March 16 marked the twentieth anniversary of my mom’s death. It’s a strange fact to realize how much time has passed, how much my life changed, how much she is missing. I’ve spoken about her many times on my blog and across other social media channels, most recently in the context of writing a middle… Continue reading I Write Because I Want My Mom’s Death to Mean Something
Tag: middle grade
I’m Now Represented By…
ICYMI! I am so excited to announce that I am now represented by Marietta Zacker at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency! From the beginning, Marietta understood the importance of my middle grade novel-in-verse about losing my mom to the opioid crisis when I was 11, and I cannot wait for us to share it with… Continue reading I’m Now Represented By…
Writing a Great One-Line Pitch for Your 2022 Query Letter
Last month, my post—The Difference Between Querying in 2019 and 2022, and Why Your Well-Intentioned Advice May Be Doing More Harm Than Good.—got some attention on writing/publishing Twitter, and I received a lot of great questions. The top two that stood out? How do you write a fantastic one-line pitch? Where do you recommend I research agents… Continue reading Writing a Great One-Line Pitch for Your 2022 Query Letter
The Difference Between Querying in 2019 and 2022, and Why Your Well-Intentioned Advice May Be Doing More Harm Than Good.
When I signed with my first agent, it was 2019. I’d queried two manuscripts by then between 2017-2019. In 2021, my agent left the industry. I took some time off, then wrote the book of my heart, and now I’m back in the query trenches for the first time in three years. As an author… Continue reading The Difference Between Querying in 2019 and 2022, and Why Your Well-Intentioned Advice May Be Doing More Harm Than Good.
February Writing Journey Wrap-Up
Every month, I write a writing journey wrap-up post. It includes how many words I’ve written, what I’m working on, my wins, my losses, and other miscellaneous facts you may find interesting. First up this February, I wanted to congratulate our Pitch Wars 2020 mentee, Miranda Sun! She announced her six-figure, two-book deal with HarperCollins… Continue reading February Writing Journey Wrap-Up
January Writing Journey Wrap-Up
Every month I write about everything I did to chase my writing dream. These were my wins this past January.
The Truth About Giving Up on Writing
Have you ever considered giving up on writing? I know I have. Though I’ve been writing stories as long as I can remember, I consider myself as having two true starts. 1) When I was eleven, my mom died unexpectedly, and I told myself that day I would spend my life pursuing my dreams, no… Continue reading The Truth About Giving Up on Writing
2021: The Year of Dramatic, Unfinished Change
Every year, I take time to reflect on where I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m going. Last year was deemed The Strangest Writing Year (Hopefully?), and this year, I’ve decided to call it The Year of Dramatic, Unfinished Change. (Though, that may be too dramatic in itself.) Onto why that is (and also… Continue reading 2021: The Year of Dramatic, Unfinished Change
Behind the Scenes of Pitch Wars with Team Stellify
In case you missed it, Team Stellify announced our 2021 mentee for Pitch Wars! (But more on that below.) Since announcement day has come and gone, I thought it would be fun to give everyone a behind-the-scenes peek at what went down with Team Stellify. This year, Sandra Proudman and I decided to mentor a… Continue reading Behind the Scenes of Pitch Wars with Team Stellify
Writing About Grief
As someone who usually writes science fiction and fantasy, I decided to take a sharp turn during these last few months of 2021 to write my first contemporary. It’s a verse novel, centered on the loss of my mother when I was 11. (For those of you who are new to my blog, she died… Continue reading Writing About Grief
Shannon A. Thompson 