INK Sisters Write

Dear Alison, Wow! Tuesday was an AMAZING day and the way you announced the big news to the world--BRILLIANT.  It's one of our most popular posts of all time and with good reason--Carrie and you are a match made in heaven... And I am sooooooo happy for you. I haven't stopped happy dancing since the first phone call... I can't wait for the world to read your stories, because you are a master storyteller, an absolute Master... Alison and Carrie, I look forward to an amazing future filled with incredible books, delicious cheesesteaks, and killer shoes... So it's Friday, and way back in 2016 we posted every Monday and Thursday, but life got away from us. Mainly for bookish reasons but don't worry. InkSisters will be participating in the April #AtoZChallenge again. In a few weeks, the A to Z Masters will reveal the badge and the contest theme. We already know our theme, don't we Alison? It'll take a considerable amo...

Dear Kim, Remember that letter I sent you way back in October? (You remember October-- back when all things seemed possible.)  The letter,  COMP TITLES and THE QUERYING WRITER , shared details from our Novel Nuts & Bolts class with Empire Literary Agent Carrie Howland. (I may have referred to her as "agent-extraordinaire" in another post .) Though today's post will be my third about Carrie, it is titled "Part II" because my querying journey seems sequel worthy. I started looking for an agent soon after you and I met at the NYC SCBWI conference in 2012 . I had nice feedback from an agent at a conference and sent him my work. His response was kind (which I've found most responses from agents to be.) But my writing wasn’t ready. The novel he saw was the first I’d ever finished. I wasn't ready. I swallowed that little voice that said, SEND! SEND! SEND! for two more years until I entered #PitchWars -- Brenda Drake’s crash cou...

Dear Kim, Did we really just get to spend the entire weekend together? Thank you very much, SCBWI!  Two days of writerly quality time with my writing BFF was amazing. And while I'd like to say the THEME of the weekend was friendship, it seems the hunt for competition took over as top topic for the weekend. No not this kind of competition: More like: We spent the weekend looking for THE competition.  Our competition.  Well, our book's competition in the marketplace.  For the querying author it is important to know what books your story will compete with for a reader's attention (and marketing $$$).  During our last Novel Nuts & Bolts class with Empire Literary agent, Carrie Howland we talked about developing research skills to find our competition in the marketplace as well as how to research comparison books that convey the tone and/or the theme of our stories. Let's slice into those research skills one at a time. "I GET T...