Writing your book is a (mostly fun) challenge. Marketing it? That’s where the work really starts…or so rumors have it.

I am by no means a querying expert, but I did have an out of the ordinary querying journey and experienced more scenarios than most.

I know the big question on so many authors’ minds is, what makes a good query?

Much like the genre name "speculative fiction", "speculative element" is an umbrella term that allows us to talk about both futuristic tech and various magics without getting caught up in particular definitions.

You’ll often hear agented writers talk about “going on sub” or “going on submission”. In essence, this means that their agent is sending out their manuscript to editors.

Ten years ago, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador with my husband.

The most frustrating and yet fantastic element of magic is the way it solves problems.

If you’re planning to be traditionally published, at some point you will need to build your list of agents to query. But how do you find agents?

One of my hopes while writing a story is to make it so immersive that the reader forgets they’re staring at page and instead falls deeply into the world and characters I’ve created.

You did it. You finally typed “The End” and feel like you can soar over the moon with unadulterated euphoria.

In literature, atmosphere is the way we use thoughtful description of the environment or setting, objects, and characters’ thoughts to convey moods to and evoke feelings in readers.

The first thing I’ll say to you is:

Don’t.

When you’re deep in the query trenches, things can feel pretty dark. Really dark.