Author Archives: virginiazimmerman

On the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, as many of us look back on our first meeting with the boy wizard, it seems appropriate to consider the topic of re-reading. Some will take … Continue reading →

I like to nod, then look at that, or so it seems. Anyone who reads drafts of my writing–my agent, my editor, my critique partners–may know already the significance of that strange sentence. Even readers of this post who have never … Continue reading →

A very specialized sub-genre of blog post is the author’s story of how she got her agent. I never told my story, and then it turned out my story was still in process, so it’s a good thing I waited. … Continue reading →

I have spent the past two-and-a-half weeks at an artist’s residency in Dorset, Vermont. The Marble House Project is a truly amazing residency that offers eight artists of various kinds unlimited time to make art. Here with me are two … Continue reading →

It seems to me there are two ways to liken writing a story to making a sculpture: the story can be molded from a shapeless mass of clay or it can be hewn from a solid block of stone. Both … Continue reading →

It’s been a good month for me in terms of getting my thoughts on reading and writing out to a larger audience via popular media. Here is an opinion piece on re-reading that appeared on Fox News Online: “…the Magical … Continue reading →

I was delighted to be invited to write a guest post for Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog over at Writer’s Digest. This blog has been a great resource for me, and it is such a pleasure to get … Continue reading →

One of my favorite parts of The Rosemary Spell is the classroom scene in chapter 3. Mr. Cates reads Shakespeare’s Sonnet 55 out loud, and Rosemary and Adam, along with their classmates, work to figure out what it means. At … Continue reading →

I haven’t written an “essentials” post in a while. These are posts in which I reflect on a wide range of things that are essential to my writing life. So far, I’ve tackled the double asterisk and my wonderful critique … Continue reading →