Anna Elliott's Blog

You know that song (not sure who sings it?) Don't Blink? I heard it once and had it stuck in my head for the next solid week and a half. And now everyone reading this probably has it stuck in their head. Sorry!

But my point is, it's true. Three months ago, my baby girl was born. She looked like this. Note the teeny, tiny little scrunched up newborn face, the wee little curled up fist, the brand-newness of her:

And then . . . then I made the mistake of blinking. And all of a sudden she...

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Twilight of Avalon Book Trailer

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Awhile back I saw a website that let authors cast actors in (obviously imaginary) movie versions of their books. I can't for the life of me find the site again–which is probably a good thing. I'm sure I could fritter away waaaaay too much time there. But I mention it because I just discovered the TV show White Collar (we don't actually have a TV, so I'm limited to shows I can watch online) and realized that the actor who plays Neil on the show is very close to the way I picture Trystan....

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I just got the cover for the Portuguese version of Twilight of Avalon. I had absolutely nothing to do with it–for the most part authors don't have a voice in the foreign edition covers of their books–but isn't it pretty? Another Waterhouse painting and such a lovely one.

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Happy Thanksgiving! I'm over at Writer Unboxed today talking about a special holiday contest for this month. Stop by!

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Junot Diaz had such an amazingly inspiring article on Becoming a Writer the other day. My favorite quote:

. . . in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.

Reading that, I was reminded of another of my favorite quotes on writing, this one from Ernest...

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The road to publication is a long and bumpy one. Sure, there are those instant success stories, but for the most part every author out there has had their own personally roller coaster ride of a journey towards finally, finally signing that first, miraculous book contract. I certainly had mine. And–though I don't at all mean to be discouraging–I think the whole challenge of getting published is an especially complex one in these crazy economic times.

Last month, my lovely writing buddy...

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If you have a spare twenty minutes or so–or if you're like me and like to have a distraction while folding laundry, cooking dinner, or whatever–the incredibly kind David Wilk invited me to record a podcast interview for his radio show, WritersCast. You can find our conversation here. Thanks so much for having me, David! I had a great time.

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Happy November, everyone! Are you NaNoWriMo-ing? I can't believe how many people are–it's amazing! The whole idea is pretty much the polar opposite of anything that works for me as a writing process, so I'm not myself. But I think it's incredibly great that it gets so many people excited about writing and just sitting down and getting those words onto the page. That's a huge part of the struggle right there.

I did, though, just start the first draft of a new book this week. Yikes!...

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I can't believe I haven't announced this yet–well, okay, actually I can believe it, given our month of newborn baby/moving chaos. But the baby is sleeping through the night–angel girl!–and the house is unpacked. And today I'm completely thrilled to announce that I've been asked to be a regular contributor to Writer Unboxed. And my first post is up today!

For those who may not know, Writer Unboxed is a wonderful blog where an amazing group of authors post daily to discuss every aspect of...

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