giving us their land, usurping power, we were helping. Their followers, be they willingly ignorant or thinking themselves incredibly profound jumped on that thinking bandwagon. I considered the consistent danger of receiving summaries of our history to have someone else surmise the main point. The way that Arbor Lodge, and in particularly this painting, along with the treaty itself were celebrated made me shiver. But in all honesty, several years ago and I’m sure in many other instances for various other groups, I remain unaware of the larger trials and the pitfalls of trusting others who do not see you as completely human.

I’m finally reading The Underground Railroad which probably exacerbated or further inspired this thinking. That is a book that should make white people uncomfortable, however, I’m also confident that many reading the book of the white persuasion don’t see themselves as the depraved slave owner but as the kind-hearted abolitionist helping slaves to their next stop to freedom, willing to take the blows themselves if they were in such a situation — though thankfully they are not. I wonder if the people working at Arbor Lodge, two very nice, older, bespectacled white women understood the issues of this presentation. Yes, the treaty was available, plain for anyone to see, read, and infer their own thinking, but there’s also the labeling of it as a celebration. Who, exactly, are we celebrating in this instance? 

I don’t know if it’s so much a spoiler as much a plot point, but in Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead depicts the lead character Cora in one of her first stops on the railroad line in a new job she was thought to be perfect for: performing slavery behind glass for museum visitors. What’s noted by author and protagonist is the dulling of the horrors of slavery itself, the performance of it. Putting actors in a space constructed by non-slaves, nor are they slave owners, not exactly, to recreate the horrors for intrigue but also educational purposes. That the slave ships to the slave cabins is bad but this is a thing of the past, aren’t we a grand nation now? 

I haven’t taught children in more than a decade, having no tenacity for it on a long-term basis. But when I was in school, public, higher education, the classroom was about deciphering but also absorbing. “Sure, whatever you say teacher,” in regards to the symbolism in Moby Dick or Emily Dickinson or Huckleberry Finn. If you can’t explain what you see then it isn’t there. Fair enough. But there was also the case of: If you don’t see what I see then it’s inaccurate. This leads to a poor state of affairs. Those that question are considered questionable themselves. Children will speak when spoken to. My mom’s favorite: Do as I say not as I do. (Plot twist: that didn’t work on me past a certain age.) When I teach, or better yet lead workshops, I teach editing. I encourage looking at things with a finer tooth comb, questioning choices not because you’re choices aren’t reliable but because we have to dig deeper. It’s part of my job in publishing. I think if it weren’t for my role as a production editor, copyeditor, proofreader, looking at inconsistencies and inaccuracies daily, I don’t know that my education in academia alone would’ve propelled me to the point I am now. 

I’d love for those who oppose the water protectors at Standing Rock and many other sites to read the Pawnee treaty to start. The flippant nature in which people on Twitter — where everyone has balls behind an avatar — saying this group had their chance. That Native Americans have “plenty” of land. They were given gifts, so why not appreciate it? When they say these things out of malice as well as ignorance I’m going to send them the Pawnee Treaty of 1857 and ask them to read it in full and say, honestly, if they’d agree to these terms. Scrutinize it the way you would a mortgage loan. This isn’t the same as my landlord saying, “I’ll give you a dishwasher costing no more than $150 dollars but also at any time have the legal right to rescind this offer whenever my mood calls for it.” This treaty was a bad contract, the kind an agent or legal mediator would come in and say, “Mofo, don’t sign that we have to go to negotiations.” The U.S. wasn’t looking out for the interest of anyone but the growing government and a select class of citizen. Read it, read it and tell me that this document showcased a concern for Native American citizens rather than the proliferation of gluttonous capitalistic ideals. If you think so, I have a 52-room house to sell you.

#MyWritingProcess Blog Tour

Maybe you've heard about the My Writing Process (Blog) Tour, maybe you haven't. If not consider this your intro. The tour's been going on for a few months and I'm delighted to have been asked to join in by my writer buddy overseas Laura Rueckert, whose answers on her process you'll find at www.laurarueckert.com. And here's my contribution to this fine tour we have going on:

What am I working on? 

Lots. My baby, so to speak, is a linked anthology about an interracial family that spans several decades and three generations. This collection has been my "White Whale" in a way in that I've been working on it for several years and it's gone through a complete metamorphosis making me a much better writer over the course of the process.

