I have known Lisa Yee for many years. Kind, fun, and always smiling, my fellow blogger Lisa is also a great speaker who keeps her audiences rolling in the aisle. It is great to have my buddy Lisa Yee give us a "Writing Tip of the Day."
Lisa says:
I meet a lot of writers who say, "I want to be a bestselling author." Um, that's a lot of pressure for anyone--published or unpublished.
I would encourage you to have more bite-sized goals. Like, "I want to write a good sentence today." Or, "I want to complete the chapter I am writing by the end of the week."
It's weird, but for most writers there seems to be this pressure to be published. If you like to swim, people seldom ask, "Oh, when will you be racing Michael Phelps?" However, if you tell someone you write, chances are you will be asked, "Are you going to be like JK Rowling?" There's enough of this pressure from the outside, so don't do it to yourself, too.
Take heart in the joy of writing.
With the publication of Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Lisa realized her lifelong dream of becoming an author. There are over 300,000 copies of MILLIE, the winner of the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award, in print. Lisa's second novel, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, won the Chinese American Librarian Association Best Book of the Year award, and was named an American Library Association Notable Book. Lisa was also named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Author-in-Residence. Her third novel, So Totally Emily Ebers came out in 2007, as did Good Luck, Ivy, an American Girl historical novel.
Read the hilarious Lisa Yee blog
Great advice, Lisa!
Posted by: Candace Ryan | February 06, 2009 at 02:21 PM