Author Heather McCorkle

Life can get so difficult and hectic that we get caught up and forget to slow down and appreciate it. I was reading a friend's post on sunsets and realized how long it's been since I saw one. It was July 15th during my vacation. That doesn't seem like that long ago, but the only reason I managed to find time was because I was on vacation. The craziness that is life catches back up quick and steals the beautiful moments away. I'm going to do my best to make sure I try to steal as many back as I can. :) Those are the moments that help us get through the dark ones writers go through. You know the ones I mean, harsh critiques, agent or editor rejections, scathing reviews, or powers forbid, parting ways with your agent or publisher. Many of my friends~and even myself~are going through some of these, you may be among us. To help keep inspired during such times, remember the things you love most about writing, remember the beautiful moments in life. Let those things fuel y...

As I step into the query coliseum again I do so with a heavy appreciation of what agents go through. Impressing an agent is so hard that sometimes we writers forget their job is hard too. Being patient while waiting for someone to judge the culmination of your hard work can be difficult. Agents sometimes receive thousands of query letters a month. If you work a forty hour work week that's 50 queries a day. If that sounds easy don't forget agents also have workshops, conferences, retreats, and book fairs to attend. Not to mention they have other clients who's work they have to sell which means meetings with editors, as well as phone calls and e-mails to those clients and editors. I actually heard a few complaints from writers who were rejected that the agents responded too fast. If you don’t understand how an agent can decide so quickly then you need to read The First Five Pages  by Noah Lukeman. That book explains how an agent can tell so quickly and from such a small s...

Since I'm now back in the agent querying pool I've been quite busy and my Twitter time has suffered for it. This means I didn't get a lot of links for you this week and the one's I did get are, you guessed it, query related! The good news is, if you need help on your query these links are really good! The first one was written by super agent Nathan Bransford   with Curtis Brown LTD . If you don't know who Nathan is then you need to find out! @thecreativepenn How to Write a Query Letter http://dld.bz/s7Hn  via @NathanBransford This one is by a new agent, Weronika Janczuk   with D4EO literary .  Those who have been querying a while know that a new agent is great for new writers because they're building their client list. Not to mention, Weronika is awesome. You definitely want to check her out. @WeronikaJanczuk New blog post! A Note About Reading Queries: Since, in addition to being an agent, I am also a writer, I am a memb... http://bit.ly/a6upK1 T...

Despite being really busy this week I managed to pull some of the best Tweets for writers from Twitter. There is some great stuff in here. From the big question of self-publishing to making a living at writing and agents, it's all in here! @ThoughtfulPen Is There Ever A Time To Self-Publish? http://tinyurl.com/28a5pss  #publishing #writetip #writechat #amwriting (all the hashtags after it means this tweet will show up in each of those chats/searches.) @Jolina_Joy An #Agent on Making a Living at #Writing: http://dld.bz/pSzz (via @elizabethscraig) #writetip @ChuckSambuchino 2011 Guide to Literary Agents is out!!! 3 commenters will win a free copy! http://tinyurl.com/26vw32u @juliemusil RT @johannalive: Too often the good stuff in a query or pitch is in the end. Put it in the first sentence. -Stephen Fraser (RT means re-tweet. It's what you put before something someone else said that you want to re-tweet because you liked it enough that you want your followers to see i...

If you are a young adult or middle grade writer you were probably attending the online conference WriteOnCon over the last few days. If not I'm really sorry because you missed one monumental event. Agents, big publishing house editors, authors, and hundreds of writers were in attendance. The content was easily some of the best I've come across at conferences yet. And the big kicker, it was FREE. Yep you read that right, FREE. If you did miss it have no fear, they're already planning for next year! I've been pretty absent from Twitter because WriteOnCon kept me so busy~and I was a bit sick~and I'm behind on reading everyone's blogs. I plan on catching up today I promise! But before I do here are some of the highlights from the conference tweeted by the organizers and publishing pros for those who missed it: @ElanaJ Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start a Revision by editor Kendra Levin http://nblo.gs/6Jw6i @ElanaJ In Defense of a Less Than Huge Advan...

In the beginning of the submission process we all feel the charge of sending our babies out into the world for the love and adoration they so deserve. But then the clock starts to tick and the second guessing begins. Days pass, then weeks, sometimes even months. That's when you really start to wonder about how well you edited your work. Hopefully this doesn't happen to you but chances are high that it will with your first book. The good news is, you're not alone. Most of us don't edit our first book well enough because we haven't figured out quite how. It gets easier with each book as long as you keep learning about the craft of writing and push yourself to get better. Use critique groups, buy books on the craft of writing, or attend classes or retreats. The waiting is terrible and it's best to use your time to learn and improve. Rejections will most likely start coming in after you've been waiting for a while, or even right away sometimes. Don't let...

                                 www.clash-of-the-titans.warnerbros.com/ Fear is the titan we all must slay to be able to take the steps down the road to publication. It's around every corner and bend from critique partners to querying. Putting ourselves out there isn't easy. Our writing digs deep into most of us and exposes things nothing else can. Allowing others to read that can be hard. Some people write a book but can never bring themselves to allow a critique group to read it, let alone send it out to agents. How do you slay the titan? There are two vital elements you must have. 1) Strap that armor on and arm yourself my friend. Your armor is those supportive people you choose to surround yourself with. My support comes from family but also from friends I've met at conferences, on Twitter, Facebook, and writer n...