Manuscript: It's Time to Let Go

After seven rewrites and revisions, and a few last-minute tweaks and deletes, my manuscript was sent to my Wings ePress editor yesterday. 

When I informed her on the previous day that I'd be forwarding the 67k words to her. She replied that she was looking forward to a good read. I hope she's not disappointed. 

The first draft was 37k words, so it's grown another 30k in the past four months or so. I thought I would be able to finish it in three or four rewrites, but that was not to be. Every time I went through the manuscript, I added another layer to the story, be it a subplot, new character, or plot expansion.

I suppose it's no longer my work in progress since it's in the hands of the editor. It's become part of an effort to make it worthy of publication by Wings ePress team, from editing, proofreading, cover art, and promotion.

Ina Garten

I recently read an interview with "Barefoot Contessa" chef Ina Garten,  and she quoted noted journalist Bob Woodward as saying, "It's not that I ever finish a book, I just stop working on it."

I couldn't find the quote after a web search, but I understand the reasoning behind it. There comes a time when you have to say to yourself, "Enough is enough," and hand the manuscript over to your publisher. 

One of the great things about writing a series—this book is the third in the John Ross Boomer Lit Series—is that I can pick up where I left off. I've already written the first draft to the fourth book, and know what I plan to do in the fifth. 

I've got a title for the new novel but won't disclose that until the contract is signed and I'm working on her edits.

And if all goes to plan, the novel will be published in the first half of 2019. And perhaps the fourth book in the second half of the year. No pun intended, but time will tell if those goals come to fruition. 



At least the manuscript is out of my hands for a few weeks. It's time to take a break.

Learning to Write and Revise

While I love fiction writing, all types of writing are important to me. The personal things I write give me a trail of past thoughts and ideas interesting to revisit. My writing also gave me the opportunity to teach writing, which I also love because I want to help develop good writers for the future.

Two weeks before classes started at the end of this past August, I was given two more composition classes. That was great, one class was online, two classes hybrid, and one face to face (f2f -- Isn't it interesting how names for new things change names for preceding things?).

I have finished grading my first group of fifty essays. The essays' topics were great, but the grammar, while not dismal, certainly needed improvement. Which brings me to a question: don't students learn grammar anymore, like the parts of speech, or sentence structures like how independent clauses, subordinate clauses, and phrases work together? I think they do, but why don't my students seem to know them? While in fiction writing sentence fragments are sometimes a rhetorical device, in academic writing they are major mistakes. And commas! Different styles of writing often allow different comma usage, but they don't seem to know either casual or formal academic usage.

I do know most of the wording errors are caused by students not editing or revising enough, even though they have to critique each other's work. 

As a writer, I know how hard it is to find glitches in your own work. I make them all the time. I think there is a mind-eye-finger connection built when you write. Your mind knows what it made your fingers type. Your eyes saw the words your mind dictated. You immediately read the results and it is perfect! It is not until time breaks the connection by a day or two that you can go back and see what your writing actual contains. Then you can see the mistakes and correct them.

A certain percentage of students don't care. They don't think writing will be important in their future career (wrong!). All they want is to complete this required course with at least a grade of C and move on. Another group thinks they cannot write. 

One thing I tell them is that it is my job to point out their errors so they learn the type of mistakes they commonly make, so that they can look for them in their future writing. If they think my comments meant they don't know how to write, they're wrong. They should look at everything that was correct and had no comment on it, usually 80% of their essay. Those portions prove they can write, they just need to hone their editing skills. 

Even if none of my students end up writing short stories or novels, writing well is not only important, but the ability can also effect employment, and often adds enjoyment to their life like keeping journals. Memory is short, it's good to have a written backup.

New Book Contract

Hello Everyone,

I just signed a new contract for my third book, Household Repairs. I am really excited about this one. It is a romantic comedy and lots of fun. It is set to be published in April. Here is a little info:

No one said it was going to be easy for Tatum Stewart to start her own computer consulting business. Or buy her own historical bungalow right after college, but she was determined to make it on her own without her controlling father. When things start going wrong, she hires the only man in the city qualified to restore her home—Ryan Bulldarren.
When Ryan discovers Tatum is going to sign-up with an on-line dating service, he protectively sets out to sabotage her dates. Despite Tatum’s attraction to him, her father keeps dropping in to say, “Hands off the hired help.”
Can the two manage to keep things on a professional level when things start heating up?

