1. My critique partners: I met my two awesome
critique partners through the love connection on Maggie Steifvater’s blog. I
cannot stress enough how much writers need critique partners. I was very nervous
exchanging my work with strangers, but I couldn’t be luckier to have met Kate
and Abigail, who took my manuscript and improved it. They told me where it
was slow, where it was weak, where I could do better. Yes, they told me the
parts that worked as well, but they didn’t only tell me how much they loved the
story because that wouldn’t have helped at all. They said things that I knew
were true but had been afraid to admit. They helped mold my story into the one I was trying to tell, and they
kept me from giving up when things got hard. There was a point when I was
pretty sure I was going to have to trunk this novel, but with their
encouragement and help, I sold it instead. I am so thankful I listened to them.
2. My editor: I know I lucked out
when I landed Danielle Ellison as my editor. She answers my emails almost
immediately, Skypes with me whenever I need, and pushes me to make my
manuscript what she knows it can be. She loves my stories and characters almost
as much as I do, which is such a relief, but she doesn’t allow me to be lazy or
sloppy, which is an even bigger relief. But she isn’t just making this book
better. She’s making me better, so that the next book and the next and the next
will reflect her influence and her drive to make me the artist she knows I can
be. It means so much that she believes in me enough to ask me to do hard things.
She believes I can do them, so I can. I'm so grateful for that.
So stick around this month to see all the things I'm thankful for, and participate in the Thanksgiving Blog Hop at Brenda Drake's blog.
So stick around this month to see all the things I'm thankful for, and participate in the Thanksgiving Blog Hop at Brenda Drake's blog.
