by Jamie Chavez | Jul 14, 2014 | Miscellany
I have always fantasized about having my own library, and my parents humored me in this. There were already a significant number of books in their home by the time I arrived in it (“and that has made all the difference”)—many of which now live with me. And they gave...
by Jamie Chavez | May 24, 2014 | Miscellany
A friend of mine sent me this article from the New York Times, “Read, Kids, Read,” by author/columnist Frank Bruni, and it resonated so strongly with me that I had to pass it on to you. The lament is this: studies show young people are reading less and less. And Bruni...
by Jamie Chavez | Feb 10, 2014 | The Writing Craft
We’ve talked about those ripped-from-today’s-headlines stories as a source of ideas for fiction: teen bullying and suicide, drug addiction, drug legalization … These are all topics in the news right now, and might well provide a theme upon which to build a compelling...
by Jamie Chavez | Jan 23, 2014 | The Book Biz
One of the first manuscripts I turned in as a freelance editor caused a minor panic at the publishing house. “This novel is too long,” the managing editor said in an email. “It’s 90K words. We contracted 75K.” (Let me tell you just how many fifteen thousand words are,...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 2, 2013 | Guest Posts, The Book Biz, The Writing Craft
I picked up a little bug this time last week. I’m not talking about a cold, either—think Linda Blair in The Exorcist. It kept me away from my computer for nearly a week (the horror!). So while I crawl back into the working/blogging world, here’s a fantastic guest post...
