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Sarah J. Carlson

@sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social

280 followers 450 following 72 posts

Young Adult author of EVERYTHING’S NOT FINE (Kirkus YA Best Books of 2020 About Finding Inner Strength) and ALL THE WALLS OF BELFAST. 🇨🇦🇺🇸 living in Atlantic Canada. Seeking new representation. https://sjcarlsonauthor.com

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

My book trailer for PLAY TO MY HEART, a dual POV Contemporary YA about two teens from different worlds connected by the power of music, trying to do good in the world. Set in #NovaScotia

#AgentGuide in reply to this post. #amquerying #AuthorsAndWriters #booksky #writing #authors #Querying

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 7

Yes! So much more efficient than scrolling! I’ve also been using select all for chapter word counts a lot on revisions and it’s so helpful. An editor showed me that trick years ago and not a writing session goes by where I’m not navigating with that!

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 7

#writinglifemonthly Day 06 Share a writing resource

Figuring out how to use "Outline" mode in Word to make chapter headings "Level 1" text. When I open "Find" or "Navigation," it brings up chapter headings that I can instantly navigate to. I can also, in this menu, "select all" for the whole ch.

Tracey Lee @traceyleewrites.bsky.social · Apr 6

#writinglifemonthly Day 06

💖 #WritingCommunity Is there a writing resource you love and think people should know about? It could be a blog post, a piece of tech, or the most amazing pen or notebook. Something instrumental to your writing journey. 🙏

#AskAnAuthor #AmWriting #WriteSky

#writinglifemonthly April Get to know me... Day 06 Share a game-changing resource

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

Me too!

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

🙌🙌🙌

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

🙌🙌🙌

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

Had so much fun during #1stLinePit. It inspired me to make a bunch of promo material (which I’ve been putting off), and now I remember how much I enjoy creating visuals. Also so great to see all the writerly support. I’ve missed that! Thanks @1stlinepit.bsky.social! #amwriting #writingcommunity

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

I’m terrified I’ve already become a fallen child star—burnt out before my eighteenth birthday.

Until the call.

#AgentsGuide for PLAY TO MY HEART in reply to this post.

#1stLinePit #Q #YA #R #LF #CON #amquerying

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

🙌🙌 I’ve loved making the connections as well! I’ve missed that about the old Twitter writing community days before Elon ruined it.

Reposted by Sarah J. Carlson

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

Plus I made some good connections in the old YA Twitter community years ago from all over the world who went on to be crit partners and friends I met IRL. So I am trying to reconnect. 2/2

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

I actually started a writing group where I live now, which is great! But I live in a pretty rural area and there’s not other YA writers. It’s also easier to connect with others at the same point in the writing journey (writing, querying, subbing, promoting, etc). 1/2

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

🙌🙌🙌 it’ll get easier each time!

Reposted by Sarah J. Carlson

Crystal Bayless ✍🏻is writing & editing✍🏻 @crystalbauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Here is my list for #1stLinePit #CMe

1. We Were Students
2. The Girl Within
3. Rutello: Maya, Warrior Queen
4. Find Me
5. The Compass
6. The Adventures of Marigold and Daisy: Beautiful Butterflies
7. Luna and the Golden Owl
8. Ghosts of Our Past
9. Kingdom of Treasures

Yellow Background.

Top left picture is an orange flower and orange Butterflies. Top right pic is two little girls in cowgirl hats and dresses facing a sunset in a field.

Title is orange cursive The Adventures of Marigold and Daisy

Middle left pic is a rock house in a forest. Middle right is a weeping willow tree.

The rest of the title with the same font Beautiful Butterflies and a monarch butterfly.

Bottom left pic is an old woman in overalls by a wall of orange flowers. Bottom right pic is a field of flowers.

Black background.

Title in blue cursive font Luna and the Golden Owl

First line of piture left to right: A great horned owl sitting on a stump in a forest with sunshine, a meadow with clover flowers and a sunset. A shadowed guy in front of a sunset.

Middle pictures left to right: A hawk, an eagle and a crow.

Bottom pictures left to right: Moon and stars, a shadowed woman with backing sunlight, a white owl on the ground.

Bottom quote in blue cursive font: "Spread the light of love to everyone around you so that the world will be filled with this, the greatest of blessings."

Black background

Top left picture is of the fence and two buildings in Aushwitz.

The top right is of an Auschwitz building with fall dead trees in front of it.

Then in white font with teal edging it says the title The Girl Within.

The middle left picture us a tank in a field.

The middle right is the front of a large boat and a smaller boat on water.

Then there's a quote that says "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take side." - Elle Wiesel

The bottom left picture is a blonde girl in a brown jacket and a black press vest that says press in white. She's standing in front of a tall brown building with lots of windows.

