Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days

Zoe M. McCarthy was an actuary in her first career, but she always held a passion to create stories. Determined to learn the route to publication, she joined a critique group and attended writers' conferences, picking up and studying presenters' books on writing. When Zoe's first contemporary romance contracted, her research on publishing and marketing convinced her she needed to start a blog and post regularly. Because her analytical side gives Zoe a keen interest in the mechanics and methodologies of good writing, a how-to blog on writing appealed to her. In 2012 she began her blog. After Zoe had published over one hundred fifty blog posts, an agent and a publishing house editor suggested she write a book based on her blog. The idea interested Zoe, and she attended a workshop on the dos and don'ts for turning blog posts into a book. She wanted to share more than the information she'd accumulated. She desired to help writers who had manuscripts but didn't know how to get them ready for publication, writers whose manuscripts received rejections, writers whose self-published novels received poor reviews, and writers who wanted to write the stories on their hearts but needed help to put them to paper. Tailor Your Fiction Manuscript in 30 Days was born. Zoe still attends writing workshops at popular Christian writers' conferences, subscribes to Writer's Digest, and explores online writing articles to improve her writing and her blog posts. Zoe's weekly posts share what she's learned and often include examples of how she incorporated skills and techniques into her own writing. In addition to her instructional blog, Zoe has taught workshops at libraries, writer groups, and the Virginia chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers' Conferences. Her husband, John, partners with Zoe on the nonwriting tasks in her publishing career. They live on a hill in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. Zoe and John enjoy exploring mountains and valleys, canoeing the New River, or spending time at their cabin on a lake. They have two sons, two daughters-in-love, and six grandchildren. Zoe writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. She is the author of Good Breaks, The Putting Green Whisperer, The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk. Connect with Zoe at zoemmccarthy.com