Book Recommendations

How Good Books Can Lead to Spotless Floors

Like most people these days, agents tend to keep pretty busy, and one thing we’re always doing is READING. My desk is piled high with manuscripts. Okay, I’m lying. There are no piles. There are files in my computer, and more files on my brand new 3G Kindle. They’re virtual piles. At the top of…
Read More

Books We Love

I just finished reading The Writing Circle by Corinne Demas (or as one of my friends called it, Literary People Behaving Badly). I loved the book! It’s perfect for writers, particularly anyone who’s ever been part of a writers’ critique group. The author gets inside all these different writers’ heads, deconstructing their jealousies and insecurities,…
Read More

Books I’ve Sold

Last Update: June, 2011 My permanent “deals” page is under construction. In this temporary post, I’ve included all my deals since I began agenting in 2008, in reverse chronological order. Fiction: Inspirational Erica Vetsch’s A BRIDE SEWS WITH LOVE IN NEEDLES, CALIFORNIA, taking place during WWI in which a young woman works with the Red Cross to…
Read More

Books of the Year: Non-Fiction

It’s almost the end of 2009 so it’s time to talk about books we loved this year! Today we’re talking about our favorite non-fiction books from 2009. (Next week we’ll do fiction.) Here are a few of my recent faves. Columbine by Dave Cullen is the most captivating piece of non-fiction I’ve read in years.…
Read More

Books, Books, Books

I’m a great believer in reading. Shocking, huh? I believe that you, as a writer, should read lots of books in the genre or category in which you are writing. If you write literary fiction, you should read literary fiction. If you write suspense, you should read suspense. It’s a great way to learn. I…
Read More

10 Really Good First Novels

Looking for some terrific holiday reading? Need some inspiration to get that first novel finished? Here is a list of 10 great books that were the first novel published by each of these authors. (In some cases, the only novel they published.) This isn’t meant to be discouraging. Every writer has a first book… sometimes…
Read More