The bottom right pic is a crowd of protesters in front of a building.

Black background

Top left photo is a group of students high school age in front of a school from behind. The words in black and orange We were Students. Below that a tank coming down a mountain hill onto a road with a forest behind it. Then below people running into a building. Then 3 pans cooking food over a fire on a grate.

Top right photo: people on a trip type bus with a quote in war everyone loses. This truth can be seen in the eyes of every soldier of every world. Below that 9 jets flying in the sky. Below that people camping in a forest. Below that people camping in an open area by hills and a waterfall.

Quotes down the middle: it takes minute effort to start a war but I er a million effort to restore peace. To know your enemy you must become your enemy. In the end we. Will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. War doesn't determine who's right, war determines who remains. Attack him where he in unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 6

Oh... wow.... I don't love trampoline parks generally, but that is extra special. I'm imagining loud pop music as well. Glad you survived!

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

❤️❤️❤️ awww that’s hard.

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Thank you! Yours rocks as well! East Coast Canada FTW. Repping time zones most Americans don’t know exist haha.

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Thaaanks!!! I’m hoping it is! ❤️❤️❤️

Reposted by Sarah J. Carlson

Julianne @authorjulianne.bsky.social · Apr 5

#1stLinePit
After my mother died, the smell of smoke clung to me for days.
It was tradition in Doverum to burn the dead. It had been for longer than anyone could remember, stretching back through generations in a never-ending cycle of life and death, flame and ash.🖤
#WIP #YA #RF

A moodboard for THE BOG PRINCE. It features 9 images with an eerie, gothic vibe.
Top row, L to R:
A pair of dirty hands reaching out of the dirt, an ominous iron gate, a couple's legs lying next to each other on the forest floor.
Middle row:
A steam train emerging from the fog, a dark haired woman in an Edwardian-style dress regarding herself in a mirror, the ruins of a stone castle shrouded in mist.
Bottom row:
A long-haired man lying on his back in the dirt (it just happens to be Hozier, but shhh), a misty bog with rolling hills in the background, a couple's lips leaning towards one another for a kiss.

A graphic of a green, cloth-bound book over a library backdrop. The text on the book reads: The Bog Prince. Everin unleashes dark necromancy magic when she reanimates the bog body of her kingdom's long-lost prince. To conceal her forbidden power and solve his murder, they'll need to work together to unearth centuries of rewritten history.
But some secrets are better left buried...

A passage of text on a green, cloth-bound book background. An illustration of a rabbit with a jawbone around its neck sits at the bottom corner. The text reads: After my mother died, the smell of smoke clung to me for days. It was tradition in Doverum to burn the dead. It had been for longer than anyone could remember, stretching back through generations in a never-ending cycle of life and death, flame and ash. The smell was as familiar as the scent of violet perfume, or the sting of seawater in my nose. But something about it changed for me on the day we burned Ma. The smoke burrowed in my hair, my skin. It draped like a cloak of death around my shoulders, impossible to shrug off. Ever since, I’d seen it as a bad omen. A reminder that all things would one day go up in flame.

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

It really is. On so many levels. Which is why I approached my husband’s pleading for a puppy with great reticence lol.

Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

🤞🤞 I’m always afraid to say it out loud because—never fails—I then find yet another thing that needs doing as soon as I dare utter the words haha.

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Hey, I’m doing #1stLinePit from Nova Scotia! YA Contemporary. It’s been a few years since I’ve dabbling in hashtag pitches. I’ve definitely missed the writing community that can grow around it!

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Reposted by Sarah J. Carlson

Leigh Samuels @leighsamuels.bsky.social · Apr 5

“You’ll be swell, you’ll be great, gonna have the whole world on a plate,” My brother Tommy screamed.

🎭 I always loved musicals so I joined my school's production of Legally Blonde.
👩🏻‍🏫 Except the director is a nightmare
👧🏻 Who loves to degrade me

Find out in Undesired Spotlight!
#1stLinePit #YA #Con

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Reposted by Sarah J. Carlson

Carmen DaVinleam @carmendavinleam.bsky.social · Apr 5

#Q #YA #RF #1stLinePit
We run through the forest; the full moon is the only light we need. We know where we are going. A small group of warriors ready to take down the would-be usurper and all who protect him.

(my 8am post that I didn't click post on 😅)

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Well I made the great life choice of staying up till 2 am finishing my book trailer for #1stLinePit only to spend the today getting a puppy, helping my hockey boy get used to his new helmet at the rink, and getting my daughter to and from
an impromptu bday party 😅 #writermomlife

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Sarah J. Carlson @sjcarlsonauthor.bsky.social · Apr 5

Me too! 🙌🙌