Young Adult Author Carolyn Tara O’Neil joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss dreaming of being Carolyn Keene, spending five years drafting and revising her debut, reading the entire Query Shark blog, adding a POV to increase request rate by 600%, how much work her agent actually does, writing one day a week, worrying of never writing something worthy, not beating yourself up, and believing in your own writing.

Carolyn Tara O’Neil grew up in a tiny New York City apartment filled with thousands of books. Every Friday she went to the public library for even more reading material. Since then, Carolyn has dedicated her career to the education and rights of young people. She loves to travel, study languages, and spend endless hours discussing TV, books, great hiking trails, and how we can work together to build a more equal society.

Her debut novel, DAUGHTERS OF A DEAD EMPIRE, is set during the Russian Revolution and was published in 2022 by Roaring Brook Press.

Carolyn: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound | Libro FM

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