Anna Elliott's Blog, page 10

Aspiring Writer Q and A part two

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...

A Podcast

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.

Happy November!

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!...

Writer Unboxed

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...

Aspiring Author Q and A

I get a lot of e-mail from aspiring authors looking for advice, encouragement, etc.–and I love it! I'm always happy to share details from my own path to publication, and I'm thrilled if my experiences are any help to others. I traded e-mails with an aspiring author recently who said I'd given her "so much hope." I love that!

But I sold the Twilight of Avalon trilogy nearly two years ago, now, and the publishing world has been through a huge amount of upheaval since then. In many ways...

The Winners!

I'm so happy to say that our e-mails are recovered after the move, and at last I can announce the winners of the Dark Moon ARC giveaway!  Thanks, everyone, for your patience, and thanks so much to everyone who entered.  I wish I had enough ARC's to give one to everyone.

Everyone who signed up for the newsletter (as opposed to entering via comments) will automatically get announcements about future contests and giveaways, so stay tuned!  And for anyone who didn't sign up for the newsletter but ...

Apologies

It's the first of the month and I haven't announced the winner of the Dark Moon ARC giveaway yet! I'm so sorry! But I do have an excuse. We just moved this week from New Jersey to the Washington DC area. With our two year old and newborn baby in tow. And the only reason we're not gibbering puddles on the floor is thanks to all the help we had from our parents! Thanks Mom and Dad! Thanks June and Dave!

But unfortunately one of the side effects of moving is that my usual e-mail account...

Welcome, Vivienne Marcella! (And Win an ARC of Dark Moon of Avalon!)

I can't believe our new baby girl is nearly three weeks old already and I haven't even announced her name here! Today, though, I thought I'd get down to work instead of lounging by the pool sipping lemonade, strolling on the beach–you know, all that copious free time that goes with having a newborn.

Though actually, I have absolutely no right to complain. We decided on Vivienne Marcella for her name, and she's an angel-girl for sure. Never cries unless she's hungry and is already sleeping i...

She's here!

Our second baby girl arrived at 11:56 pm on Tues, August 25th.  And I need to go feed her so I'll be quick! Labor was very fast–under 3 hours.  She weighed 7 lbs, 7.5 oz and was 21 inches long.  And she's utterly gorgeous!  (I'm very unbiased, of course).

Here are a couple of pictures taken just an hour or so after her birth:

We still don't have a name picked out for certain–though lots of great suggestions!

Happy

Today I got this e-mail from my wonderful editor:

I just received the most wonderful email from a good friend of mine about your book. She and I shared a love of the Arthur legends since we were about 13, and read everything we could get our hands on then. She's a medical student now, I'd sent Twilight of Avalon to her a while back. She said she's been so busy this is the first novel she's been able to read in a year. She'd been having a particularly hard time with school and needed an escape and