For many years I hosted a blog with weekly posts by some amazing authors, from debuts to award-winners and bestsellers, about how they got started writing and publishing. Each and every one of us faced so many challenges along the way. It takes persistence — belief in yourself long after your own mother may have given up on your writing career — to get a book published, or even a story. I found these guest author posts inspiring, and have culled them to keep some of the best.
The blog also included some of my own posts on writing and publishing, as well as posts about some great bookstores — which are always great resources for writers. Most host author events, which are often free (please buy the author’s book!) and usually have a question period, where most of us talk freely about how we write.
Please note: some of these may not be as pretty as they once were, do to platform changes over the years.
Good luck with your own writing!
Karen Joy Fowler: First Words
In celebration of Nanowrimo, I’m rerunning some of my favorite guest author posts (and trying to tidy them in the process). This one was written by Booker finalist Karen Joy Fowler for June 5, 2013 — on the occasion of publication of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, which went on the win the PEN/Faulkner… ...
Julia Glass: The Not Quite Yes
For NanoWriMo month, I’m going to repost some of my favorite guest author posts, which I’m rereading to inspire myself! This one — by one of my fave authors, National Book Award winner Julia Glass — originally ran in September of 2010! I’ve just moved platforms, and have not yet tidied up everything here yet,… ...
Micah Perks: Here’s to Mad Persistence!
Micah Perks won an NEA grant and The New Guard Machigonne Fiction prize for excerpts of her new novel, What Becomes Us, which is out this week and which Elizabeth McKenzie calls “exhilarating and terrifying … is a novel I love for its wild beauty, its offbeat inventiveness, its effervescent language, and the artfulness with… ...
10 Terrific Quotes from Elizabeth Strout's Fresh Air Interview
May I recommend this interview -- Elizabeth Strout with Terry Gross on Fresh Air -- to anyone who writes, anyone who wants to write, anyone who has been to law school, anyone who wants to know what it's like to be a writer, or ... well, anyone! ...
5 Tips for Any Writing Career
Lisa Brackmann is the critically acclaimed author of the Ellie McEnroe four novels, including Dragon Day–in bookstores August 18. Booklist, in a starred review, calls the new novel “a nonstop thriller, illuminating the Chinese police state in which ‘First they decide you’re a threat. Then they find a label for it.’ Top-notch international crime fiction.”… ...
Christine Breen: a first novel … at age 60!
My guest this week, Christine Breen hails from Kiltumper, Ireland, where she lives with her husband, the novelist Niall Williams, in the cottage where her grandfather was born. Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review of her debut novel, the just-released Her Name is Rose, calls it, “A poignant tale of love and loss between an… ...
Greer Macallister: on writing historical fiction
Choosing the right details and working them into the text gently, softly, as if there were no other way – I grew to love the challenge, and to me, that’s where historical fiction really shines. ...
Amanda Eyre Ward: on writing nights and weekends
One of the dearest and most generous writers I know, Amanda Eyre Ward, has a new novel out this week! Jodi Picoult calls The Same Sky “the timeliest book you will read this year,” and Christina Baker Kline calls it “riveting.” Amanda was an early guest here on 1st Books — in April of 2009. And I’m… ...
Ann Mah: mastering the art of french writing
I had the great fortune to read a galley for Ann Mah’s gorgeous memoir, Mastering the Art of French Eating – a lovely mix of travel, food, and personal exploration – and to host her here last year when it first released. It has since then collected so much deserved praise, from the likes of The Wall Street Journal,… ...
Jean Kwok: From Factory to Bestselling Author
If you think you have an excuse not to write, I have little doubt that today’s guest post by bestselling author Jean Kwok will disabuse you of that and send you to your writing chair. I’ve known Jean’s writing since the fabulous success of her first novel, Girl in Translation, an award-winning New York Times… ...
Renee Swindle: Every Writer's Nightmare
A Pinch of Ooh La La by Renee Swindle just released yesterday! My friend Ellen Sussman says of it, “Renee Swindle writes about the complications of love with great humor, compassion and sass. A Pinch of Ooh La La is a pure delight!” Renee is the author of two previous novels, Please Please Please, an Essence Magazine/Blackboard Bestseller, and Shake… ...
Katie Hafner: On Writing, Publishing, and Tea
Harpers calls Katie Hafner’s sixth book, Mother Daughter Me, “an unusually graceful story,” and Kirkus calls it “heartbreakingly honest.” KJ Dell’Antonia, writing for The New York Times, says it’s “the most raw, honest and engaging memoir I’ve read in a long time.” And if six books to her name isn’t enough, Katie, a frequent contributor to… ...
