To Be or Not To BE

So my family reunion is coming up.  Nothing huge, just the most awesome family on the planet getting together for a full weekend.  Last year we started a tradition of helping the host family out by doing a little auction with donations from us family.  The proceeds go to the family reunion costs for that year.  Well I donated drawings of our family that I drew last year and I have been working on it for the last couple days because our reunion is at the end of July.

Point I am getting at, is that the thought has crossed my mind, as it has I am sure, so many others. "Why bother even going back to working on my book?  Why bother, I have more time to work on other things I love, like drawing."  NO!!

You can not think like that.  If you don't get it done, edit and send it out to anyone to get the process started, who will read it?  Who will know of your awesome idea?  NO ONE!    Snap out of it.  It is ok to take a hiatus every now and again.  It's healthy  to do something different work on a different, no-writing project every now and again.  But to completely stop is murder.  You heard me, MURDER.  You can't just let the story end. 

If everyone who used that excuse, we wouldn't have a wheel, light bulb, computers, or anything useful, because it took time, energy and concentration.  It took the sacrifice of that which we love.   Think of your future book lovers.  Now think of the fact that they aren't there until you get your book out there.

So that's my schpeel.  Take it as you will.

Destiny :)

Survey

So I have a survey that I posted on facebook for everyone that I know to take.  I am asking for the publics opinion on cover ideas.  I already have idea pictures and I want to know what will catch the audience, without having a name yet.  If you are willing to take the survey, I would appreciate it.  Here is a link to the event.  https://www.facebook.com/events/393971154074568/

You go to each picture which has two pictures on it that are labeled a letter.  There are a few that are in there more than once up against different pictures.   Just comment below with the appropriate letter of your choice. 

Also in a couple of days when I have gotten enough feedback, I will go through and pick the covers that were chosen the most and post them again, against each other and then you can vote for the best out of those.  It's a trial and error survey so bare with me on it.  I appreciate your help. 

PS  I will also being doing another one soon for Titles.  I'm squaring that up and once I get it done I will post another facebook even or something to that effect that you can vote in.

This is just an example of the photos. 

Almost Done!

I was editing over the weekend and I came to a conclusion:  I am almost done!  What an awesome feeling that is when you can look at your work and think, hey I can send it to my beta readers in probably only one or two more months.  This is awesome.   Now granted,  someone may look at the fact that I put one or two months right there, but for me that's pretty good with being a mom, full time worker, and writer all at the same time.  Everyone knows, the more things you have going on in life, the less time you have to spend on each individual one. 
I have my work separated into two piles.  One is my completed work, as in edited half of the book.  It's in my favorite color folder, blue.  That means I have gone through it, both with myself and my writers group has eyed it over and it's been edited. 
The half that I am still currently editing is in my black folder, meaning I am still editing it, between me and my writers group.  My book right now is ruffly 255 pages and when I have 150 in the blue, and already made my written edits on another 50 in my black folder (just needing to fix the typed version), that means I only have around 50 pages left to edit. 
I already have my beta readers on board (my entire dentist office), that means I can get it out soon.  My original goal at the beginning of the year was to get it sent out to the publishers by the end of the summer, and then about two months ago, after camp Nano, I changed it to sending it out to the beta readers by the end of the summer instead.  So far I feel that I am going to make my goal!

Outlining Your Book

It can always be a little tedious to outline a project you have, but its worth it if it helps you get your words out on the pages.  Some people don't need to outline.  They are better at free flowing everything, just letting things come to them.  Others really need outlines to keep them on the chosen path.  Some, like myself, are right in between.  We like having a general outline, but only so we have an idea of what needs to happen, but we let everything else come to us. 

For those who like to outline if you have every heard of Save the Cat, its a really good screenwriting book that works just as well with writing books.  It explains how to outline. 
There is also the How to write a book in the thirty days link from guardian.com
http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/how-to-write-a-book-in-30-days

Both are very useful and can be used anytime.  I didn't hear about Save the Cat until I was half way through my last book, and I was at a loss at where to go with it.  But then I read Save the Cat and was able to outline the rest of it and finish my book during Nano of 2013. 

