Dear WriteByNighter, All of whom, yes, are also writers. It's a question I'm asked often, "Are your coaches also writers?" Who better to help a writer than another writer? Last week I was emailing with an author who wanted feedback on his nonfiction book; after I offered him some names and didn't include my own, he asked why. I wrote: "When I hire a new writer, one of my main
considerations is Would he/she do a better job than I would? If the answer is no, I don't hire them. This isn't false modesty -- I'm very good at what I do. But the people I hire are even better." But we also have the best clients! And this week
I want to catch you up on some of the incredibly cool things they've been up to. Since coming to WriteByNight in late 2022, S.L. has worked on her manuscript and pre-pub materials with nine WBN coaches and consultants, and I think I can safely say on behalf of all nine of
us that it's been a sheer pleasure, not just to watch this book blossom, but to interact with S.L., whose wit and spirit never waned even when she thought Public Comment would never find a proper home. Anthony Karydakis's debut novel, Fireflies, is available now through Current Words Press. As for what the book is about, I couldn't put it any better than the flap copy does: "Pondering themes of remorse and connectedness, Fireflies is a contemplative novel that follows a man’s quest for redemption and his realization that it might always remain just out of reach." Anthony and I went through an intense copy edit together, so I'm particularly pleased to see this one hit the shelves. Fireflies is the very definition -- and an excellent example -- of a quiet novel, so if that's your thing, give it a go. We're very
happy to see a new novel from our old pal José Skinner. The Search Committee is just out from Arte Público, and if it's anything like José's previous books, including Flight
and The Tombstone Races, it's going to be a fun ride. (Maaaaybe even more fun than it is to hang out with José and talk shit about writers and publishing. When are you coming to NYC?) To whet your whistle, here are the opening lines (any typos are mine): A tall, thin man in his early forties opened the rickety, wood-framed screen door of an old Utah diner nestled in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains. The spring was loose, causing the door to bang behind him. In the
first half-second, it sounded like a gunshot. Maggie Anderson was still accustomed to life in a big city and she automatically flinched before turning, with a frown, to see what had happened.
For those unfamiliar with WriteByNight's origin story, we started as a writing workshop in Stuart, Florida, in the fall of 2009. Our very first
class was a 12-seater. Georgette was one of those twelve writers. To see the release, sixteen years later, of Georgette's first book is hella fun and fulfilling. Congratulations, Georgette! Keep racking up those 5-star reviews. Over at Huffington Post you can (and should!) read Rachel Fleishman's essay on the power of storytelling in the medical profession, "I Was Caring For a Patient with Down Syndrome. A Fellow Doctor's 8-Word Remark Left Me Stunned." A brief excerpt: My mentor’s goal was to inform the family of the possibility that the child had Down syndrome, not to convince them she was right. The only urgency she had was to build trust. The conversation had been so honest, so compassionate, so pure, that I left the room enchanted with the spell of human connection. I’d never considered that, as a doctor, I could
learn to cast sacred spells with words. And so I became a neonatologist.
A few quick hits to close this out: J.R. Carter's medieval fantasy novel, Tales of the Black Knight: An Impossible Debt, is now available from PublishDrive. This one also offers sample pages; the book opens "Of all the dead, it was the horses that weighed heaviest on his heart." Congrats, J.R.! Same for Sophia Pavlou's Angels Deployed, which has recently won second place in the YA category of the BookFest Awards and WON the Outstanding Creator Award in the "Best Fiction Book" category. Sophia is also a finalist for both the International
Impact Award and the Positive Impact Award. Stay tuned for news of Sophia's sequel to Angels Deployed! Thank you for trusting WriteByNight with these projects you've poured so much of yourselves into. Y'all are so inspiring. David Duhr
Co-founder, WriteByNight
P.S. If you know someone who might benefit from today's message, please feel free to forward this email along. Go on, help a writer out. Resources Find a home for your creative work Carve out writing time from your busy schedule |
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