M.J. Rose: An Amazing Self Publishing Success Story
My very dear friend M.J. Rose has a new novel, The Collector of Dying Breaths, releasing April 8. Water for Elephant author Sara Gruen calls it “Mysterious, magical, and mythical. What a joy to read!” and it’s an Indie Next April pick.The paperback of Seduction–named last year’s Book of the Year by Suspense Magazine–is also just… ...
Cathy Marie Buchanan: Finding the Writing Life
When Cathy Marie Buchanan asked if I’d read her new novel, The Painted Girls, I jumped at the chance. I loved her debut, The Day the Falls Stood Still, and this one Sisters, dance, art, ambition, and intrigue in late 1800s Paris – what was there not to like? It went on in hardcover to be a People… ...
Ariel Lawhon: Art is the Gift
I’m just delighted to host Ariel Lawhon, whose debut novel, The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress released yesterday. People Magazine says of it, “Inspired by a real-life unsolved mystery, this mesmerizing novel features characters that make a lasting impression.” Ariel is a co-founder of She Reads who hails from my old stomping grounds, in… ...
Allison Winn Scotch: Moving the Other Way, from Traditional Publishing to Indie Author
I first hosted New York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch’s on 1st Books when The One That I Want released in paperback from Broadway, a Random House imprint. I’m delighted to welcome her back today as she plunges headlong into the new adventure of doing the publishing herself. She has sold audio and large print rights for The Theory of Opposites—which is just… ...
Harriet Scott Chessman: The Beauty of Ordinary Things
I am so delighted to host Harriet Scott Chessman on the occasion of the publication of her stunning new novel, The Beauty of Ordinary Things. Her previous novels, Ohio Angels, Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper (a #1 Booksense pick), and Someone Not Really Her Mother (a Good Morning America “Read This!” book), have a special place on my bookshelf. I was fortunate… ...
Dan Chaon: The Continually Humbling Process of Writing
To celebrate the paperback publication of Dan Chaon‘s story collection Stay Awake (named a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post), I’m rerunning a 1st Books post he did in 2009, when his Await Your Reply was released. His words are a great – and very funny – reminder that in the… ...
Marybeth Whalen: The Work of the Story
This week’s 1st Books guest, Marybeth Whalen, is the author of four novels, including the just released The Wishing Tree, which Sheila Roberts calls, “A lovely journey of discovery and forgiveness.” She also runs She Reads, an online book club celebrating the best in women’s fiction. I met her at the Pulpwood Queens girlfriend weekend a couple years… ...
Sarah Jio: Career Life Balance … and Silencing the Naysayers
When I first met Sarah Jio – at the Pulpwood Queens Weekend in January of last year – she had both a new baby and a new book along with her (and a very supportive spouse). Since then, I’ve watched her do the career life balance thing at an awesome level, cranking out books and articles… ...
Joan Steinau Lester: A journal full of poetry and frustration, in equal measure
Joan Steinau Lester’s second novel, Mama’s Child released yesterday. Alice Walker calls it “an astonishing accomplishment … riveting art,” and it’s an Ebony Magazine Editor’s Pick. Joan is also the author of four other books, including the novel Black, White, Other and Fire in My Soul, a biography of Eleanor Holmes Norton. And Joan’s wonderful… ...
Caroline Leavitt Throws Stones at Her Own Characters – a 1st Books Interview
The New York Times Modern Love column had already turned her down twenty times, but no matter: she lobbed in another submission—about her pet tortoise. And when her ninth novel was turned down by her publisher, she picked up her manuscript and accepted an original issue paperback offer from Algonquin. The beginning of the end… ...
Allie Larkin: Fake-Out (or, How Not to Write a Novel)
Allie Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novel Stay. Jen Lancaster calls her “a master at creating complex characters who feel like old friends and crafting situations that you’d swear really happened,” and says of her new novel, Why Can’t I Be You, “I adored this book!” And Allie is sharing with 1st… ...
Nichole Bernier: Does Publishing a Novel Change Your Life?
Nichole Bernier’s fabulous The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D – which was a finalist for the New England Independent Booksellers fiction award – is just out in paperback. J. Courtney Sullivan calls it, “a compelling mystery and a wise meditation on friendship, marriage and motherhood in an age of great anxiety,” and the Washington Post… ...
