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I just participated in my first interview with NPR on our local All Sides with Ann Fisher radio show. All Sides is a two-hour, daily public-affairs talk show designed to touch upon all sides of the issues and events that shape life in Central Ohio. This interview focused on my work as a board member of She Has A Name educating men arrested for soliciting sex through an innovative "John School" program. Ann Fisher interviewed myself and two other abolitionists from the local anti-trafficking community: [...]

My new novel just beat out more than 1,000 other books to become a quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition. This unique literary contest seeks book manuscripts with cinematic adaptation potential. Literary agents from The Gersh Agency, United Talent Agency and 3 Arts Entertainment selected 100 quarterfinalists from over 1,200 submissions. While Real Girl did not advance to the next round, I am really encouraged that my still unpublished science fiction thriller even made it into their top 10 percent of books. It also [...]

I just received some of the most encouraging feedback yet on my new novel, Real Girl. Literary agent Paula Munier reviewed my query letter and first chapter as part of the Writer's Digest University Literary Agent Boot Camp. Paula provided some excellent edits, along with this overall assessment of my 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: "I have every confidence you will find representation," Paula wrote. [...]

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 [...]