Crafting Your Cover Letter: Submission Series

Hey there word nerds! I’ve been pondering what sort of things to write about here on my blog and I came to a realization. I studied writing for 3.5 years. Now I’m an editor. I’m in a unique position of seeing the publication process from both sides. So I decided to start a series on the submission process and give you all the insider tips to help you succeed.

Now I can’t promise that if you do all these things, you’ll be selling stories left and right. I can say that they will help you stand out to editors. All these tips come from my experience reading submissions for the magazine I work for. Which brings up another point. These tips are skewed toward submitting stories to a magazine or journal. While some of them might carry over to book submissions, that’s a whole other process, and I have less experience with it.

So here we go! We’ll start with my top 5 tips for writing a killer cover letter. Because (and here’s a free tip) you should always write a cover letter. Always.

Continue reading “Crafting Your Cover Letter: Submission Series”

Knowing Your Characters

You may have noticed that I’m not blogging as often as I used to.  And I apologize for that.

The truth is I’ve had a hard time coming up with topics to write about. Nothing exciting seems to happen to me, especially compared to some of my friends, who are moving to Africa or weeding out the possible serial killers in the dating pool. 

That’s not to say I have no interesting stories to tell. Unfortunately, the fun stories I have all relate to my job. I get to open the mail that kids send to our magazines. I get to read some of the funniest and most touching notes, but I can’t share them here. 

So I’ve decided to move back to writing focused posts, though I’ll try not to be technical for you non-writer readers. If there’s something specific you’d like to see me write about, let me know!

Continue reading “Knowing Your Characters”

Dealing with Exhaustion

Oh hey there.

Been a while, hasn’t it.

Ehrm….

So here’s the deal. In the last five months, I’ve moved three times and started two new jobs. Two of the moves have been across at least four states away. Factor in very little time to relax and changing time zones, and you’ve got one exhausted Kate.

Since I’ve been so exhausted lately, I’ve learned some of the best (and worst) ways to deal with being tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. And since I haven’t had much luck in brainstorming topics to blog about, I decided to share them with you.

Continue reading “Dealing with Exhaustion”

Why I Reread Books

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

I don’t really love going to bookstores.

Now, before you make me hand in my word nerd credentials, hear me out. I’m not saying I hate bookstores. I like them a lot.

What I hate is browsing.

I’m not one of those people who can spend hours on end just looking through the shelves (though I’m certainly capable of it if the mood strikes me) and walk out with bags of books (or a long wishlist).

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But I can easily spend hours in a library and walk away with more books than I can carry at once.

The difference for me is in the permanence.

In other words, I don’t like to buy a book I haven’t read.

Which brings up a question I get a lot. “Why are reading that book again? You already know what happens.”

Granted, there are some books (I’m looking at you, Lord of the Rings) that take a few read-throughs simply because they contain so much information. You have to go back to make sure you didn’t miss something important.

But I’ve always been someone who enjoys rereading books.  All books.  And I don’t just read them twice, either. As I write this post, I’m reading my way through Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series (which I highly recommend!) for at least the fifth time. And there are books I’ve read even more than that.

I tend to make a habit of rereading books. And I’ll tell you why.

1. The Experience

When I read a book, I immerse myself in that world. And when it comes to immersion, familiarity becomes your best friend. The better you know the characters, the world, the story, the more fully you can put yourself in it.

So maybe you don’t get to experience all the surprises and tension that a first read gives you. But you can appreciate more fully the way things happen and why.

And the more you read those books, the easier it becomes to enter those worlds. It’s like slipping on a comfy pair of sweatpants. Warm and cuddly and familiar.

2. The Example

Now, I’m a writer. So when I find those books that I just love, I want to reread them to learn from them.

I want to figure out what the writer did that captured my attention so completely.  And sometimes, I get distracted by how good the story is. So I read it again. And again.

3. The Excitement

I read a lot of books.

I’ve never actually made a list or kept count, but I would make a conservative guess of at least a book a week, depending on how busy I am. I have been known to read an entire book in a day if it’s good enough (and if it’s over a weekend).

So I don’t always remember what happens in a book, even if I’ve read it before.

For example, I was scrolling through my Kindle books the other day and stumbled across a few books that I think I got back in high school. Maybe early college. Either way, at least three years ago.

And I remembered nothing about them. So I read them again.

For me, this is the biggest reason I reread books. Sure, I might remember the main plot points. I might even remember some specific lines. But unless I just finished reading it, there are going to be things I forget. And I love rediscovering them.

Yes, as I read, more of the story comes back to me. But there are still usually things that surprise me, whether it’s a character’s action or a particularly well-written line.

To me, there’s nothing more exciting than rediscovering why I fell in love with a book in the first place.

Until next time, word nerds!

What books do you like to reread?

Road Trips and Big News

Heya word nerds!

I need to apologize to you. I’ve been very bad about posting here over the last month. But I have an excuse. It’s even a good one!

First things first, I made a new video! Check it out.

In case it wasn’t obvious from the video, I recently took a road trip. My parents and I drove two cars across 7 states and over 1,700 miles from Pennsylvania to Colorado. It took us four very long days.

Why the road trip? you ask.

Well, that leads to the big news.

I have a job!

“But Kate,” you’re probably thinking, “we already knew that. That’s why you moved to Pennsylvania.”

And you would be correct in thinking that. However, at the beginning of July, I was offered a different position. In Colorado.

So that brought about a rather difficult choice. In the end, I decided to take the position in Colorado. After I made that choice, I had a rather hectic few weeks as I packed up my apartment, finished up in Pennsylvania, and moved to Colorado.

Hence the road trip.

I’m so excited to begin my new position on Monday. I’ll be working at Focus on the Family, as the editorial assistant for their children’s magazines. You might remember I did my summer internship with them last year.

And hopefully, now that I’m getting settled in again, I’ll be more consistent on my blog.

Until next time, word nerds!

The Procrastination Problem (or Why I’m Learning to Work Ahead)

You may have noticed that my text posts have been a little sporadic of late. That’s largely because as I’m adjusting to my new job and home, I’m trying to adjust to a new schedule.

When I was in school (and doesn’t that make me sound old?), I generally wrote my blog posts the day I posted them. I’d take an hour or two between classes to whip up a post and be done. Because it was a short amount of time between busyness, I was less likely to be distracted. It might not have been the best way to go about blogging, but it worked for me.

After I graduated, I had even more free time so it was no trouble at all to type out a post in very little time.

Now, however, I don’t have free time during the day. I’m at work for 9 hours and by the time I get back to my apartment, I don’t usually have the brainpower to quickly write and post anything remotely clever or interesting. So I put it off.

This post is actually the perfect example. I started it over a week and a half ago.

If moving and living on my own have taught me anything, it’s how to prioritize. And I’ve found that making rest and relaxation a priority goes a long way toward making me a happier, healthier person.

So unfortunately, blogging often gets pushed to the side on Tuesday nights. Especially now, since I’m busy after work on Tuesdays. My solution, theoretically, is to finish my blog posts sooner, over the weekends.

That hasn’t been going so well.

I’m still trying to figure out where everything fits. I’m trying to balance being productive with not driving myself crazy.

So I apologize if I’m still not back on schedule yet. I’m doing my best and slowly finding what works.