Julie Kibler: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
This week’s guest author, Julie Kibler, began writing Calling Me Home after learning a bit of family lore: as a young woman, her grandmother fell in love with a young black man in an era and locale that made the relationship impossible. Like so many of us, Julie struggled at first to call herself “writer,”… ...
Tara Conklin: Keep Writing, Keep Writing, Keep Writing
There are so many reasons I am absolutely delighted to host author Tara Conklin today, not the least of which is that I just love her story of the persistence that got her to the publication of her debut novel, The House Girl. At the risk of spoiling the reading of the post (but not… ...
Cathy Marie Buchanan: Finding the Writing Life
I’m often asked if I always wanted to be a writer, and I answer is a definitive no. My teenage years were spent disgracing myself in high school English, often getting upwards of twenty percent deducted for spelling mistakes on exams. ...
Leah Stewart: Making Good the Lie
I went to graduate school right after college, in part because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. I’d thought I would be a journalist, but after summers spent interning for newspapers I knew I wasn’t cut out for the job. ...
Melanie Benjamin: The Novelist Formerly Known As…
That has been my saving grace, I firmly believe; my ability to keep writing “Chapter One” while wading through a swamp of rejection. Maybe I’m stupid, maybe I just have a short term memory problem, I don’t know. I do know that I have a strange ability to be absurdly confident of my abilities while absorbing criticism and the sometimes harsh realities of the publishing world. ...
Juliette Fay: I Never Wanted to Be a Writer
I was desperate for something that was mine, that ... didn’t involve wiping anything (spills, noses, bottoms). Secretly I wanted to try writing a novel, but I couldn’t imagine even starting until the kids were older. ...
Debra Dean: Taking the Long Way
Debra Dean’s bestselling debut novel, The Madonnas of Leningrad was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a #1 Booksense Pick, a Booklist Top Ten Novel, and an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year, and her collection of short stories, Confessions of a Falling Woman, won the Paterson Fiction Prize and a Florida Book… ...
Victoria Brown: Who's Your Mentor?
I met Victoria Brown at the fabulous Christamore House Guild Author Book and Author Benefit the week her first novel released. Publisher’s Weekly calls Grace in the City a “troubling and touching novel” in which “the language of the Caribbean sings through the pages.” Her story of how her novel came to be published involves… ...
David Abrams: The Birth of Fobbit, and Other Happy Accidents in a War Zone
David Abrams’ debut novel, Fobbit, is one of the most anticipated releases of the fall. It’s a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Pick for Fall Literary Fiction, and a September Indie Next Pick. Darin Strauss calls the Iraq-war comedy “that rarest of good things: the book you… ...
Kim Fay: Imagine the Impossible
A former indie bookseller, The Map of Lost Memories author Kim Fay is also a bit of a traveler. She’s lived in Vietnam, and is the creator/editor of the To Asia With Love guidebook series, as well as the author of Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam (winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards’ Best… ...
Heather Barbieri: Not According to Plan
This week’s guest, Seattle novelist Heather Barbieri, has published Snow in July, The Lace Makers of Glenmara, and most recently The Cottage at Glass Beach. Booklist, in a starred review, calls Cottage “ wonderful, subtle, transporting story” – which also describes the story of how Heather first got published. Enjoy! – Meg It was a… ...
Sally Koslow: Magazine Editor Turns Novelist
I first connected with Sally Koslow when I was asked to read her delightfully funny The Late, Lamented Molly Marx for a possible blurb – a first for me – and I’ve been enjoying her insightful humor ever since. She’s dipped back into non-fiction with the publication this week of her fourth book, Slouching Toward… ...
Joshua Henkin: Risking Failure
Joshua Henkin wanted to be a fiction writer when he was growing up but, like so many of us, feared he wasn’t good enough. But his second novel, Matrimony – which took him ten years to complete – was named a notable by both the New York Times and the L.A. Times, and now his… ...
Camille Noe Pagán: Would I Steal these Scenes?
Last year I had the pleasure of hosting debut novelist Camille Noe Pagán when The Art of Forgetting, was published by Dutton. I’m delighted now to rerun her post to celebrate the release of the paperback version of this novel Library Journal called a “page turner” and about which John Charles, writing for The Chicago Tribune (the… ...
Lynda Rutledge: The Time I Broke Up with Fiction
Lynda Rutledge’s path to publishing Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale – which comes out tomorrow! – included stints petting baby rhinos and dodging hurricanes as a freelance journalist, as well as a serious “break up” with fiction. Shoeless Joe author W.P. Kinsella calls the debut “eerie, charming, heart rending and heart breaking at the same time … a triumph.”… ...
