This summer, author Megan Miranda won the publishing lottery.
Miranda, who writes thrillers and young-adult novels, is the kind of author that publishers usually call midlist. She's well established, and one of her books has even been a New York Times bestseller, yet outside of her genre, she's not exceptionally famous.
'If you aren't growing as a writer, you are dead.'
'Dear Aspiring Writer, you are not ready. Stop. Put that finished story away and start another one. In a month, go back and look at the first story. RE-EDIT it. Then send it to a person you respect in the field who will be hard on you. Pray for many many many red marks. Fix them. Then put it away for two weeks. Work on something else. Finally, edit one last time. Read more