The 13th Sign by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb

It’s finally here! Today is the day The 13^th Sign by my fabulous critique partner, Kristin O’Donnell Tubb, is out in the world. Kristin is an award-winning author of historical Middle Grade novels, but today her first Middle Grade fantasy is released. And if you like Middle Grade fantasy, stories set in New Orleans, or just really good books, I hope you’ll give The 13^th Sign a try.

Here’s the blurb for The 13^th Sign published by Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan):

ONE SMALL SHIFT CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING - AND EVERYONE

What if there was a thirteenth zodiac sign?

You’re no longer Sagittarius, but Ophiuchus the healer, the thirteenth sign.

Your personality has changed. So has your mom’s and your best friend’s.

What about the rest of the world?

What if you were the one who accidentally unlocked the thirteenth sign, causing this world-altering change - and infuriating the other twelve signs?

Jalen did it, and now she must use every ounce of her strength and cunning to send the signs back where they belong. Lives, including her own, depend on it.

                                      Kristin with The 13th Sign

Selling Hope & the Wednesday Writers

Three years ago, something wonderful happened. I got stuck in line. Actually I was stuck in line for the ladies’ restroom at a writers’ conference (a common occurrence). I spoke to the woman in front of me and told her I was new to the Nashville area. Her name was Jennifer Lambe. I asked if she might be interested in getting together for coffee and maybe a little manuscript critiquing. She said yes! When we returned to the auditorium, she introduced me to another writer, Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. Kristin said she would be interested in the coffee and the manuscript critiques, too. I met another writer, Hannah Dills, at an RWA chapter meeting and she wasn’t interested in coffee, but she was definitely interested in manuscript critiques. So the Wednesday Writers started meeting for coffee (and tea) and we started critiquing manuscripts.

One of the first manuscripts we critiqued is in bookstores today! It’s Selling Hope by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. Here’s the blurb:

It’s May 1910, and Halley’s Comet is due to pass thru the Earth’s atmosphere. And thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels and her father are due to pass through their hometown of Chicago with their ragtag vaudeville troupe. Hope wants out of vaudeville, and longs for a “normal” life—or as normal as life can be without her mother, who died five years before. Hope sees an opportunity: She invents “anti-comet” pills to sell to the working-class customers desperate for protection. Soon, she’s joined by a fellow troupe member, young Buster Keaton, and the two of them start to make good money. And just when Hope thinks she has all the answers, she has to decide: What is family? Where is home?

Congratulations Kristin!

Critique Group Magic

Writing is a solitary activity. Or is it? I have heard the comment that actors are the only artists who must have others around them to work on their craft. Writers, musicians, and painters can work in the privacy of their own home, studio, personal space at their favorite coffee shop, etc.

I may create the first draft of a new manuscript alone, but fortunately, Help is on the Way. Writers may be solitary individuals by personality or by necessity, but there’s nothing most of us like better than talking to other writers. So we form critique groups. I am fortunate to participate in a critique group with three other writers. This has been an amazing experience. Besides the obvious fun of talking with other writers while drinking coffee, I get professional, helpful comments given in a kind manner.

This week I wrote some additional pages on a manuscript I am revising and asked for a quick read. The members of my critique group all replied the very same day with comments.

Some writers say that the key to writing is rewriting. A good critique group can only improve the rewriting. Hopefully, joining a critique group is one step in the right direction on the road to publication.

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were members of a group called the Inklings where they read works in progress to the group for critique.

Are there any other writers out there who want to brag on their critique group? Are there any other areas of life where you wish you had a critique group?