In September 2017, I decided to leave my NYC agent, who had been submitting my manuscript unsuccessfully to editors, and move forward on publishing  Always Gardenia independently. I had fretted about this decision in much the same way one does about a romantic break-up: "Should I give it another chance? If I leave this relationship, … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: DIY, Part 2

I'll post again next Friday, November 30.

"I write this calmly enough, but really I was and am very upset about it and think they may have treated me very badly. Of course, it may be that this novel is much worse than my others, though they didn't say so, giving their reason for rejecting it as their fear with the present cost … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: DIY, Part 1

Five years ago, my husband and I moved into a 320-square-foot cottage that he created from a rundown 1944-vintage garage on the back of our property. We rent our so-called "Big House" to University of Washington sabbatical families, the rental income helping us fund our artist life-styles. We designed the cottage with two small private … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: A (teeny) Room of One’s Own

The middle-grade novel for young readers that I am revising this month has a quirky eleven-year-old boy protagonist. In the original manuscript I chose to use only his first-person point-of-view to tell the story. Ready to wrangle a major revision, however, I've decided to add the first-person perspective of the "supporting role," his conventional twelve-year-old … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: REVISION AND POV