Indie Life – Why I revise right away.

By on December 11, 2013 in Writing

Welcome to Indie Life, a monthly post about anything and everything to do with Indie publishing! Please sign up for the Indie Life newsletter for the monthly reminder to post and for a guest post by a fellow Indie Lifer.

Check out Indie Life at the Indelibles to sign up or for the complete list of links.

Indie Life

 

Why I revise right away.

I realize that revising a finished first draft right away completely goes against the current advice to let your manuscript sit for a month, but that’s not best for me for several reasons.

I write my first drafts in Scrivener and there’s the sidebar where I can type in notes. As I’m writing and realize earlier plot points or chapters need to change, I’ll go to that chapter and on the notes part, I’ll type in what or how I need to rewrite.

When I type The End for the first draft and celebrate with hot cocoa and cookies, I know what needs to happen as far as the basic plot. And when I finally read the whole story on my ereader, I want to know that at that point, it’s the story I want to tell. So usually I go back and make those changes right away, while I’m still in the story and I’m still in the heads of the characters.

Now, after that initial rewrite, which is sometimes a lot and sometimes not, then I like to wait a week or so or longer before I do a read through.

So there you go, the reasons I don’t put my manuscript away for a month, at least not right away.

What do you do after you type The End on your first draft?

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To cry and to laugh and perspective.

By on November 26, 2013 in spies, Writing

Who said this publishing journey would be easy? (No one) Any posts by the published authors – traditional or Indie – will say the same thing. The writing is the easy part. The revising is the easy part. But dealing with the hard work of a small business and the ups and downs is emotionally hard.

There are so many things to make us cry like disappointing sales or screwed-up formatting or not enough chocolate chip cookies. Before that it was query letters and submission processes. Some days it’s not a problem and other days because of other pressures of life the smallest thing will set us off. It’s okay. Breathe deep, make some hot cocoa and put disappointments in perspective.

There are many things to make us smile and laugh too like good sales, pride of our own work, seeing friends’ success, and beyond writing and publishing, our family and friends. (That perspective thing again.)

Have a great Thanksgiving to my American friends! Here are some books and new releases for you to enjoy!

Vanishing Point is now free. Enjoy!!!!

Lies can be deadly.

Amazon ~ Kobo

———————————————————————

DANGEROUS DEPTHS, book 2 of The Sea Monster Memoirs

by Karen Amanda Hooper, has washed ashore.
Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love.
———————————————————————
EAST OF EDEN!!

Regret is a formidable foe.

Her parents had a second chance at love? Would she and Cade get one, too?
Amazon | Kobo | Smashwords
Coming soon to Barnes & Nobles and itunes
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Tattered Dream
(Desolation Diaries #3)
Miro has seen Akaros’ return–and James’ death. But James has been to Hell and back and refuses to let Akaros rob him of his future with Miri. Desi might not be there to save him this time but James is determined to save him.
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Have a great week!! Tell me what you’ve been reading!

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Just a theory on trust – Indie Life!

By on November 13, 2013 in Writing

Welcome to Indie Life – a monthly post about the life and world of self publishing sponsored by the Indelibles. Click on the picture for all the Indie Life links.

And brand new is the Indie Life Newsletter, which will go out once a month to serve as a reminder, but will also include a guest post from an Indie Lifer! So sign up to receive the newsletter next month! Don’t miss out!

At some point we have to trust in ourselves as writers. Honestly? I think it took me longer than other writers to do this – and my trust is still growing.

I think this trust can happen at any point: during your first manuscript, your fifth, or maybe it won’t happen until your tenth. Before that trust happens we might rely on writing crutches whether it be over-editing, over-plotting, an addiction to rewriting, cutting our best scenes or snippets based out of fear. It will be different for everyone.

Even though I’m not doing Nanowrimo, I’m rounding into the last stretch of a first draft of a new series (possibly) and I’m fighting to trust in my muse and let go of my crutches.

With this story, I’m letting go, jumping off the cliff and letting the wind hold me up. I’m trying my hardest to trust in the story, the characters and how they reveal themselves to me. My theory is that our best writing, our best stories will come when we fully trust ourselves and let go.

And fly.

What about you? Do you struggle with this kind of trust?

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Chocolate, Twizzlers, Hot Cocoa and Nano.

By on November 1, 2013 in Writing

Every year I see tweets and talk about Nano and I truly want to join in the excitement and put the badge on my blog and use it as an excuse to binge buy things like chocolate and twizzlers and hot cocoa to get me through the Nano experience.

But alas.

Nano has never fit into my schedule. I’m either rewriting or revising or I’m already in the middle of a first draft. This year I am in the middle of a draft and I’m past the midpoint. I highly doubt that the second half will be 50 thousand words, so I can’t even be a rebel and have already started.

When it comes to Nano, I never thought I could write that many words in a month, but as the years have gone by and I write more and more and know my rhythm of writing, I realize I can do it. In fact, I did complete Nano in that I reached 50k words in October. Just a month too early. It comes down to about 2-3 thousand words a day. And that is possible. Especially if you know where your story is going.

So even though I can’t officially participate, good luck to everyone! Though, I guess I could still invest in some Twizzlers…

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Don’t Miss The Writers Helping Writing Amazing Race!

By on October 21, 2013 in guest posts

Hey everyone! This is a fantastic opportunity for all writers to get a little feedback.

Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi at Writers Helping Writers (formerly The Bookshelf Muse) have added two more books to their Descriptive Thesaurus Collection: The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes and The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws. To celebrate, they are hosting a race, and not just any old race, either. It’s the…

 

Writing is hard, isn’t it? Create the perfect hook. Make your first page compelling. Craft an amazing 25 word pitch. Knock out a query that will blow an agent’s mind. On and on it goes. And sometimes, well, you just wish someone would help.

WISH NO MORE!

From October 21st until October 27th, Writers Helping Writers is posting an OPEN CALL for writers. You can fill out a form, requesting help with critiques, book visibility, social media sharing, blog diagnostics, advice and more.

An army of Amazing Racers are standing by (ME INCLUDED!) waiting to help with your submissions. How many people can we help in a week? Let’s find out! Did I mention there are Celebrity Racers too–amazing authors and editors who know their way around a first page. Maybe one of them will pick your submission to help with!

Each day this week, there’s an AMAZING giveaway, too. So stop in at Angela & Becca’s new Writers Helping Writers website and find out how to take advantage of this unique, pay-it-forward event for writers. I’ll see you there!

 

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