Andrea Buchanan: Captivating Your Inner Night-Time Critic
Writing is a little bit like that. There's a lot of sitting in the dark, metaphorically and otherwise, trying to come up with something that makes sense for the story you're telling and also still captivates your inner night-time critic. ...
Carolina De Robertis: How I Avoided Second Novel Syndrome
I met Carolina De Robertis at a book club mixer at Books Inc. Berkeley when her first novel, the international bestseller The Invisible Mountain was just out. She had a newborn baby and a newborn book, but you’d have thought she was an old hand at parenthood and at book promotion from the grace with… ...
M.J. Rose: From Self-Publishing to a Starbucks and Indie Next Pick
M.J. Rose – whom I’ve known since before my first novel was published – is one of the gutsiest and most generous writers I know. Needless to say, I’m thrilled to be hosting this international bestseller, and even more thrilled with the amazing attention her new novel, The Book of Lost Fragrances, is getting. It’s an… ...
Randy Susan Meyers: How Long Does it Take (to find an agent? sell the book? get published?)
Randy Sue Meyers is an online writer-pal, and author of The Murderer’s Daughters, which Jan Gardner, writing for the Boston Globe, called, “A gripping tale of sisters Merry and Lulu struggling for 30 years to find their way in the world, one devoted to their imprisoned father, the other enraged at him.” I saw this… ...
Alex George: Starting Over
Sara Gruen calls this week’s guest author, Alex George “a first rate talent.” And last week’s guest, Eleanor Brown, calls his new novel, A Good American, “by turns laugh-out-loud funny and achingly sad … that rare and beautiful thing – a novel I finished and immediately wanted to start again.” And they aren’t alone. A Good… ...
Sarah Pinneo: Sometimes Things Don't Pan Out
Sarah Pinneo celebrates the publication of her debut novel, Julia’s Child, this week, missing her self-imposed 40th birthday deadline by a few months. Jenny Nelson, author of Georgia’s Kitchen, calls it “a savory read packed with humor and heart” – which might also describe Sarah’s post below. Enjoy them both! – Meg When I sat… ...
Alma Katsu: From Writer to Spy to Writer
I’m delighted to be hosting Alma Katsu, whose debut novel, The Taker, is just out this week. Booklist calls it, “An imaginative, wholly original debut” and says “readers won’t be able to tear their eyes away from Katus’ mesmerizing debut.” Alma is a SheWrites.com friend with whom I had a wonderful in person visit in… ...
Maddie Dawson: A First Novel, Take Two
I met today’s guest author, Maddie Dawson, on my favorite online writer’s community, SheWrites.com. Her … well, it’s complicated, but it is Maddie’s first novel, is just out in paperback. People Magazine says of Stuff That Never Happened: “This deceptively bouncy, ultimately wrenching novel will grab you at page one.” And she has written one… ...
Meg Waite Clayton: A Paperback Eight Years after the Hardcover
My first novel, The Language of Light was the first thing I sat down to write in earnest, once I started writing as an adult. It was ten years in the making by one measure: it wasn’t the only thing I wrote in those first years of my writing career, but it did take ten years… ...
Tayari Jones: Writing in the Wilderness
I could not be more delighted: today I am hosting Tayari Jones! I first met Tayari when we were next door neighbors at the 2004 Sewanee Writers Conference, and I’ve been a fan ever since reading her first novel, Leaving Atlanta, back then. Her new novel, Silver Sparrow – just out from Algonquin – is… ...
Sarah Pekkanen: A Glass of Wine and a Little Courage
I’m having a nice little Gaithersburg Book Festival run lately, hosting Caroline Leavitt in January, Eleanor Brown in February, and now Sarah Pekkanen in March. (I can’t wait to meet all three of them at the festival!) Sarah’s new novel, Skipping a Beat, won a starred review in Library Journal and has earned praise from… ...
Eleanor Brown: When Your First Book Is Not Your First
I’m just thrilled this week to welcome Eleanor Brown, author of Weird Sisters, to 1st Books (and very excited we’ll be participating in the Gaithersburg Book Festival together). If you haven’t already heard about this wonderful novel, where have you been? It hit the New York Times Bestseller list in its first few weeks out.… ...
Caroline Leavitt: The Story of My Start
I’ve been a big fan of Caroline Leavitt‘s novels since I met her years ago on Readerville.com. Her earlier novels – she’s published eight now! – were wonderful. It’s her latest, though – Pictures of You – that is my hands down fave. And it’s getting raves everywhere. Vanity Fair, in Hot Type: “Caroline Leavitt… ...
