Until now, I've been blogging mostly about promoting the work of other writers. For fifteen years (please don't do the math on my age), I have freelanced for children's trade book publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, Tor Books, and HarperCollins, writing reading guides and jacket copy, attending conferences, and scheduling author appearances. It has been my joy and privilege to celebrate and promote other authors--to help them get their stories out into the world. I have discovered many great books and made wonderful friends. Meanwhile, I admit, I've been rather quiet about my own fiction. In fact, most of the authors, editors and other publishing folk with whom I work by day do not know about my writing life.
So, now my secret is out and I sit here at the computer (and, according to the illustration at left, now blonde instead of brunette) looking at the post I was about to publish concerning optimizing the quality of school/library author appearances. I will share this information soon (I think it's very interesting) but in my heart I know that yesterday's BOOK DEAL (still like putting that in all caps!) has already changed my approach to this blog. The outpouring of cheers and encouragement from friends in the writing community has been amazing and wonderful, and I look forward to your company as I continue down the road to publication. I am going to have to get used to being on both sides of the publishing fence and, despite my natural New England reserve, try to share a bit more about myself as writer and not just a writer-on-the-side.
I'll close here with a couple of links for readers in the agent-seeking phase. For about six months before I found the courage to query any agents, I had been keeping an agent "wish list" which I refined with, among other things, information from these great blogs:
Finally, before my new-blog-perspective panic attack completely overtook me this morning, I found some calming comfort and good advice at Yen Cheong's awesome
Book Publicity Blog.
Check 'em out! Cheers! Stasia