Last fall I started drafting a contemporary YA suspense. And I have a few flash fiction pieces and essays that I am either refining or drafting as well. I tell you, there is simply not enough time in the day.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?  

Short answer would be the diversity aspect as it is, unfortunately, not numerous in the literary realm (in all genres). I don't necessarily focus on race and racial tension as a person of color, but I think there is a need for literature to reflect reality and reality is quite diverse. My whole world has been an amalgam of various races, people, sexualities and such that my prose will always reflect that. I am also a very character-driven writer and I like to mix it up in terms of elements. I like to focus on people, psychology, and sometimes a slight twist on our reality and history. It's fun to rethink history and create it anew, for better or worse.

Why do I write what I do?

I wrote very bad poetry in high school and undergrad. It didn't fit me. I'm a bit long-winded at times, but the short form (and long form) is something I very much enjoy. Point blank: I like making things up. I also like detailing what I see, hear, and feel. So fiction and nonfiction/journalistic fits more for me because I feel like I have more space to truly expose, or explore, what and who is around me.

How does my writing process work?

My process is to sit down and do it. It's usually a burst when it comes to the drafting/writing phase. Just get words down on paper/screen, is my focus initially. And I can sit down for hours in a comfy chair with my laptop writing. This past Christmas while visiting my grandmother, she consistently passed the room. I had sat in a La-Z-Boy for up to seven hours with my laptop on my lap writing. "You okay?" she asked a few times. "Yup!" I shouted. When I'm in the zone I get stuff done.

Molding and refining my work is what I do after the fact. I keep every draft I write (I date each one), sometimes it helps to go back and see what I did earlier in the process or see what may or may not be salvaged. But yeah, (1) write like a fiend, (2) refine like the fiend you were previously, (3) get feedback, because invariably there's always something that needs more work than you thought.

That is my process, in a nutshell.

I've invited (or tagged) the following writers whose work I admire and enjoy to also participate and I'm glad they're up for it! You can see their posts on their process next week.

I present . . .

Megan Cooley Peterson is a writing-reading-pizza-coffee addict from the frozen tundra, aka Minnesota. She has written a YA contemporary, a YA romantic thriller, and an upmarket women’s fiction manuscript. She is currently drafting a manuscript about witchcraft that she can’t stop obsessing over. When not working on fiction, Megan writes and edits children’s nonfiction books about topics ranging from gross animal facts to urban legends. She lives with her husband and darling daughter.

Megan and I met via Twitter and she is one of the sweetest and supportive, and most dedicated writers I have ever engaged with. And after reading one of her manuscripts I can attest she's going to be a force to be reckoned with in the publishing world.

Karen McCoy first got the writing bug when she read The Babysitters Club series at age eight, but almost gave up after a bad grade during a creative writing class in college. Fast forward years later, to an HR training for her librarian job in 2008. She got out a pen and started her first novel, in her head, ever since that first writing class. She's currently studying for her MFA in creative writing at Northern Arizona University. She not only blogs at her site Writer Librarian, but also contributes to Operation Awesome on Mondays.

Karen and I met at the GlenWest Conference in New Mexico a couple years ago and her tenacity and excitement for writing inspire me all the time.

Thanks again Karen & Megan for joining in and I look forward to hearing more about your process(es)!

If you've done a post for the My Writing Process blog tour lemme know so I can read it.  :-)

(Giving) Thanks to my YA Critique Partners!

'Tis the time of year to give thanks for what you have. And many times that translates to who you have in your life. Of course I'm thankful to ALL my friends, family, and fellow foodies for their support through a rough year and rough times ahead. For all the warm fuzzies, well wishes, shoulders to vent and cry on, and baked goods galore. Y'alls are the best. But I did want to take a moment and thank those who have been especially helpful for a writing project I've been tackling. Being NaNoWriMo month and me focusing on a complete revision of my young adult (YA) novel I wanted to take a moment and give HUGE, MAGNANIMOUS thanks to my critique partners for this young adult project, tentatively titled The Facility. Your reading and re-reading (and re-reading) as well as your advice, well wishes, and kindness has been helpful beyond expression. :-)

While I have a growing list of great people and fellow writers to thank for my growth as a writer from the time I started in junior high to now I'm singling out the ladies who have aided me in getting more confidence as I pursue the YA project that had been in my mind since I started undergrad and just never thought I had the chutzpah to pursue. Well, nine years later here it goes.

