Introducing Guest Blogger - PB Rippey

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful group of followers, but we also know they are fantastic writers as well. This week we are rolling out the red carpet to welcome some of our most faithful readers (and commenters) for guest blog posts.

First up, PB Rippey!

Who knows where inspiration comes from. Perhaps it arises from desperation. Perhaps it comes from the flukes of the universe, the kindness of the muses.

--Amy Tan

When I’m scared, I Google. And that’s how—one tense afternoon in 2010, revision of my middle grade novel burying me alive, I found the YA Muses.

Right away I knew I’d discovered a Treasure Site. I was impressed by the information-packed posts and the generosity of (very busy!) writers sharing tips, struggles, successes and (cue drum roll) fears. I had received five agent bites on my novel over the year and was frustrated when they all turned me down. All. Of. Them. Agony! As I prepared for another round of submissions and struggled with the suffocating revision, I read the Muses every morning. I read this by Veronica: Revising is not a treadmill. Thereis a point where you feel satisfaction and pride and know it's time to shut the machine down and take the walking somewhere else. 

Talia’s post, Thanks For The Rejections brought me up short—her positive twist on rejections made me re-examine how I handle them, or how I handle negative feedback, or great feedback, for that matter. I poured over Katy’s Prompting Revision post with the helpful writing exercise tucked inside it. I did the writing exercise and felt a little less panicked. Donna’s post, The Big Break was partly responsible for getting me out of my office and into more SCBWI events, where I received fresh critiques on my manuscript and won a Special Mention in a Writer’s Day contest. To my surprise, joy and I admit it was definitely slightly terrifying, I won a critique on the first 15 pages of my novel from the YA Muses themselves. I can confidently report that their critiquing is just as generous and detailed as their blog posts. 

And when Muse Bret arrived—ah, perfect! His post, Stupid Hill is a must-read if you, like me, are planning yet another next-move with your manuscript, or are frustrated to the point of primal screaming into the stack of clean bath towels you are carrying to your linen closet. 

The YA Muses is more than a blog, it’s a writer’s resource, a (FREE!) toolbox. Catching them at this early point in their careers is a gift to any writer seeking representation and a home for their novel. That troubling afternoon in 2010, little did I know I’d be Googling myself into help—and hope. Thank you, Muses. You are appreciated.

Bio:

PB Rippey is a Los Angeles based poet and fiction writer. Her work appears in such journals as, Zyzzyva, Phoebe, anderbo.com, Pedestal Magazine, Runes, Pool, Chaparral, The Chattahoochee Review, Santa Barbara Independent and many others. Work is forthcoming in Askew. She is the author of the poetry chapbook, Nightmares With Moons (Pudding House Press). Between hunting for representation for her middle grade novel, PB attends SCBWI events, writes and raises her preschooler (never in that order). Her writing blog is http://pbwrites.wordpress.com