Chronicling a writer’s improbable journey (good, bad, and ugly) from manuscript to publishing contract to actually someday holding the book in my hands.
A Night at the Edgars
Back in December I sent my little haunted house mystery novel to the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel contest, in which one book was selected out of something like 400 people submitted manuscripts to win a Minotaur publishing contract and $10,000 advance.
And it won.
Shut Up, Norbert! (slaying the dragons that tell you you suck)
This is Norbert.
I honestly don’t remember where I acquired him, but he has been with me for a long time. The name was proposed by a former co-worker and it stuck. His deeper identity remained shrouded in secrecy to the more nuanced layers of my mind, as was no doubt his intention, until I heard the amazing Sue Campbell of Pages and Platforms speak to a group of writers about the resistance writers (and others) often experience in our work, as discussed by Stephen Pressfield and his book The War of Art. He refers to this phenomenon as “lizard brain”…