Happy Endings is pleased to welcome Linda Epstein back again this month!
LINDA:
You’ve finally completed your manuscript! Perhaps it’s your first. Perhaps you have a drawer full of them. Now all you need to do is find an agent. You’ve queried a handful or you’ve queried a truck full. Either way, you’re not getting the response you want. Most agents don’t even respond to your query. Some respond only to give you a form rejection. Occasionally you get a nice rejection. But ultimately, rejection is rejection. You re-write your …

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Ericka Scott to the blog, discussing the ins and outs of finding an agent. Welcome, Ericka!
Hi, I’m Ericka Scott, author of seductive suspense, and I want to thank Jeannie Ruesch for hosting me today on the Happy Endings Blog.
I’ve been writing for publication since 1994, although my first short story wasn’t accepted until 1996 and it took me another 10 years to break into the novel market. Guess you can say that I’m persistent. LOL.
I often tell beginning writers that an author’s career is …

Happy Endings is thrilled to welcome Linda Epstein, writer and Submissions Manager for the McVeigh Agency back to our blog. Welcome, Linda!
LINDA EPSTEIN
I just recently completed the first draft of a novel that I’ve been working on for a few years. I’ve also been working at The McVeigh Agency for almost a year now, reading queries and manuscripts, writing reader reports, doing some editing. When I think about going through my own manuscript, writing the second draft, editing it, re-writing and otherwise working it over, I really get present to …

I’m thrilled to welcome Linda Epstein, Submissions Manager at The McVeigh Agency.  Please give her a warm Happy Endings welcome!
Mixing Metaphors and Peeting Peeves
by Linda Epstein
I work at a literary agency.  I think I have the greatest job in the world, because I get to cull through queries looking for fantastic writers and great manuscripts.  The other day we had over forty (that’s 40!) queries come in.  Just in one today.  Every day our slush pile grows steeper and steeper (can slush be steep?) and I dive in, looking for …

Welcoming back to Happy Endings, Meg Benjamin!
HEAD FOR THE HILLS
All three of the books I’ve published with Samhain (with number four coming out in July) have been set in a small and thoroughly mythical town called Konigsburg in the Texas Hill Country. Now Texans, which I used to be, know all about the Hill Country. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. But most non-Texans have no idea where it is or even what it is. So I sometimes find myself explaining the whole area, although …

Today, Happy Endings welcomes special guest and author Stephanie Beck, who is here to share the latest about her new release and tell us what tortures she put her mother-in-law through…the character in a book, that is.  Welcome, Stephanie!
Welcome to Happy Endings. Can you tell us a little about your latest release?
I’d love to. My latest release is called Poppy’s Passions. It’s a ménage romance about three brothers and the woman they love. Growing affection and an unexpected pregnancy lead the fun they initially share to become something much more. …

Today, we welcome Loucinda McGary to our happy blog to tell us about her latest release (which has one of the most striking covers I think I’ve seen in a long time…and hey, that nicely formed male has nothing to do with it…) and to tell us just how close she wants to be to William Shakespeare…
And to boot, Loucinda will give away an IOU for a copy of The Wild Irish Sea when it comes out, or any other book in her backlist to a lucky commenter!
Welcome to Happy …

First Page Lightning: Adding Power with Rhetorical Devices

By Margie Lawson

Margie Lawson —psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques for used by writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers. She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.
Thousands of writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material. In the last five years, she presented over fifty full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
For more information on lecture …

By MEG BENJAMIN
Denver has a Wonderful Bookstore. I’m not going to name it (for reasons that will become clear), but everybody in town will know the one I’m talking about. It’s multistory, with comfortable armchairs strewn around as an invitation to sit and browse. There’s a café on the ground floor right next to the newspaper and magazine section so that you can grab a sandwich while you check through the latest Entertainment Weekly. Famous authors come through regularly for signings. It is widely beloved, and it should be.
The fiction …

Today we welcome debut author (and fabulous client of mine) Amanda Forester to answer some quirky questions and give us the scoop on being a writer.  Amanda has a yummy (okay, so that’s her cover) book set in 14th century Scotland just out this month — be sure to check it out!

Welcome to Happy Endings. Can you tell us a little about your latest release?
Hi Jeannie!  Thanks for inviting me to chat today.  My debut novel, THE HIGHLANDER’S SWORD is set in 14th century Scotland and tells the tale of …