Susan Straight: People Who Stay
I’m delighted this week to host Susan Straight, whose new novel, Take One Candle Light a Room, is just out from Random House. Susan was a National Book Award finalist for Highwire Moon, and has been called “One of America’s gutsiest writers” (The Baltimore Sun), and “a lyrical and intelligent storyteller, burns clean the… ...
Diane Lockward: on poetry
I had such fun hosting poets here on 1st Books for National Poetry Month that I’ve decided to continue the occasional Poetry Tuesday throughout the year. Today’s guest poet is Diane Lockward, the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, Temptation by Water. She’s a recipient of the Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize and… ...
Tatjana Soli: Silencing the Voices of No
Can I gush about a book here for a moment? And its author? I first met Tatjana Soli at the Sewanee Writers Conference almost six years ago now, on the bus up from the airport. At the time, she was working on a novel about a female photojournalist covering the Vietnam war. At the time,… ...
Dolen Perkins-Valdez: Connecting
I’m absolutely delighted to have Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the author of the just-released Wench, as this week’s guest author. Randall Kenan, author of A Visitation of Spirits, in a glowing blurb of this “positively riveting book” says of Dolen: “she has the audacity to challenge her readers to re-imagine the ‘Peculiar Institution’ of slavery in ways… ...
Janet Skeslien Charles: Open to Experiences
My guest this week, Janet Skeslien Charles, is a novelist whose debut, Moonlight in Odessa, is just out from Bloomsbury. It was chosen as one of ten promising Fall debut novels by Publishers Weekly, and as September’s Book of the Month by National Geographic Traveler. – Meg I spent ten years writing stories of Odessa… ...
Kathryn Ma: All That Work
My guest author this week, Kathryn Ma, is the author of All That Work and Still No Boys, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. She’s the first Asian American to win in the forty-year history of the award, one of the country’s most prestigious literary awards for first time authors. Curtis Sittenfeld, author, American… ...
Dan Chaon: Hungry Heart
With apologies for this long introduction but … well, this is Dan Chaon we’re talking about. Dan is an amazingly talented writer: his story collection, Among the Missing, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and his first novel, You Remind Me of Me, was named one of the best books of the year… ...
Jane Austen: Fourteen Years of Rejection
I just read a wonderful piece in The Literary Review that says, in the context of a review of a new book about Jane Austen: “In 1797, Thomas Cadell made one of the greatest mistakes in publishing history. A Hampshire clergyman had written to him, offering a three-volume novel for publication by a first-time author.… ...
Jamie Ford: Call in Sick More Often
I’m absolutely delighted to host fellow Ballantine author Jamie Ford this week. I had the great fortune to get an advanced copy of his first novel, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which I devoured in a few short sittings over the holidays. Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret… ...
Frances Dinkelspiel: Not So Instant Gratification
Frances Dinkelspiel is a fifth-generation Californian who spent more than 20 years in the newspaper business, writing for publications including the New York Times, People Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle before publishing her first book. Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California – which was eight years in the… ...
Sheryl Cohen Solomon: If At First You Do Succeed
My guest this week is Sheryl Cohen Solomon, a writer of very funny and touching personal essays. She published her first essay in North Shore Magazine. The second one is coming more slowly, but she’s not giving up! – Meg “Tooth Fairy Tale” was the first and only piece I’ve ever published. I sent it… ...
Meg Waite Clayton: In Praise of Writing Friends
No guest today. Just me, since it’s my publication week! The history of my own writing starts with a purse. Like the character of Linda in my new novel, The Wednesday Sisters, my first writing teacher—at a college extension class—dumped hers out over the table and told us to write for five minutes about anything… ...
Brenda Rickman Vantrease: A 136-Rejection Overnight Success
My guest blogger today, Brenda Rickman Vantrease, is the author of the critically acclaimed The Mercy Seller, and the national bestseller, The Illuminator, which received starred reviews in both Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal, was translated into fourteen foreign languages, and was a Booksense Recommended for Book Clubs selection. She also has the dubious distinction… ...
Julia Flynn Siler: “Girl Reporter” Turned Bestselling Author
My guest blogger this Wednesday is Julia Flynn Siler, whose bestselling House of Mondavi is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award and for a Gerald Loeb Award. Like Margaret Mitchell, whom she writes about here, Julie is a “Girl Reporter Turned Bestselling Author.” For both, years of work underlie the “overnight” success. One… ...
