Mary Kole is looking for You! Or me.

                                         This is Mary Kole. She is a literary agent. She is looking for interns here:
                                                                  http://kidlit.com/

THIS is very intriguing, It appears that literary agent, Mary Kole, is looking for interns. While I usually think of an intern as a young, newly minted college grad, I must say I am intrigued. Yes, I am published. Yes, I have an M.F.A. and yes, I am...well, not old, but I am not uhm... young. However, maybe I should shake these preconceived notions out of my cobwebbed head and really consider applying for this. Sure I wouldn't be paid, but knowledge is invaluable and something I don't have right now is an agent. No, I wouldn't apply in order to schmooze Mary into being MY agent, but maybe by putting myself in the game in this way, I could finally figure out what it is agents look for. Of course, Mary would have to choose me to, but nothing ventured, nothing gained right?

What would you do? Would you like to apply?

The deadline is May 25th so make that decision fast!

LARPing for Writers :)

As a way to start off my new blog, I'm really thinking outside the cubicle today. I woke up this morning with the desire to LARP. LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. If you're a fan of Big Bang Theory, you've probably seen Sheldon, Leanord, Howard and Raj running around in Medieval chainmail armour costumes, weilding prop weapons and pretending to be warriors out on a quest. Essentially, that's what LARPing is and it reminds me of what I used to do as a little kid when I played pretend. And it kind of reminds me of what I do now as a writer. Sounds cool, doesn't it?

When I Googled LARP, I found a ton of sites. This one: www.larp.com has a listing of a bunch of LARP scenarios that people can get involved in along with ideas for costumes and character creation. Just thinking outside the cubicle here, but  I wonder if writers could use LARPing as a way to slash (pun intended) through writers block. If nothing else, it would be great exercise :)

Tell me, have you ever LARPed?

Getting My Group On

Hi All!

Because I decided it would be a lot of fun to blog with a group of like-minded authors, I'm now with the WritersByTheShore blog. Kimmy, Archana, Heather and I have joined forces to bring you content that we hope will light a fire under your writing. My content will show up both here on my own blog and at the WritersByTheShore blog. In addition, I will write my own individual blog. So check back for contests, interviews and fun giveaways!



A Celebration!!

In life there are plenty of things to celebrate both big - a contract for a new book for example. And little - waking up with clear nasal passages (can anyone say allergy season). So I'm here today to celebrate a big thing and a little thing because, in my opinion, it's good to celebrate both.

The big thing is indeed a contract with Crescent Moon Press for my new paranormal YA, Devil's Triangle. It looks cool to write that in red, doesn't it? The staff at CMP are very cool people. Organized, enthusiastic and a real cheerleading squad for a rather shy writer like moi. If you'd like to check out the author's page they set up for me, as well as read the blurb for Devil's Triangle, here's the link: http://crescentmoonpress.com/Authors/TDePalma.html I have to admit, as much as I self-talk myself saying that publishing isn't really all that important, it feels great to be validated in this way.

My second thing to celebrate is rather small and actually happened a while back. I was flipping through some photos and came across a lovely memory of a day spent with my family at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. That's where the above picture was taken. Arent't the bluebells spectacular? And wow, how lucky I was to stand in front of all of that glory.

So go ahead and take some time today to celebrate the big things as well as the little. The little things might actually be more awe inspiring than you'd ever considered. And if you're not feeling like there is much in your life to celebrate then enjoy the fact that the pollen count is relatively low today :)

Paris is for Writers

I'll admit it. My resolve to remain a writer has, over the last year, been a little shaky. Difficulty selling a book, getting an agent and then some personal losses have all taken their toll. Feeling rung out, I started thinking that a job as a waitress might be more gratifying. At least there would be tips. And if a customer complains about their meatloaf it doesn't hurt near as much as when someone rejects your novel.

When a friend suggested we go to a writers' retreat in Paris, I jumped. Wow, Paris! I'd never been. And oh yeah there was the writing part too. I figured I could fudge that. Truthfully, by the time I arrived at the Hotel Saint Louis, I'd already resolved to give up writing all together. But to my surprise, my resolve splintered. After the mornings of writing in the Luxembourg gardens, after rich lunches in some of the same cafes where Hemingway drank his whisky and laid down his prose, after wandering around the grand boulevards and narrow alleys of Paris, my writer's soul woke up and I began writing again. Just as the Lost Generation - Hemingway, James Joyce, Fitzgerald - did, I also discovered the spell that Paris casts on writers.

Now I am home, with only photos and journal entries as reminders of my time away. But, at least for today, I am not thinking about filling out an application for Denny's. And that is a good thing.

What Book Changed You?

I was over at Nathan Bransford's blog (if you don't know it check it out, there's a link on this page) and Nathan asked his readers, What Book Changed You? I like reading these posts to see if there are any books that I might want to check out. Invariably on a post like this there are fledgling writers who post the name of their own WIP. At first I figured that these people are only trying to gain someone's attention, but then I thought that what book could impact a person's life more than the one that they themselves have written (or are attempting to write)?

Writing like reading (only more so I think) is a journey of self discovery. When I'm in the "zone", scenes, characters, dialogue, it all flies out of my fingers and onto the page in some odd and lovely subconscious way. Afterward, I may pause and see snippets of myself, my life and the people in my life and have an AHA! moment. This feeling of fleeting clarity, of how my life has come together in the way it has, always delights and satisfies me. It's better than therapy! A lot of times I don't see myself on the page so much as my readers do. Often they will ask about how I came up with a name for a character or a unique situation and I honestly can't answer them. But with a bit of self examination I take a closer look at what i have written and and it's like looking into a mirror. There I am!

So for anyone who dreams of being a writer, I would say forget about the fame and the wealth that drive you. Rather, why not view writing as lovely and mysterious exploratory journey where the ultimate treasure trove is YOU!

And P.S.: What books have changed you?

Jeremy Owl video

My publisher created a cool book trailer for Jeremy Owl. Check it out, along with Gregg Hinlicky's fabulous illustrations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Ia8jz8KdM