Pitching a Book

When I first heard that writers have to pitch their books, I thought of a baseball pitcher burning the ball into the strike zone. No way—too rough! So I imagined gently tossing a large envelope containing my freshly-completed manuscript to a grateful agent—the catcher—who would open it and immediately start reading. Silly me.

A Heavy Parcel

Earlier this month a heavy parcel landed with a thud on my porch. My manuscript! With it came a nice rejection letter. I use the word nice

Revision Hurdles – Part 3 (Because of This)

In July I pitched my book at the PNWA* writers conference to three editors and three literary agents. Although they liked the story, four of the six gave me

A Dose of Reality

You know how we writers spend much of our time alone at the computer, where it’s comfortable? In July, for the first time ever, I stepped out of my comfort zone to pitch my novel at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference.