Lacey Louwagie

call for submissions

Twilight Makes its Second Appearance

I recently found out about the following call for proposals: Bitten by Twilight: Youth culture, media, and the Twilight saga Edited by Melissa Click, Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, and Lissa Behm-Morawitz Proposal deadline: April 10, 2009 The editors seek essays that explore Stephenie Meyer¹s wildly popular Twilight series. We

blogging

Blogging elsewhere today

Today was my day to blog over at Young Adult Catholics, where I  refused to answer the age-old question of “how” someone can be both Christian and not straight (perhaps a better question would be WHY do people feel so convinced that God will hate on you for loving

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Going on 13 DVD and Study Guide

I found a very welcome package in my mailbox today: a copy of Going on 13, a documentary from Vaquera Films that follows four girls from the ages of 9 – 13,  and a bound copy of the study guide I wrote for it through New Moon Girl Media. The study

call for submissions

Submission Opportunities

Just when I think I’m going to settle into a long stretch of just me and my novel, another submission opportunity comes my way, reminding me of my New Year’s Resolution. So, while I don’t have ideas for either of these, I’m hoping I might be

freelance writing

Beginning Freelancing 101, Courtesy of Jenny

So I’ve been meaning to write a post that reviews all those content-hungry sites out there that pay freelance writers: Associated Content, Suite101, Ehow, and a bunch of others I either don’t know about or that will be covered by Jenny shortly.  I’ve often heard the

titles

Title Tips

I’m afraid any advice I can give on titling will have to be taken with a grain of salt, since it’s such a challenge to me, too! But here are some of the things I’ve tried or heard to try. 1. Recurring or significant imagery in your

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Beware of First Titles

The thing about being human is that we have to name everything in order to talk about it, including our writing projects. While I was writing my first novel, I simply referred to it as “my novel,” but now that I’ve written seven that generic title isn’t as

call for submissions

Two down, four to go

Well, I finally did it: I just sent of my short story submission to QueeredFiction. It feels liberating to have it gone. Now it’ll be someone else’s problem for a while. 😉 Although I didn’t blog about it here, a few weeks ago I queried The Writer magazine

article writing

Last Year's Publication, #2

I got a copy of the BiWomen newsletter that published my article, “Kids Keep me Kloseted” yesterday. A few of my thoughts — 1. I’m sort of bummed that she didn’t keep my original spelling of Kloseted, but I guess that’s an editor’s perogative. 2. This article

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On Curiosity

Today I blogged about keeping curiosity in Catholicism over at CTA’s Young Adult Catholics blog. I’m a little blogged out, but will likely return to this topic in the future, since curiosity is as important in a writers’ journey as in a religious journey (for me, there doesn’

character development

Let's talk about sex

Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a fan, watching The L Word on DVD is one of my guilty pleasures. Like most of Showtime’s dramas (or at least, the ones I’ve watched), there’s quite a bit of fairly explicit sex in it.

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Friday Night Fun

That’s not quite as scintillating as it sounds. But I hope you’ll enjoy these fun proofreading errors nonetheless, courtesy of my writing buddy Linda. 2 female Boston Terrier puppies, 7 wks old, Perfect markings, 555-1234. Leave mess. ForSale — Eight puppies from a German Shepherd and an Alaskan

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Why Writing Should Happen First Thing in the Morning

Everyone has their own “writing time” that works for them. I used to write at night after my dear room-mate had gone to bed because a) my imagination always felt a little stronger in the dark and b) I used to be a night owl and c) there were

authors

Personal Connections Between Authors and Readers

When I was in fourth grade, our teacher read Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary to us. It’s about a kid who starts a correspondence with one of his favorite authors, eventually sharing all the trials and tribulations of his life with him. I’ve thought about this book

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I [heart] Revision

I finished the first draft of my short story for QueerdFiction’s anthology earlier this week. That means that currently, all my projects (the short story and two novels) are in the revision phase. And I couldn’t be happier. I think ultimately I’m more of an editor than

authors

Happy Birthday, Judy Blume

I can’t stay long, but I didn’t want to let this day pass without mentioning that today is YA author Judy Blume’s seventy-first birthday (if my math doesn’t fail me!). In addition to being the mother of young adult literature as we know it, she’

beginnings

Freelance Milestone

I hit a freelance milestone this month. For the first time, I didn’t have to pay myself. It’s not that I haven’t been making money; I never would have made the transition to freelance work if I didn’t think I could make enough money to support

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Stephen King disses Stephenie Meyer

Ah, I knew Twilight would make it into this blog eventually. I read this article yesterday, in which Stephen King says that, “Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.” Now, to be perfectly honest, I agree with King. (Also to be perfectly honest, though,

publication

On Self Publishing, part 2: Vanity Presses

So, yesterday I wrote about self publishers and vanity presses without making a distinction between the two. But there is a difference in the types of methods various “self publishers” employ to get you to fork over money to publish your book. Although this is not an official definition, I

publication

On self publishing

A friend recently sent me this article from the New York Times about self publishing. For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to make a distinction between self publishers, “vanity presses,” “subsidiary publishers,” etc. When I refer to self publishing, I’m referring to any and all publishing

fiction

8 alternatives to head-hopping

OK, now that you’ve all indulged me in my head-hopping rant, it’s time to explore some skillful alternatives to head-hopping. I also want to make clear that when I write about head-hopping, I’m talking specifically about point of view shifts within the same scene.

fiction

Pick a head and stay there

If you’re in my writers group, or if you’ve ever received a critique from me, you can skip this post, because you’ve heard me harp on head-hopping before. This is definitely one of my hang-ups as an editor, and it’s also probably the mistake

freelancing

Working is good; not working is better

I knew when I switched to freelance work full-time that motivating myself to work wouldn’t be a problem; I don’t feel relaxed until things are “done,” so I don’t have a tendency to procrastinate. I didn’t foresee the opposite problem: that I’d have trouble

figures of speech

You never know how much you don't know

I’m constantly astounded by the things I don’t know. There’s nothing like being the one who is supposed to know the answers to make you realize everything you don’t know the answer to. This happens with editing a lot; I can probably make 90% of the

deadlines

Coming up for air

Hello? Is anyone here? *looks around* I’m breaking with tradition and posting on a Saturday because I already broke with tradition (and discipline?) and went a whole week without posting. I knew it was starting to get bad when I received emails asking if I was OK, since I