weathered things

Holy crap, Olivia, where the heck have you been? I know, I know, I haven't done a blog post for... *checks timeline* Jeez, May 19th. I am so sorry. I have got some stuff going on, and if you follow my Instagram (@the.real.olivia.ann) you know bits and pieces of it. Long story short, I've got blog posts coming out. Next week there will be one looking back on my experiences of the Minneapolis Young Writer's Workshop, I've got a flash fiction I've been meaning to post, and I've got a few writerly things I want to post. For now, I've got a few things to share with you. First off, yes, my blog changes a lot. I'm trying to get it to fit my aesthetic and I am never content with it, but I'm actually okay with the design now. Anyways, onto the whole thing that I just realized I didn't share with you when it happened. I am now a represented author. And here is the story of how it came to be. | | | 2013, I had a story in my head I wa...

Yes, I realize that this isn't Tips for Overwriters. I'm sorry, I haven't really gotten on that yet. It will be next week's post. It will be. I'm going to write it and schedule it ahead of time. IT WILL BE NEXT WEEK I PROMISE! And now back to your regularly scheduled post. Whether you're at this part of the writing and publishing process or you've just started writing, if you plan to get published traditionally you need to know how to write a query letter. And if you're just starting to write, you may ask yourself "well I am not at that point yet, so I don't have to worry about that." Yes you do. So, here it is! Step 1: Know The Plot First off, before you even start, you need to know what your book is about. "But I'm writing it, I know what it's about!" Yes, but that's not what I mean. You know when a friend (or an acquaintance who heard you are writing a book and wants a discount) comes up to...

I won't be doing a book review this week, so instead you get this. Just a fair warning, this will be a bit of a rant post. So, on my journey to get published, I am currently on the querying stage of it. Querying agents can seem terrifying. And trust me, it is. I know what you probably expected. "Don't worry, it's fine!" "It is simple!" NOOOO. No. It is not fine, it is not simple. And you're probably thinking I'm crazy, you probably think I'm overreacting. I'm not. Not by a long shot. Let me explain to you what happens when you query an agent. You spend hours on the computer, searching for the right agent. It's not easy! There are a lot of agents out there. You go through a lot of them. "Oh this one's perfect! But... they don't do YA." "This. This agent is the one. Nope, they only do Contemporary YA." "This one is perfect, they even do my genre! But they don't accept email qu...