Whether you’re a writer or not, new goals often accompany the New Year. For some, a New Year can bring a bit of disappointment when last year’s goals went unmet. Reflecting back on the previous year may bring up feelings of frustration and shame. Perhaps your writing goals were halted in their tracks by a …
Category: Whitman Court
December 2022 Writing Update: Small Victories, Goals, and Looking To 2023
Welcome to the final Writing Update of 2022! Today’s post will not only give a recap of my progress since my last update, but take a look back at the year as a whole. Let’s start with 2022 in review. Looking back at my writing goals, made at the start of this year, I ended …
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Where Did Whitman Court Come From?
Great question. It’s a bit of a murky journey. Here’s a fun fact about me as a writer: most of my story ideas that I’m actively working on came to me in high school or earlier. Unfortunately, though, it’s difficult to determine when an idea first occurred to me or when I started working on …
What I Write
Every year around my birthday (August 11th), I try to write a self-reflective, personal post for the blog. This year, I decided to take a step of courage and talk more in-depth about my current writing projects–something that is, surprisingly, difficult for me. I was on the fence about doing this because I didn’t want …
Patience, Persistence, and Practicality: Initial Thoughts from Pitching The Queen of Whitman Court
I entered into 2022 with high hopes: it’s time to pitch my novel, The Queen of Whitman Court! I planned to dive right into it, sending out letters left and right and every which way to any editor or agent who might possibly give me a chance— But if you’ve been following along with my …
Lessons from Lemony Snicket: Narrative Voice
As I mentioned in my writing update a few weeks ago, I recently reread Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events as a part of trying to crack the secret of writing a strong, distinct narrative voice for Whitman Court. My aim with Whitman Court was to write the stories with a clever, omniscient Narrator …
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April 2022 Writing Update: Secret Project, SCBWI Conference, and More!
I’ve got a lot of ground to cover with this overdue writing update, so let’s dive right in! There’s a lot going on with my writing projects, plus I attended a regional conference with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) last weekend! Writing Updates: The Queen of Whitman Court: Back in March, …
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February 2022 Writing Update
Set-backs in writing are…frustrating. And discouraging. I know set-backs are common for writers. Stories not working out, characters falling flat, readers not understanding something in the book, etc. There are always scenes to revise and stories to sort out. And it takes humility to see it, to say, “It’s not ready yet,” and be willing …
Writing Update: December 2021
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Here’s my present to you: a Winter Writing Update! My latest writing update can be summed up in one simple sentence: I’m going all in to the Whitman Court series. While this isn’t necessarily shocking or new, it’s reflective of my state of mind to actually declare the series as …
My 10th Novel Wasn’t What I Expected…
On September 30, 2021, I hit a special milestone. I finished my 10th original novel. “Finished” used very, very loosely—there’s still a lot of editing to come. The funny thing is...I didn’t expect this book to be No. 10. I’ve been waiting to hit this milestone for nearly three years now, and I never would’ve …
By Madelynn Orion 