In writing news, I started querying my middle grade novel-in-verse about an 11-year-old girl who loses her mom to the opioid crisis. For those of you who are new here, it's a very personal story, as it's based on my childhood. It took a lot of me to finally write it, but I desperately believe in getting more stories out there for kids who are facing addiction in their families, especially loss caused by addiction.
As of today, I've had four full requests from my first round (and one of those agents may represent Twilight and The Fault in Our Stars!) Honestly, though, all of the agents are amazingly talented folks that I would be thrilled to work with. I recently sent out my second round of letters, too, so I'm hoping to connect with even more agents. That said, I realize there's a chance my book will never make it - or that I could be doing something wrong - which is why I still attended a SCBWI webinar about novels in verse. The author who taught it was kind enough to chat with me, offer me some advice and resources, and he took a look at one of my poems. I made a couple edits after that discussion, too!
This brings me to my extra writing tip for this newsletter. Never stop learning or putting yourself out there. If I had done so, I would've missed out on a fabulous learning opportunity that has helped me approach my writing in a brand-new way.
Who knows? Maybe those edits will make all the difference.
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