Allison - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm spend my days toiling for a variety men's and women's magazines such as American Baby, American Way, Bride's, Cooking Light, Fitness, Glamour, InStyle Weddings, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Parents, Prevention, Redbook, Self, Shape, Woman's Day, and Women's Health. My debut novel, The Department of Lost and Found, sold at auction in January 2006 and will be published by HarperCollins (Morrow/Avon) in May 2007.Here's a fun little preview of the book: THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND chronicles the journey of a hyperly ambitious 30-year old, Natalie Miller, whose life was perfectly in sync, each step exactly as planned, each path intentionally taken. That is, however, until she's diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. In a pot-filled haze of delirium, she watches as her world becomes untethered: her boyfriend leaves her, her job - her lifeblood - is put on hold, and she, much to her dismay (and guilty pleasure), becomes increasingly addicted to the Price is Right. In an effort to regain control and as she marks her time by chemo rounds, she tracks down all of her past loves to assess where she went wrong and how she can rediscover solid footing, not just in her romances, but in her world as a whole. And it turns out that cancer might not just reinvent her life, it actually might save it.Read more at: allisonwinn.com and allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com

My Interests

Running, dogs, reading, writing, movies, tv (sad but true), music.

I'd like to meet:

Authors, writers, journalists, booksellers...anyone interested in arts, diving into a good book or who wants to add me as a friend or share his or her own story with me.

Television:

The Office, 24, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Prison Break, Veronica Mars, The Amazing Race, Scrubs, Entourage

Books:

There are simply too many to name: it feels like every author I've read has served as inspiration in some way. However, perhaps my favorite books in recent memory were Good Grief by Lolly Winston, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer. A few great reads I've devoured this past month: Finishing Touches by Deanna Kizis, London is the Best City in America by Laura Dave, and A Piece of Normal by Sandi Kahn Shelton.

My Blog

Persistence and Patience: Why You Need Both

As always, a few recent posts from Ask Allison: I wrote what I thought was a great story for a new-to-me magazine. The editor seemed happy, and I didn't have that many rewrites. Unfortunately, I haven...
Posted by Allison on Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:49:00 PST

Highlights from Ask Allison

(Once again, I'm posting some highlights from the past few weeks For more, check out http://allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com.) I was wondering how long it took to sell your book from the time your...
Posted by Allison on Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:13:00 PST

Magazine Editors' Dos and Don'ts

(Once again, I'm posting a highlight from the week. For more, check out http://allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com.) I've gotten so many questions in about queries - how to write them, common ...
Posted by Allison on Fri, 25 Aug 2006 04:42:00 PST

THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, AND WHY...OR HOW THE HELL DOES A BOOK GET SOLD ANYWAY?

Once again, I totally suck at updating, but I've been posting daily at http://allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com. Check out more questions and answers over there. For now, here's a post that g...
Posted by Allison on Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:45:00 PST

The Q and A continues!

I've fallen waaaay behind in updating the blog here on MySpace, but I'm adding in a few recent posts today. For the complete Q/A, head to http://www.allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com. Just What Can...
Posted by Allison on Sat, 22 Jul 2006 07:32:00 PST

And so we begin the Q/A

Before I start answering the questions, I just want to give a BIG shout-out to my fellow writer, Diana Peterfreund, whose book Secret Society Girl is launching TODAY!! Yahoo! I've pre-ordered two copi...
Posted by Allison on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:18:00 PST

My story - from draft to sale

Okay, so as I mentioned below, I thought I'd take this week (or however long people want) to share my story about how I landed the book deal for THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND (Morrow, May 2007). Fr...
Posted by Allison on Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:44:00 PST

Q/A on Book Publishing

I know that there are a lot of aspiring novelists out there, so, as promised below, I thought I'd spend next week chatting about my road to publication, the pitfalls, the perils, the persistence. I'll...
Posted by Allison on Sun, 16 Jul 2006 05:16:00 PST

Andy Roddick, Emmys, The Office

Note to self: don't read US Weekly before going to bed. Disturbing dreams about Lance Bass (driving a white Cabriolet...do they even make those anymore??) and Reichen ensue.So I got a note yesterday f...
Posted by Allison on Sun, 16 Jul 2006 05:15:00 PST

My cereal musings

This is my thought of the morning: if I had to survive on one food alone, surely, it would be cereal. I adore, adore, ADORE cereal. Seriously, I mean it: I think I could live off of it. In the morning...
Posted by Allison on Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:15:00 PST