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This summer, I climbed two 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado with my longtime friend and fellow writer Jon Anderegg. While hiking Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive, I discovered several similarities between what my feet were doing on the trail and what my hands do each day on the keyboard. I hope this post encourages any author who has decided to embark on this long journey we call writing. 1. Don’t do it alone: While you could hike 14,000 feet by yourself, it can be dangerous (and [...]

I just received an official acceptance letter to Futurescapes, a highly competitive, intensive and exclusive writing workshop of Utah Valley University. Students are selected based on the extraordinary merit of their writing—and I was only one of a handful to make the first cut. During the conference, I will be working with three faculty mentors on the first 3,000 words of my new novel, while receiving substantive feedback on the overall structure of my query letter, synopsis and story. This unique workshop takes place from [...]

  I just received some of the most positive feedback yet on my new novel from a professional developmental editor with Writer's Digest 2nd Draft critique service. The editor assessed my full manuscript for Real Girl, a science fiction thriller about a lifelike robot who tries to escape from an augmented reality competition where people can hunt and kill her for sport. He described it as "Ex Machina/Blade Runner atmospheric science fiction with a Pygmalion twist." "This is one of the best unpublished manuscripts I [...]

NEW YORK — Five out of five literary agents I pitched my new novel to at the Writer's Digest Conference Pitch Slam requested more materials. The Pitch Slam featured more than 50 agents and editors, who were all on the hunt for new stories. I got 90 seconds per agent to pitch my concept live, and each agent had 90 seconds to ask questions, make comments and ultimately decide whether they wanted to learn more. This was, by far, the most nervous I have ever [...]

For the third year in a row, Writer's Digest has invited me to speak at their Annual Conference in New York City. This year, I'll be talking about my experience promoting The Black Lens to the media and pitching my new novel to literary agents during their live Pitch Slam event. Here's a brief summary of my presentation: How to Craft the Perfect Media Pitch Reporters are a lot like agents—they love a good story. But convincing them to cover your book requires a strategic [...]