Dogs are so smart! Seriously...

Think about this...

Thought for the Day

Handle every stressful situation like a dog.
If you can't eat it or play with it,
Just pee on it and walk away.

Now what do you say? Don't you agree? what good does it do to stress yourself out over something for which you have no control. If you can't eat it (like a frog might eat what bugs him) Play with it like the kid in us would. Then, just walk away and let it take care of itself.

Make it a fantastic day - oh why stop there - make it the best year of your life and write like the wind!
Billie
http://www.billiewilliams.com

Building a Large Following One opt-In at a Time
By Cat Muldoon
Author of Rue the Day: The Undercover Heir, Book 1
Available at http://CatMuldoon.com

Plenty of authors, even highly successful ones, leave a lot of money and followers “on the table” by not doing one simple thing. I’m pleased that I learned this from someone who has gone from knowing nothing about marketing to teaching it to authors.
I met a dozen authors recently who all have sold over a million books, and some of these fantastic authors had no idea who visited their website. Think about this. It’s great to give out samples of your stories or other gifts, but why not get people to give you their name and email address, then you an not only deliver stories to them, but also keep in touch over the months.
You can do this for only $20 a month with what is called an auto-responder. The one I recommend is at http://www.bardogram.com/. Before you have a fit about a monthly charge, realize this. You can keep more than one list (like one for certain cities or places you visit often, or one for those who want to hire you to speak, and so forth.
The best thing about a list, though, is this: It gives you a chance to keep in touch with someone who first comes to visit. Let’s face it, we’re all bombarded with so many messages to buy this or that book, and we can’t get them all. And in this attention economy, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.” So if someone loves your book excerpt but forgets about you, you’ll never sell them a book or speak to their book club.
If you use the auto-responder to get their name and email (and by the way, they even give a second, “yes I really did mean to sign up for this” message), then you will build a relationship with them over time, keep giving them wonderful content, and they’ll remember you. You can even have your blog posts automatically sent to your subscribers, again personalized with their own name.
Your message will be sent individually, not in bulk. So if your name is Tom, when I send you a message, it will read, “Hey Tom, did you know that I can personally visit YOUR book club?” This is a wonderful way to build relationships and sell books. Also, when I’m traveling, such as doing a book signing or attending a conference, I can send a note to the list and say, “If you’re in Utah, you can meet me at…”
And if you would like to invite me to your book club or writer’s conference, please drop me a line at Cat@CatMuldoon.com. And don’t forget to sign up for my excerpts of Rue the Day and other stories…and my latest drawing or contest!

I have to agree with Angela on this, I want a heroine who wants to be in control of her own destiny, whether she chooses to share her future with the hero or not. I'm not particular about the rest: smart or just practical, previously sheltered or escaping abuse, trying to get out of trouble or tumbling into it, succeeding or failing, I want a woman who defies anyone who wants to control her and leaves anyone demanding she should live according to their rules.

Although today's fiction is full of interesting women, this isn't a new trend and certainly not just a mode of the current age. Although historically women haven't been encouraged to be heroic, those who stand out both in history and fiction were those too large to be content with the small roles their era doled out to them.

Rhobin C
Change, coming in January from Wings

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

My first electronic book was released in September, 2001, so I'm celebrating this month the anniversary of my first book. There's nothing to compare to having that first book published, and mine went on to be Wings ePress's first best seller. In those days, that wasn't much to brag about, but brag I did!

Its sequel was released two years later, in September, 2003. Twenty-nine years ago, I married the best guy in the world. So you see, September is very special to me.
In 2001, electronic publishing got little respect. There were as many formats and e-reading devices as there were recipes for chili. But lately that's changed. Fictionwise helped by polarizing all electronic titles in one amazon.com-type outlet and then introducing the eBookwise reading device (an updated REB 1150, and still my favorite for the money). Big publishers including Harlequin/Silhouette are now releasing their titles in electronic forms in addition to traditional print format. Sony has a new device out, but it's a bit pricey for my blood.

Anyway, the industry has settled down a bit and appears here to stay. Hooray for that! Even though I write for a traditional publisher, too, I'm pleased to see the electronic book business grow.

Thanks for reminiscing with me.

Cheryl Norman