Deborah Halverson

Author & Editor

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Me, Being Brave

December 25, 2022 Leave a Comment

I’m most comfortable stepping into the greater world via words on a page. But in these days of Zoom webinars, social media, and ubiquitous phone cameras, it’s probably inevitable that I would push the boundaries of my comfort zone. And so I have: I’ve started creating quick videos of craft tips and my DearEditor.com Q&As. […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing Tagged With: Christmas stories, DearEditor.com, Deborah Halverson, writing advice

Editing and Writing to the Beat

November 16, 2022 Leave a Comment

I had a spectacular #MobileEditing office today! I set myself up at the Rady Shell at San Diego Bay during the San Diego Symphony’s open rehearsals. I edited a picture book AND revised two chapters of my own WIP. I know some folks would be distracted by the glorious music that swirled around me. I […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, The Adventure Called Life Tagged With: Deborah Halverson, editing

Deborah In the Redwoods

September 14, 2022 Leave a Comment

Technology can be a very good thing. This weekend, thanks to the magic of Zoom, I’ll be “with” the members of Redwood Writers, the largest branch of the California Writers Club. I will be presenting an hour-long webinar called “You’ve Written a Book, What’s Next?” It’s beginners as well as advanced writers — published and […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing Tagged With: Deborah Halverson, redwood writers

Where I Write (and Edit)

August 19, 2022 Leave a Comment

I was honored last month to be featured inWriters’ Forum magazine’s “Where I Write” feature. Originally, my husband created my dream writing space at home. He built glass-door bookcases and wainscoted the walls and lugged in a comfy green couch to set alongside my desk. But then we had triplet sons, and that space was […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, News

Talking Book Trends with Book Folk

August 14, 2022 Leave a Comment

I had a great Sunday afternoon. Why? Because I spent it with authors and illustrators of children’s books–always a great, varied, and energetic group of people. I was invited to a virtual meeting of SCBWI Nebraska. I talked about how the various categories of children’s books are performing, how some audience and market expectations are […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

The Coolness of Editing Bayside

August 9, 2022 Leave a Comment

Today I edited bayside at San Diego Bay, near Maritime Museum of San Diego. I enjoyed my view of Californian (the official tall ship of the state of California), and the San Salvador replica (the original first sailed into San Diego in 1542). The main museum is 1898 steam ferryboat Berkeley from San Francisco Bay. […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

Feeling Spacey Today

July 13, 2022 2 Comments

Have you seen the first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope? They get my imagination all whirled up as I try to wrap my head around the depths of space. Inspired, I set up my mobile editing office at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park today. I get a kick […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

Podcast Alert: Deborah on “How Writers Write”

June 2, 2022 1 Comment

I love the “How Writer Write” podcast. Host Brian Murphy excels at leading great discussionabout writing practice and process. We get into that in this episode, plus we dig into the question “What makes a story ‘Young Adult’?” and I get to talk about what it’s like to think like an editor. It’s a fabulous […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, News

Deborah Auctioning Picture Book Edit & Call for #WeNeedDiverseBooks

December 6, 2021

I’m honored to be contributing to the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign by offering a picture book edit and phone call with me in their Holiday Auction. Visit https://bit.ly/3HZPItU to bid on this and check out all the other offerings. The Holiday Auction ends 10pm Eastern 12/6/21.

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, Events, News Tagged With: DearEditor.com, Deborah Halverson

Can You Eat 76 Hot Dogs in 10 Minutes?

July 4, 2021

Joey Chestnut can. Oh, and don’t forget the 76 buns — because he ate those, too. Today was the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Championship, held every 4th of July. When I wrote BIG MOUTH, a middle grade novel about a boy who aspires to be the world’s greatest competitive eater, the Nathan’s Famous […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

How to Write a Great Query Letter

January 27, 2021

Every writer seeking traditional publication will submit their project to agents and/or editors at some point. Writing that submission email can be stressful. You want to get it right, right? In this post, I break down the parts of a query letter and talk you through each one. At the end, I’ve included a sample […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, Writing Youg Adult Fiction For Dummies

Predicting a Uniquely Unpredictable 2021

January 16, 2021

I shared some predictions for children’s literature market in the January edition of SCBWI INSIGHT, a monthly enewsletter for members of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. INSIGHT features current children’s book hot topics, helpful hints, exclusive interviews and monthly contests. When talking about likelihoods for 2021, emerging trend-lines are intriguing to extend […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, News

A Book with Benefits

November 25, 2020

It was my honor to edit the Purple Project’s picture book PENNY’S ADVENTURES IN SAN DIEGO. Sales benefit victims of domestic violence and abuse. For this book, thirteen San Diego County mayors and a deputy mayor each penned a chapter of a story about a kind-hearted purple butterfly named Penny visiting their respective cities and […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

My New Class for KidLit Writers!

October 12, 2020

I’m honored to have created a new class for Children’s Book Insider: “10 Things That Get Kidlit Manuscripts Rejected – and How to Avoid Them.” It will be 90 minutes of deep-digging writing tools for writers of picture books, chapter books, middle grade and young adult — fiction and nonfiction. I’ve got you all covered […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing, News

Texting in Novels – It’s a Thing

June 28, 2020

The average American checks their phone 47 times a day. 23 billion text messages are sent each day worldwide. 98% of US smartphone users send text messages regularly. American smartphone owners aged 18-24 send around 2000 text in a month.* With texting behavior like that, texting is going to show up in our novels. But […]

Filed Under: Adventures in Writing

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WELCOME TO DEBORAH’S BLOG

See what Deborah is up to, or sit a spell and enjoy her tales about the thrills, chills, and spills of being an on-the-go editor and writer.

Categories

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  • Especially for Teen Readers
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  • Me and My Big Mouth
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  • The Adventure Called Life
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  • Triplets: The Preschooler Years
  • Where in the World…?
  • Writing New Adult Fiction
  • Writing Youg Adult Fiction For Dummies

From the Blog

Me, Being Brave
I'm most comfortable stepping into the greater world via words on a page. But in these days of...
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RSS From DearEditor.com

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