“An excellent resource for writers who are serious about their work. I wish I had read it before I ventured into the publishing world. It might have saved me a lot of grief.” ~Stephanie Cole, author of Compass North
“As a writer who is trying to weigh the pros and cons between traditional and self-publishing, I learned SO much practical, experienced-based information.” ~Twylla Alexander
“From getting the manuscript ready to publish and marketing the book, the author has all the answers a writer is looking for.” ~Mamta Madhavan for Readers’ Favorite, 5 stars
“The best book I’ve ever read on the subject.” ~Jeffrey Wetherington Sr.
WE BELIEVE you should get the books you want the WAY you want.
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At age twenty-one, Deb Vanasse was dropped by a bush pilot on a gravel runway in middle of the Alaska wilderness. No roads, no houses, no cars, no people—only a winding brown slough and tundra spread flat as prairie. She had come not for adventure but to live, an isolating but evocative experience that has inspired much of her work, including her books about writing.
Between her mountain home and a glacier-based cabin, she continues to enjoy Alaska’s wild places.
Author Deb Vanassee at Denali
Her family lived on the grounds of the state mental institution where her dad worked. The staff consisted mostly of foreign doctors, so she grew up with children from around the world, always in the shadow of the sprawling hospital and patients who walked the grounds, each more or less in his own little world. Deb lived in her own little world much of the time too. Her favorite hangout was a shed attached to her family’s barracks-style cement block house, where she’d spend hours reading and imagining story worlds.
Deb has been known to…buy way more books than she’ll ever read
Things Deb likes…chocolate, good books, an occasional movie, a good hot shower after a few days of camping, warm flannel sheets, wide open spaces, soft falling snow, her friends
She’ll never get caught…skydiving; she so doesn’t like heights
A favorite/line expression and where it’s from: “There’s a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen
Alaskans she most admires: Peggy Shumaker, Elizabeth Peratrovich, DeeDee Jonrowe
Favorite Alaska places: Matanuska Glacier, Kennicott Mine, the Pribilofs
As co-founder of the wildly successful Alaska writer’s organization 49 Writers, a popular blogger on writing topics, and author of 16 published books, Vanasse offers a unique and trusted perspective for writers.In the workshops I teach on publishing, I begin with this exercise, which I suggest you do right now (as in right now, not later—it only takes a few minutes).
Start with the fantasy. You have one—all writers do. Imagine that through some astounding magic, your every writerly dream came true—the wildest, the most outlandish, the things you’re scared to articulate, even to yourself. If in five years, each and every one of these dreams were fulfilled, how would it look, in terms of income, recognition, your body of work, and how you spend your time (creative vs. production/promotion)?
