Literary Rambles does it again, and other musings

...5 Things I've Learned from forthcoming YA author Ryan Graudin is necessary reading for aspiring writers. Literary Rambles does it yet again. If you don't yet follow their blog, I highly suggest you do. Soon.

One of the most useful pieces of advice from "5 Things I've Learned" is about how to conduct queries. Graudin recommends spacing out query letters in fives--and waiting a good amount of time between each wave. This way, a writer doesn't blow through an entire agent list right off the bat. (Another good piece of info I've heard is to not query the same agency at the same time). As I'm going to start querying next year, this was very timely insight.

Graudin also talks about the importance of networking with other writers. When trying to navigate the vast oceans of how to get your work noticed, it helps to confer with someone who's been through the process.

And speaking of process, here's another gem from Janice Hardy about tightening narrative voice. I wish I'd seen this when I was getting the first draft of my novel on paper. She provides a nice step-by-step method to make narrative more readable.

Another thing I've learned recently (that no one ever told me) is that sometimes there will be significant deadline crunches, particularly when working with publishers. It's good to balance time when you can, but sometimes cramming is inevitable. More on this in a future post.

-The Writer Librarian