Tag: publishing

Personal, Update

Where Have I Been?

Tiffany Renee Harmon

It’s been so long since I posted to my website, and I thought it was about time to check in. So what have I been doing in my absence? I’ve been living!

Relationships take up a lot of time, and the last few months have been filled with so much growth and happiness. Right before New Year’s Eve, my boyfriend requested an upgrade to fiance and I said yes!

I’m looking forward to all the new adventures and growth opportunities in 2023, including getting married and moving to a new state. As a person with a lot of anxiety, I expected so many changes to be terrifying, but they haven’t been because I have the most supportive partner in the world and I get to borrow so much of his strength whenever I need it.

On a more professional note, Crooked is still slated to come out in 2023! The editing process has been pushed back a bit so I don’t have an exact date to share, but I’m so excited to have found a home at World Castle Publishing. They’ve done a fantastic job with the cover art, and I am looking forward to our continued partnership beyond this first book.

This is also our third year with Ephemeral Elegies, a confessional poetry journey. It’s been an honor to build relationships and connect with so many new and emerging poets. We’ve been able to expand to three poems weekly, and it’s been a fun journey with this project.

And last but certainly not least, there are some new projects in the works! There may be a poetry collection surprise by the end of 2023, and stay tuned for information on two new book series (both mysteries – one cozy and one more traditional).

Thanks for reading! I can tell 2023 is going to be a great year, and I’d love to know what some of your goals are for the year – feel free to share in the comment section!

— Tiffany Renee Harmon

Personal

2020 – A Year in Review

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Good Riddance, 2020! This has been the weirdest year, and I’m sure we’re all happy to put it behind us. Still, while it’s easy to sort of marinate in the awfulness of 2020, I wanted to reflect on some of the better moments too. Here are some good/productive things I can still be proud of from this year:

Suburban Secrets

At least the pandemic gave me enough free time to finish up my debut novel: Suburban Secrets. This mystery has been a project I’ve worked on since grad school, so it was nice to finally see it through.

Other Published Works:

I didn’t submit quite as much as I’d have liked to this year, but I did have a few smaller things published as well:

“The Monster Within” (Dreaming in Fiction – October 2020) [As Aurora Bishop]

“Horoscopes for the Unbalanced Libra” (Ephemeral Elegies – September 2020) [As Aurora Bishop]

“Spare Parts” (Ephemeral Elegies – August 2020) [As Aurora Bishop]

“New Life” (Inwood Indiana – Fallow Ground)

“American Exodus” (SOS Art Cincinnati – For a Better World 2020)

“The World Ablaze” (SOS Art Cincinnati – For a Better World 2020)

“Welcome to 2020” (SOS Art Cincinnati – For a Better World 2020)

“Dancing in the Dark” (Writing in a Woman’s Voice – February 2020)

“The Vanishing Act” (Down in the Dirt Magazine – February 2020)

Artwork:

I wanted to make it a priority to focus on my artwork this year, and while I didn’t do nearly as much as I expected, there were still a few nice moments. I was able to complete Inktober on Instagram. I had a painting purchased as artwork for a mental health journal, and I had two paintings featured in a local art show.

Transitioning to Publisher:

This year also marked the debut of my two literary journals: Ephemeral Elegies and Dreaming in Fiction. It’s been such a great experience meeting and supporting other authors from around the globe. I can’t wait to feature more writing in 2021.

Well, I guess 2020 wasn’t so bad after all. Still, I’m looking forward to a 2021 filled with health, happiness, and (hopefully) new adventures!

What are you most proud of this year? Please, let me know in the comment section so I can celebrate with you!

-Tiffany

Personal, Update

Suburban Secrets – Now Available to Pre-Order!

Tiffany Renee Harmon

It’s official – Suburban Secrets, my debut mystery novel, will be available on August 16th! You can pre-order it on Amazon if you’d like a copy!

bookcover0002948-2019-05-25-09-40-51

I’d love to share a bit about this experience. This project began in grad school and was born out of my love of mystery and my fear of motherhood. I think that being a parent is probably the hardest job in the world, so I really wanted to explore that throughout this mystery. Full disclosure: I am not a parent, so this is very much my way of experiencing something I’ve really only observed.

Here’s the Amazon description of the book: “Angela Carmichael feels like an imposter in her idyllic neighborhood. Surrounded by seemingly perfect families, Angela is just doing her best to stay afloat as a single mother and freelance writer. But when a neighborhood boy goes missing, and danger seems to lurk behind every white picket fence, Angela becomes determined to uncover the secrets and lies of her community in order to keep her daughter safe.”

I hope you’ll consider getting a copy if this sounds intriguing to you!

Thanks for reading.

Tiffany

 

Personal, Update

Upcoming Published Poems

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Welcome to day 137(?) of quarantine! While the need to social distance has made it seem like time is now irrelevant (seriously, I’m thinking about buying day-of-the-week underwear to help me keep track), I’m excited to announce that I’ve found homes for two poems:

I’ll be featured in the next issue of Poetry Quarterly as well as the “For a Better World 2020” anthology by SOS Art Cincinnati.

red rose on white book page
Photo by Nóra Zahradník on Pexels.com

This has been a strange year for us all! But I’ve honestly been enjoying the extra quiet time at home to explore different creative avenues. Becoming a publisher this year with Ephemeral Elegies has been an exciting new challenge, and I’ve been continuing my charity knitting projects with Warm Up Ohio. I’ve also been doing a lot of editing for Suburban Secrets, my debut novel coming out this summer.

