March Agent of the Month – Ann Rose – First Page Results

Thank you, Ann Rose, for your feedback on the first page of my YA fantasy novel, Monster Rehab! Thank you, Kathy Temean, for hosting these resourceful posts! 🙂 Yay!

Writing and Illustrating

ANN ROSE AT PROSPECT AGENCY:

I am a California native who now resides in Texas after a stint in Florida. Each place has its pros and cons, but I can say that I left my heart in San Diego and dream of going back one day (although that will probably never happen). My degree is in Communication from San Diego State University, and my resume holds a gamut of jobs from Life Guard to Business Systems Analyst/Portfolio Manager, but books have always been my passion. I’m excited to finally merge my love of literature with my past professional experiences as a literary agent with Prospect. It is my honor to help authors build successful, sustainable careers.

I fell in love with young adult books when my niece asked me to read with her and I remain devoted to YA of all genres. I am looking for characters who aren’t afraid…

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The Importance of Self-Care For Writers

Uninspired Writers

We are all too aware of how tough times are right now, and self-care has never been more important. Not just for writers, of course, but for everybody. However, this is a writing blog, and so it is the importance of self-care for writers I am focusing on here today. Discussing burnout, relaxing, and getting started again, I hope this advice will help you take some time for yourself.

The impact of burnout
Burnout is a very real side effect of being overworked, over tired and overwhelmed. It’s all very well to push yourself towards your goals, but with all your other commitments too, it’s important to get balance between what keeps you busy, and taking time to chill. For writers, the impact of burnout usually leads to less productivity, writer’s block, a lack of ideas and inspiration, and feelings of self-doubt. It can become tempting to give…

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In Solidarity

I hate injustice. I abhor “whataboutisms”. Thankfully, Eleanor does, too, and calls out the absolute obtuse nonsense that some individuals have added to the ongoing conversation regarding racism and misogyny when they say, “Oh, he had a bad day”. WTF?! He murdered people! This irreverent narrative is not only abusive to the victims, their families, their friends, but also disgusting, and cannot stand.

The Writing Life Blog

I’m heartbroken for my Asian sisters and Asian-American Pacific Islander communities in the United States and abroad for the brutal killings yesterday in Georgia. Women went to work to provide for their families during an ongoing pandemic. A married couple sought to share a couple’s massage. The husband escaped the shootings. His wife, a new mother, died.

Then this happened during a press conference in Georgia…

“Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did.” – Jay Baker, Cherokee Sheriff spokesman.

A bad day? Not acceptable! Why did Jay Baker think it was okay, useful, or appropriate to give us his two cents on the killer’s state of mind before, during, and after he slayed eight people? Think about that. Who asked him to volunteer that information? The mass murderer massacred six women. Two men. I don’t have to know him. Stick to the facts…

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‘Cancel Culture’ or Consequences?

🙂

WordyNerdBird

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

There has been a lot of discussion and a fair bit of outrage over recent months about different things being “cancelled”.

The term ‘cancel culture’ is thrown around quite liberally in response to a particular movie or TV show that will no longer be aired, a book that will no longer be published, or someone’s social media account being shut down. ‘Cancel culture’ is often used as a slur to denigrate those who stand by the principles of integrity, equality and collectively being better about racism or hatred than we once were.

While it is true that sometimes such measures go too far or seem to be nitpicking, there are things which we should be willing to put behind us because we now understand and acknowledge they are hurtful or misrepresent the true nature of a group of people or…

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How a Cuban Spy Sabotaged New York’s Thriving Illicit Slave Trade

Repeating Islands

John Harris (Smithsonian Magazine) writes about Cuban spy Emilio Sánchez and how, from 1859 to 1862, he helped the British government to fight “the lucrative business [the slave trade] as American authorities looked the other way.”[Many thanks to Odlanyer Hernández de Lara for sharing this item.]

The men of the “Portuguese Company,” about a dozen in total, arrived in 1850s Manhattan ready to bring the illegal slave trade to America’s mega-metropolis. Hailing from Brazil, Portugal and Angola, the group earned their moniker from their common tongue. They were attracted by New York’s large port, with ample ships and sailors, as well as the city’s vast financial services and lax law enforcement. Posing as merchants in legal business, the Company snapped up hundreds of ships to send to Africa for captives and then to the sugar estates of Cuba. The Company would traffic thousands of Africans for their…

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That Penultimate-Minded, War-Inducing, Trendy Punctuation Mark, The Oxford Comma Begs the Question, “Why so serious?”

The Oxford comma has many names, such as serial comma, series comma and the terminal comma. Terminal. Serial. These words conjure grave images in my mind and they are of the utmost serious kind. And for both pro- or anti-Oxford comma camps, it is a serious matter, indeed. 🙂 You may have noticed that I …

Silver Lining Rejection Letters

In a previous post, I discussed acceptance letters and some good news. 🙂 Today is not that day. 😈 Not all rejection letters are equal. Nor should they serve the same purpose for writers. It has been quipped that authors could wallpaper their homes with rejection letters. Let us instead utilize these often painful responses …