Today is one of those days where I’m thinking, “Wow, I really need to take a look at my website again.” It’s been almost two years since I posted an update and even looking at the thing, I’ve got a weird flavor combination of study abroad posts, writing posts, and random thought posts. I’m not sure how I want to move forward with this, but I’ve heard ad nauseam that authors are supposed to have…
I am pumped to enter #pitchwars this year. I have been looking forward to it ever since my friend did it last year and gushed about the experience. For those who don’t know, Pitch Wars is a contest held in August where those of us with finished novels enter for the chance to pair up with a published/agented author as a mentor – check out Brenda Drake’s website). Here is a little about myself and my…
When I finally finished my first draft of my novel, it felt like a huge accomplishment. 100,000 words written in seven months with at least four hours per day devoted to the task. I had proved to myself that I could do it – I had beaten back the critical voice in my thoughts (fear of failure), the ridiculous doubt of whether this is what I wanted to devote my life to (fear of success),…
Received great feedback @SCWriters and had the awesome opportunity to pitch to an agent. Still buzzing from everything I learned! #amwriting — Anastasia Taber (@anastasiataber) October 2, 2015 This past weekend I did a really cool thing and attended the Southern California Writers’ Conference-LA in Irvine, CA – about 60 miles south of me off the 405. The conference took place at the Wyndham Hotel across from the John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The…
Last week I mentioned feeling bummed about winning an award that was not as high as I had hoped it would be. Visualizing success is important because it primes your brain to take steps towards enacting that success. But it also makes you vulnerable. It opens you up to possible disappointment, and from such disappointment exists a narrow bridge that swings precariously over the murky waters of apathy. I have fallen in a few times,…
I am writing this 65 minutes after the email was sent and 10 minutes after I read it to find out that I received another Honorable Mention from the Writers of the Future contest. Writers of the Future is the largest and highest paying free entry science fiction contest and has involved several prominent science fiction authors (among them are Orson Scott Card and Dave Wolverton/Farland). The contest offers unpublished writers an amazing opportunity to have…
Hi all – I have revamped my website in an attempt to motivate myself to write more blog posts and have a more consistent web presence (shout out to my brother Ted for his excellent tech support). Along with this revamping came another smaller metaphysical revamping (i.e. existential crisis) of who I would strive to be online and what I would want to say. Many websites and online personas come up with a super laser focus…
When I was young, fed by my mother on a steady diet of Jane Austen and rom-coms, I used to lie in bed and stare up at the ceiling at my glow in the dark stars and wonder who my soulmate would be. I was worried. What if my soulmate lived on the other side of the planet? What if my husband-to-be lived in India in a random village where I would never meet him…
This is an ode to all of my fellow novelists out there who get to answer this question almost daily, as well as to the people who ask this question. “Writing a novel is difficult” is the understatement of the year. Each genre has a different word count range. Young Adult (YA) runs from 55,000 – 70,000 words. For adult novels, between 80,000 and 90,000 is a good range. For science fiction/fantasy, over 100,000 words…
When I tell people I wrote a novel, the most common responses I receive fall into two categories: 1) I could never do that and 2) I’ve wanted to do that (but haven’t). When I hear that someone has always wanted to write, but hasn’t, my first thought is “Well, what is stopping you?” Some people like the idea of writing but not the practice of it. These people are focused on the ends rather…