The world may seem kind of stuck right now – but that doesn’t have to mean we remain creatively immobile. What are some passion projects you’re excited to be working on? Please, feel free to share in the comment section. I think that we should all be celebrating any sort of victory or milestone these days, and I’d love to know how to cheer for you!

Thanks for reading,

Tiffany

Personal, Update

MFA Update and 5 Writing Tips

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I just finished my sixth quarter at Lindenwood University. For those of you who don’t know, I’m working on an MFA in writing fiction. I can’t believe I only have two quarters left! If everything goes according to plan, I will be finished in March 2018.

Overall, my experiencing in the MFA program has been very positive. I think that I’ve grown so much as a writer, so I wanted to share some things with aspiring writers. Here are my five top tips for writers:

  1. Discipline is so important. It doesn’t matter that you have millions of great ideas if you never get them down on paper. It is a great idea to come up with a writing routine so that you get in the habit of writing every single day.
  2. Editing is crucial. No one’s first draft is perfect. Yes, publishers provide editors if they decide to take on your project, but it’s important to do your best so that you can even get to that point. Make sure you’ve done all you can to make your project the best before you send it out.
  3. Feedback is so helpful. You can’t objectively analyze your own writing. You just can’t. It’s so important to have a beta reader you can trust that will provide you with honest feedback of what isn’t working in your project.
  4. Rejection is unavoidable. Whether your peers hate your story in workshop or several publishers say no to you, every writer will face rejection at some point. In fact, rejection is going to happen a lot more than acceptance. If you want to be a successful writer, you’ve got to develop a thick skin. Don’t let rejection get you down. Let it inspire you to become a better writer.
  5. Conventions exist for a reason. Sure, rules can be broken, but most publishers won’t take a chance on something too experimental. There’s a reason that children’s books are shorter than adult books – children don’t have a long attention span. There’s a reason that most novels aren’t written in second person – it’s hard to sustain for longer projects. Have you noticed that most horror movies are exactly 90 minutes long? It’s difficult to create suspense and have escalating tension for much longer than that. Learn why the conventions exist in each genre before trying to break the rules.

I hope that these suggestions can be helpful to anyone reading this blog who is considering becoming a writer or sending things out to publishers. Writing can be discouraging – only about 4% of writers can live off what they make from their writing – but it’s also very rewarding to see your name in print. Honestly, I think that the process of writing is so enjoyable that it makes up for all the rejection and poor pay. Still, if you want to pursue writing, make sure you’re doing it because you love it and not because you think it will make you rich.

Thanks for reading!

-Tiffany

Personal, Update

Life Update: Poem Published

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Yellow Spiral Notebooks

I just wanted to thank Outcast Poetry for publishing my poem “Dreaming.” You can read it HERE if you’d like. It’s been about two years since I’ve had something published, which is definitely my fault. I went for a whole year and a half where I didn’t send anything out for submission. I went through a big slump! Part of this was because life was so busy and part of it was just due to being discouraged. I think discouragement is a big part of life for most writers because it’s hard to edit and send things out and get rejected over and over again.

Thankfully, since beginning my MFA program at Lindenwood University, I’ve been a lot more productive. I think I’ll do a whole post about my experiences there soon because it’s already impacted my life quite a bit.

Anyway, over the past two months, I’ve sent lots of things out to journals. Now, I’m waiting for those inevitable rejection letters and maybe another acceptance somewhere!

 

Industry News

Where to Submit Your Writing?

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Becoming a successful writer is hard work (I assume, since I’m not yet a successful writer). Still, you will never get published if you don’t put yourself out there and submit your stories, essays, poems, etc. Once you’ve written something you’re proud of – what next? Where do you go? I have found one resource that helps me with these questions – Duotrope.

Image result for duotrope
Credit: Duotrope.com

Duotrope is a website that helps connects writers with publishers. It mostly deals with places to submit shorter works like individual poems, short stories, or essays, but there are a few publishers listed that take unsolicited larger works for consideration as well such as novels and poetry or short story collections.

There is a $50 annual fee to use Duotrope, but I think it’s worth it. If you’re not so sure, consider giving their free trial option a try and check it out for yourself. Duotrope allows you to search for the perfect home for your writing. You can put in your genre and the length of your work, and it will give you places that are looking for that. You can even limit it by how much you want for your product: no payment, token payment, semi-pro payment, or professional payment. They are constantly adding new publishers or contests for you to consider. This website has helped me cut down on my googling considerably by bringing the publishers to me.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was six, but I still feel like I’m still at the beginning of my journey as a writer. I’m taking baby steps and still trying to find my voice, but I’m going to get there! And you can too! I’m glad that I’ve found Duotrope to help me along the way, and I just wanted to share it with you in case it helps you too.

Industry News

New University of Cincinnati Press

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Academic publishing is a really big part of the publishing industry, and I was excited to discover that my alma mater The University of Cincinnati has finally launched their own university press. The University of Cincinnati released an official press release!

Image result for university of cincinnati
Credit: The University of Cincinnati

I’ve always been proud of going to UC and of my hometown of Cincinnati, but I was especially impressed by this new publishing platform’s goal to focus on “social justice and community engagement.” I think that this is an important step towards bridging the gap between academic writing and the rest of the world. I love when lines blur, and that will be exemplified here. Cincinnati has had a lot of social concerns in the past and the present. I think it is amazing that the University of Cincinnati continues to take an active role in creating and maintaining community connections and making a difference in the lives of all the diverse people in the greater Cincinnati area.

We don’t know much yet about the forthcoming publishing products of the University of Cincinnati Press, but I’m very excited to see what comes next. I do know, based on the press release, that they will be publishing in both physical and digital formats, which is wonderful since digital formats can often have a larger reach these days. Hopefully, good things will come of this!