Guest Post from Celeste Lim: How I Got My Agent

November 12, 2014Authors You Should Know, Guest Posts, On Writingagents, Celeste Limkathymacmillan

Today we’ll hear from author Celeste Lim, who shares her agent story as part of The Sweet Sixteens’ #SixteensBlogAbout November theme. A Chinese born and raised in Malaysia, Celeste holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and an MA from Manhattanville College. She is represented by Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio and her debut middle-grade novel is forthcoming from Scholastic Press in spring 2016.

About Celeste’s book: In Medieval China, a girl is sold by her family to become a nursemaid and wife to a toddler husband. With the help of sentient creatures called jing, she discovers internal strength, and a destiny that is foretold to intertwine with her spirit guardian – a great, golden fox spirit.

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What Happens Every Time I Sit Down To Write

[Direct link: http://youtu.be/_6OVYYRJqNg]

Let’s Play #8TerribleTitles

November 5, 2014Silly Stuffrandom phraseskathymacmillan

In honor of the fact that my debut novel is well on its way to having an actual title, here are 8 random phrases from my book that would make terrible titles: Continue reading Let’s Play #8TerribleTitles →

Celebrating Picture Book Month!

November 1, 2014On ReadingPicture Book Monthkathymacmillan

November is Picture Book Month! This international literacy initiative, founded by author and storyteller Dianne de Las Casas, celebrates the print picture book during the month of November. Check out the Picture Book Month website, which will feature daily posts from “picture book champions” and has lots of great classroom and storytime resources! Continue reading Celebrating Picture Book Month! →

1000 is the Magic Number

October 20, 2014On Writing, Works in progress1000 words, As the Eraser Burns, NaNoWriMokathymacmillan

For me it is, anyway. As in 1000 words per day. Ever since I started the draft of my newest work in progress, I have committed to writing 1000 words per day as a manageable amount, and this morning I hit 18,000 words after two weeks. This is lightning fast, for me. It’s a new era for this tortoise.

Years ago, when I first started writing, I couldn’t give myself word count goals – too frightening, too much pressure. So I set time limits for myself. I had to work for an hour at a time. I made myself a CD that was exactly an hour long and I had to keep at it, even if I was just staring at the screen, until the last song was over. The first 30 to 45 minutes were usually agony, but by the time that hour was up, I was hitting “repeat” on the CD player. That tactic got me through several manuscripts. Continue reading 1000 is the Magic Number →