Monday, January 31, 2011

It's A One Of A Kind Michelle McLean Monday!

Today I hand over The Journey to the lovely and talented Michelle McLean!

Colene asked me about my journey…how I got where I am today. 

I started the way a lot of writers do…with a first novel and a mother who was certain it would soon be featured on Oprah. I didn’t have quite the conviction she did, but I’d always wanted to be an author, ever since I was little. I had a bit of a “why not” moment. Sure it was a dream…one that I had a pretty slim chance of achieving. But I definitely wasn’t going to reach it if I didn’t try. So I did. 
 
Got some requests. Even more rejections. Found writer friends and crit groups. Revised over and over. Submitted again. Got more requests. And even more rejections.
Somewhere along the line I started a blog. I wanted to put good, helpful, informational posts on my blog so I started a series of How To posts on writing poetry. I got such a great response I expanded to essays and papers and different aspects of fiction writing.

In doing some refresher research for the writing posts, it drove me nuts that so many guidebooks and websites out there either listed the rules and left it at that, or filled their instructions with so much overly complicated and technical information that even I had a hard time understanding it.
My writer buddies encouraged me to turn my blog posts into a book. I wasn’t sure about that idea :) But memories of helping my sister and brother with their papers kept coming back to me. They knew what they needed to do. They had all the rules, they knew the basic process. But they had no idea how to get from A to B. They didn’t know how to start, how to implement those rules.

I came up with an outline, wrote several chapters, tackled a non-fiction proposal and query letter and started submitting. After shopping an unsuccessful novel, I was ready for a long, hard road. But things actually happened pretty quickly. The day my agent, Krista Goering, read my proposal she contacted me to set up a phone call. After speaking with her, I knew we’d be a good match, so I withdrew my proposals from the rest of the agents who had them and signed with her.

We started submitting to publishers, waited and waited and waited some more, and after several months, received an offer from Career Press. A year later, here we are :)

Michelle McLean is a writer and the Chief Editorial Consultant for PixelMags, LLC. In addition to her non-fiction work, Michelle writes YA historical novels and other children’s books. If she's not editing, reading or chasing her kids, she can usually be found in a quiet corner working on her next book. 

Homework Helpers: Essays and Term Papers is a fun, user-friendly book that guides the reader, step by step, through writing a dozen different types of essays, including the dreaded SAT essay. Using straightforward, plain English, this book shows the reader exactly what they need to do, from start to finish, and includes rough draft, edited, and final draft versions of every type of essay discussed. This book also provides chapters that include tips and instruction on researching, proofreading, and citations.
 

Here are all the wonderful places you can find Michelle or her wonderful book!





Thanks SO much Michelle!! Congratulations!!

28 comments:

  1. Cool! Thanks for this post Michelle- that book would have been great for me in high school! Glad you were able to find an agent pretty quickly. Good luck with your other writing endeavors! Thanks Colene!

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  2. Thanks for the post, Michelle. Our copy of your book arrived on Saturday and I can't wait to start using it for homeschool today. It looks like it's perfect for my daughter's last semester of high school and it'll be great help for college next year. Thanks so much for writing it. =o)

    Oh, and thanks to Colene for having you over today. (Great new decor for the blog, too.)

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  3. Thanks for the great interview :) It's always fun to see what other people's journeys are like.

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  4. I've been seeing Michelle all over Blogdom these days. Always good to meet new people and read of their journey. Best wishes for your continued success!

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  5. Interesting journey and it sounds like a book my son could use. Love the new look of your blog.

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  6. Thanks for the interview, Colene. (LOVE the new layout)

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  7. Very cool and how unexpected too!

    Colleen, it looks different around here. I like the new background.

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  8. Does it sound like whining if I say that all the cool books came out AFTER I graduated? ;-) And Ms. Colene, what a drastic change of your blog! VERY professional looking layout.

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  9. I love your new look, Colene!! And yay for Michelle!! :-)

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  10. What a great idea, Michelle. That would have helped me a lot when the kids were in school. Best wishes for your continued success.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, fantasy author

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  11. Ooh well done Michelle, good for you! :O)

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  12. thanks everyone, and thanks for hosting me Colene! I love the new blog look :D

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  13. Whoa, new layout! I love the design and this shade of green is my favorite color!
    Congrats to Michelle on her book!

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  14. I'm sorry, that just had way too many exclamation points. Will tone it down next time, ha ha.
    ;)

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  15. Okay, first, WOW on the new blog design. I love it!

    Michelle's book is awesome. I read every page of it for my review. :D

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  16. Yay for Michelle! I think her book sounds fabulous :)

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  17. This is an awesome post. I could use this book with writing papers for university... I may just be getting this! (Which means I will be!)

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  18. Great new design, Colene. Really makes everything POP ~ :) And congrats to Michelle on your book!

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  19. I love getting insight to a whole new world. Learning how someone else made their leap into the big leagues. What a great story!

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  20. Hmm, why wasn't this book around when I was at school?!

    So, um, perhaps I haven't stopped by in a while *gulp* but when did you change your blog look? I like the font in your header :-)

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  21. Hey, this place looks different! :D

    I think it's incredibly cool that doing something to help out others turned out to be the foot in the door to the publishing industry to Michelle, who obviously paid her dues. Great story!

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  22. Ahhh! Where am I? I was confused! LOVE the new layout. Nice to here Michelle's story too! The journey!

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  23. Love the new look around here! I've been hearing a lot about Michelle's book. I'm so happy for her and her success.

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  24. Pretty scrolls!

    I've seen Michelle around the blogs...do you think she's hinting that my son needs help with his essays? ;)

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  25. well, there you go! What a great helper, and how funny. I think my mom expected me to end up on Oprah, too! What now??? :D Thanks, girls~

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  26. Good to see Michelle making the rounds!

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  27. Love the new layout, and I love reading about others' experiences (and for a handy three, love historical as well!).

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