I met my CPs on WriteOnCon when there was a launch for a kind of blind dating of potential CPs. You posted your project to the forum and looked at what others posted and you inquired with each other and submitted work. If you liked each other's style then you connected and from then on things went very well for me!

Amy Christine Parker

What I admire most about Amy is not only her writing style but her organization and ability to get stuff done. Amy's debut The Silo is coming out next year with Random House and it's a whopper lemme tell you. When I read the first few pages I was thinking to myself "This is so good. I want to read more! Crap, I hope she likes my work!"

Amy hones into her characters and their deepest fears. (If you've read her stuff on Fiction Femme Fatale you'll know what I mean.) Her contemporary work is original and something I'm confident readers will grasp on and relate to. It hits you from the first page and you relate to everyone in some way, the good and the bad.

Amy has been great with helping me think on the bigger picture and connecting the dots on things I may not have seen in my work. We're all pretty critical when we read a book and think "Well why didn't the writer think of that?" Amy is that reader who aids you as writer to zone in on that so the story doesn't go off-kilter at any point and you can enjoy the piece. In my latest revision her advice has been astoundingly helpful and also hit points that I had been questioning myself.

Jenny Coon Peterson

Jenny is a magnificent world builder and has a deep love for the young adult and the fantastical. She's been incredibly helpful in terms of moving things along and also digging deeper into what should urk the reader. Which is totally what I was going for! Jenny has helped me tighten action scenes and push deeper in terms of the larger piece so that it moves faster and doesn't drag.

Jenny is also an idea person. She has amazing premises and thoughts on how to move things along. Every NaNoWriMo I'm amazed and in awe of how much material she produces and how deep she goes into the worlds she creates. The first novel I read of hers reminded me of Harry Potter. When I read it and reread it, I wanted to get lost in it again, but I had to give her critiques asap! Knowing her love for Potter I saw the influence but also her own twist and originality in creating a cool group of people and a multitude of layers for a series that I'm certain will be embraced by readers.

Nicole Settle

Nicole is a phenom when it comes to pacing. Every time I read her work I'm amazed at how much happens in so few pages. Her prose is fast-paced but you get so much in the details of what she adds in. From her work I learn precision. I keep reviewing her stuff in the hopes that it'll seep into my brain by osmosis. She hits the darkside of things in her writing while always maintaining to insert a bit of hope.

Nicole has been great in letting me know what works even if I'm concerned it doesn't while also noting tweaks and changes in details, characters, and scenes. And because of her knowledge of the genre she pinpoints aspects of these characters lives I should consider for later on.

Nicole is also a baking nut like myself. Baking bonds so many people.

I'd also like to give thanks to Carrie Bastyr who read preliminary bits of this work. Her advice has also helped as I revise the series.

These ladies have helped me immensely in the revision stages. Having CPs who are avid readers and detailed critiquers will advance your work by leaps and bounds, I promise you.

So, as I plug away on the 3rd draft and look over the insightful comments from my CPs, I just wanted to extend a very big, interwebz, pre-Thanksgiving THANKS for all your help and support. Your advice, your persistence, your wonderful writing first and foremost, has inspired and helped me grow. And I'm super glad we connected via WriteOnCon. :-)

Second (Write) Campaigner Challenge

Well, I just blew the first challenge but I am up for the second dog-gone-it! Rachael Harrie's Fourth Platform Campaign boasts some challenges and the latest one is to write a flash fiction/short story or poem based around an image prompt. You can read and vote for entrants at Rachael's blog here.

Here's the image I chose...

...and here's the flash fiction piece I produced in 200 words entitled (for the moment) "Boom."

Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time a boom created the world. Beasts roamed and acted on instinct, something everyone has, no matter what you’ve heard. Time passed, a crash, and man arrived living alongside the beasts. It was chaotic but not so much that One looking down would be concerned. Civilization was coming into itself.

Fast forward as man walks erect, animals conceal themselves, and the world becomes stone. Serenity breaks. Differences are found, not embraced. Beliefs are not in line, skin pallor is too dark, and what was once so beautiful about them was now what held man against one another.

And so the land cracked and nations developed, wars began, machinery made the sky as dark as the newly cemented ground. Man oppressed man (and woman) to retain “purity” all in the name of a holy being who watched and waited hoping for things to right itself without taking a hand.

It seemed better, but it wasn’t, not really. Creation begot humanity. It begot nature. It begot what was once good about the world.

Once upon a time a boom created the world and a boom would destroy it so life could begin anew.