Which ever type of writer you are, find out what you need to have help you, and hit it hard to get your work out on those pages so you can take the next step: editing.

Repetative Words

All of us, well maybe not some of the professionals, have repetitive words we have a hard time staying away from and later have to go back through it and change them to similar words.  Take for example, I have the hardest time getting away from looked and walked and when I am talking about certain things in a subject, I tend to say that word way too often.  It's like, Hey we get, there is a mountain, you don't need to say it seven times. 
The ML of the Idaho Falls Nano group just posted this cool way to help avoid the word very.  Very is another one of those words you want to try to stay away from if you can.  Obviously you might need it sometimes, but instead of say, "he was a very tall man." you could say something like, "The tall man turned to me," or "He was tall..." and maybe add some more description about being gangly, blond hair, or shape of his face or something.
This is not her work, she did not create it, but found it on Stumbleupon at http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xuHX5/:OzYZcQWB:DUgprGDj/writerswrite.co.za/45-ways-to-avoid-using-the-word-very/

I found it pretty helpful.  Just to give you an idea if you don't understand how it works, the black words are what people tend use very with.  Like "very afraid," or "very angry,"  You can say he was terrified, or furious to get rid of the very.  It's not something you have to use, but it's helpful. 

For me when It comes to my repetitive words, I look up WordHippo.com and I type in what word I need to find another word for and it tells me every noun, verb and other type of word that can replace the word "look" or any word you type in.  I have written down all the ones I know I repeat way to often.  I made posters with the word on it and put them around the wall in my writing area.  That way I can just look at it real quick to get a word I need.

 

This weekend is Memorial weekend.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.  Spend it with family if you can.  You never know how long they will be in your lives and you'll want to spend as much time with the as you can.    Happy Memorial Day!

Writers Group

Went to my writers group last night, had a blast.  I really enjoy going and helping each other critique our work. It makes a person feel good when you get comments that confirm what you wanted to portray to the ready.  I was able to edit 11 pages worth of my book in between work yesterday and the day before and I am happy to say there were only minor things that needed help like commas and apostrophe's.  Only a couple clarifications were needed. 

I wanted to share a couple of things to avoid when writing.  Most editors out there hate these words.  There pretty simple words that everyone finds they use and have to readjust there work to conform to the laws of editing. 

Begin,  Ex. "I began to see the mountain."  Better- "I saw the mountain."
Tried,   Ex.  "I tried to back away from him." Better- "I backed away from him."
Was, (This one can be spared here and there, but tends to be overdone.)  "I was playing with the         toys."  Better- "I played with the toys."
 Exclaimed,  "She exclaimed."  Better- "She said"  (I know we all want to put more detail in our work, but the description of the setting, people, clothes, surroundings are the important things to have detail on.  Straight forward dialogue is better than over detailing it and making it cheesy. 
Were, (Also like was, it is over done and very neutral) Ex. "We were going to the pond." Better- "Going to the pond, I saw the orange fall colors flow across the trees." or something like that.

There are more that editors don't always like, and you'll learn more about the different ones to stay away from.  These are just a few that can make a big impact on your work.  When I first learned about it, I could not believe how more active my work had become.

Hope you are having a great day, and I hope you have a great weekend.

Destiny

I love Surprises!

     I love surprises in ones own book.  I finished my novel last November and I have been editing ever since.  I have three children and I have a full time job, so editing is a slow task when i can find the time.  The other day I was looking ahead for some reason I can't remember, and i read the last couple pages of my book and WHAM!!, I found something in there that i forgot that I had put in there.  It took me by complete surprise.  I was like, "holy cow, I can't believe I did that.  Boy that is a great surprise."  It cracked me up.
     It's good when you can put surprises in your work for the readers, and still get surprised yourself.