It's been a few months since I last blogged. Bet you all thought I was done with this writing thing, huh? The truth of the matter is that I've had both nothing and everything to blog about, which leads me to...avoid blogging altogether. I wanted to craft a post on how miserable catching Covid was [...]
Publishing is brutal. It's the first thing you learn as a new writer, and it's a lesson reiterated at every step along the way. From drafting to critiquing to querying to subbing. Brutal. All of it. Previously, my record on receiving a rejection for a query was thirty minutes from the time sent. Thirty minutes. [...]
Did some cool things this past week. Set-up The Heart of Death (The Tarrowburn Prophecies, Book 2) for publication, put it on Goodreads, queried a handful of literary agents with a different manuscript, and shared my query spreadsheet with a fellow writer so he can begin his foray into querying a YA fantasy. Yes, I [...]
Have you ever stopped to think about how your favorite author got to where they are, how they wrote and published so many books, how your most loved novels ended up on your bookshelf? Probably not. Most people don’t. At least, most people who aren’t writers don’t. But for those of us who write, contemplating [...]
As a writer, I find there are infinite pitfalls of self-doubt and whole periods of time where all I do is question whether or not my writing skills are worthy. Are they good enough for the books I so badly want to author? Do my words inspire others to jump into the lives of my [...]
I follow an eclectic mix of people on Twitter, but by far my Twitter feed skews toward the literary. From querying writers to veteran authors to agents to editors, I tend to follow it all. And in my honest opinion, if you’re not following these folks, you’re missing out! (I think I’ll need to make [...]
Happy Holidays, friends and family! This is the official 2017 Storms Christmas letter! (Look - I even went red and green! Festive!) Before you start in on me about how lame I am for sending you to my blog for warm wishes of holiday cheer, remember it’s been a fairly tough year. Go easy on [...]
Hooray! This is the last installment of my querying series. (Read: I think this is the last installment of my querying series, unless, of course, the person who is critiquing it as I type comes back with drastic changes that need to be made... Never done, people. It's never truly done.) I used to read [...]
By now you've probably got a pretty good idea where I'm going with my queries. (Progressively better with each version, but still not quite "there.") This particular version netted me requests (both partial and full) from several agents. It's better, but it's still lacking. Dear (Agent), Though your website lists that you are currently [...]
After a year and a half of constant rejection, I finally revised my first query into something a little more focused. It’s not quite as rambling as my first and it seems like maybe I knew a little bit more about what was going with my own book on at this point. Dear (Agent), I viewed [...]
L. Ryan Storms 