This excellent article came across my desk this evening. It’s definitely worth the read, but only read it if you can handle some cold, hard truth — eek!

You might never guess, but a literary agent isn’t even one of the gatekeepers on this list – double eek!

This will help you see behind the curtain of what goes on at the publishing house after an acquiring editor falls in love with your book.

Read the article here: https://www.writingdayworkshops.com/blog/the-gatekeepers-the-three-people-who-decide-if-your-book-gets-published

The author of this article, Mike Nappa, is a literary agent and an author. He’s been in the publishing world for a long time. He’s written a book called 77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected: And how to be sure it won’t happen again!

You can read (or listen to) those 77 reasons here: https://nappaland.com/nappaland-literary/77-reasons-why/

Now, lest you lose all hope after reading any of the above, let me urge you to chill. Learn as much as you can but trust that your personal journey matters. You matter and your voice matters. When we think it’s us vs. the establishment, it’s easy to get discouraged. We really can’t focus on that. And I’m cheering you on.

Enjoy your journey. Keep building and keep growing. Keep making connections and expanding your tribe.

Keep moving forward.

I had a lot of fun catching up with Barbara Nickless. I first met her at the Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference in Colorado Springs. Back in those days when I needed extra encouragement, she was always a friendly face. It’s exciting for me to see her success and I’m sure I’ll be celebrating more as the years go by. I hope this awesome Q&A gives you some great keys for your own writing journey.

I also highly recommend this article she did for Writer’s Digest:

7 Ways Writing Heals Us—Even After Terrible Trauma https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/7-ways-writing-heals-us-even-after-terrible-trauma

And these:

Female Protagonists in Crime Fiction: What You Need to Know by Barbara Nickless
How Far Will You Go … to Get Your Story Right? by Barbara Nickless

Yesterday was a great day in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina! You might recognize some faces in these pictures. 😍😍😍 One of my biggest joys of the day was finally meeting Olivia in the flesh (she flew in from Wisconsin!), and Derek Davidson drove down from North Carolina (he taught an amazing class). Tricia did an amazing job at the registration table and she lead a panel with our three other literary agents. She read the attendees first pages and then the agents commented and gave teaching points for the group.

The food was good and the conversation was deep. I met with authors from many different walks of life. One author told me about being held hostage by a Colombian drug gang. Another author told me how she’d gone from being homeless to owning a five million dollar historical mansion in Charleston. And one father told me a heartbreaking story of the police knocking on his door one morning to tell him his son was dead.

There are so many stories, and it was an honor to hear them.

Friday through Sunday I’ll be in Kansas City and then I have a break before my next conference in June.

Some very interesting thoughts here on story structure. What do you want your reader’s experience to be? Are you asking yourself this question?

Food for thought. Enjoy!