For the past few weeks I've been trying to stick to a new writing schedule to be able to accomplish everything. You know with the editing of two books, writing a third as well as keeping up two blogs, while being able to read a book to review for said second blog. Yeah that's a lot to do on top of a full time job.
Anyways, it had been going great. I got a book read and was making some great progress on the writing and editing front. Then my discipline was put to a real test. I got a rejection letter and I had family in town for a roller derby tourney my sister was skating in for three days. And it all went to crap.
I got some pages read in between bouts, but productivity was very low. Total bummer, but I did have a good time watching my sister skate and her team getting a bid to nationals.
So, now it's time to get back into action and focus. That means getting back on schedule, sticking to the plan and getting it done, even if it is the busiest time of the month at my day job which means staying late.
Yikes!
Ok taking a deep breath. Writing is fun and I don't have a real deadline for any of my novels, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to get into the good habits of a full time novelist. And to do that means that you have to put in the time and effort into it. But it also means that I need to also find a way to balance real life into a busy work schedule. Which is harder than it sounds.
With that being said...I'm back at it.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Lessons leaned about Publishing World
As I make my way into the publishing world I've been learning a lot an am amazed by all the wonderful people that are in this industry. And yet I find it interesting just how many people who want to be authors don't take advantage of the FREE information that is out there to help make your way from the aspiring author to the published author to the published category.
So, here is a break down of the things I've learned in my last year of serious pursuing of Authorhood (Don't think that is a real word, but it works for now)
1. You only fail as an author if you never start and/or stop writing
2. Write every day. Even if your muse isn't wanting to work you need to learn how to work without her sometimes. If you want to be a full time writer that has a book come out a year that means working without your muse. That means taking full advantage of when she is around. Being disciplined will help your writing career and help your writing grow.
3. Know your genre. This means make sure that you know where your book will sit in the bookstores. This will help make sure that you will pitch it to the right agents and editors.
4. Read your genre. This also goes with #3 but if you know what others are writing and selling it will help your own writing. I'm not saying that you need to use other others ideas and writing styles, but like any business it's good to know what is out there in what you are writing.
5. This is a business. What you put out there in social media and in person does affect if people want to work with you. You can be friendly with the people you want to work with and those that you are working with, but in the end they can it comes down to business. You may talk kids and family trips and other personal things, but editor and agents are there to work with you and aren't your BFF. It's about getting your work out there to the right people and in the best shape possible. That means that sometimes you have blunt feed back or hear things you don't like. But it's a business not about making friends. Harsh, yet true.
6. Nothing happens overnight. It might seem like it to the outside world, but it doesn't. Put your work out there to agents and editors while you are working on a new work. That way you always have time to be continuing to grow your resume. If you wait till your one work gets out then you might never write that second book that you've always wanted to write. Just know it's about finding the right people who love your work as much as you do. Don't rush it just to be able to say you're published. It will happen.
7. This is an industry about rejections. You will get hundreds of nos before you get that one yes that get's your work published.
8. Hone your craft. To do this you have to write. And keep writing. Pick one genre or two to start out in. That way your writing can grow within that genre. If you are all over the place you will never be able to improve than if you focus on one or two things.
9. Do your research. Find the agents, publishing houses, and editors that focus on the genres you write. Then read the submission guidelines and FOLLOW them. By following them you are more likely to get a request for pages. I'm amazed at how many stories I hear about people who get things sent to them in genres that they don't represent. It takes two minutes to check what people are looking for and how they want it sent.
10. Social Media is an amazing tool. I've learned a lot from just using Twitter. Tons of publishing people post pet peeves, what they are looking for in queries, tips and a ton of other good advice. Also DONT query them on social media! That is a big no and an annoyance. Go their website and follow there directions. Social media is a great way to make new connections and to start branding yourself. It's never too soon to start branding yourself. Just remember the 80/20 rule. 20% self promotion 80% interaction. It's also not about the quantity of followers you have but the quality. Use Social media as a tool for research.
11. Only send email to agents and editors business accounts. Showing that you can find their personal information is creepy and sends up red flags. This will not get their attention in a good way. Follow the sub guidelines.
12. Write what you enjoy writing. Don't let the market dictate what you need to be writing. If you don't like the genre then don't do it.
Okay that is all I can think of off the top of my head right now. There are still a ton of lessons I've learned and still need to learn.
Even with all the struggles and hard ships in the end writing is worth it to me. Even if I don't get published, writing is a release and fun. Keep doing what you love doing. I know I am.
So, here is a break down of the things I've learned in my last year of serious pursuing of Authorhood (Don't think that is a real word, but it works for now)
1. You only fail as an author if you never start and/or stop writing
2. Write every day. Even if your muse isn't wanting to work you need to learn how to work without her sometimes. If you want to be a full time writer that has a book come out a year that means working without your muse. That means taking full advantage of when she is around. Being disciplined will help your writing career and help your writing grow.
3. Know your genre. This means make sure that you know where your book will sit in the bookstores. This will help make sure that you will pitch it to the right agents and editors.
4. Read your genre. This also goes with #3 but if you know what others are writing and selling it will help your own writing. I'm not saying that you need to use other others ideas and writing styles, but like any business it's good to know what is out there in what you are writing.
5. This is a business. What you put out there in social media and in person does affect if people want to work with you. You can be friendly with the people you want to work with and those that you are working with, but in the end they can it comes down to business. You may talk kids and family trips and other personal things, but editor and agents are there to work with you and aren't your BFF. It's about getting your work out there to the right people and in the best shape possible. That means that sometimes you have blunt feed back or hear things you don't like. But it's a business not about making friends. Harsh, yet true.
6. Nothing happens overnight. It might seem like it to the outside world, but it doesn't. Put your work out there to agents and editors while you are working on a new work. That way you always have time to be continuing to grow your resume. If you wait till your one work gets out then you might never write that second book that you've always wanted to write. Just know it's about finding the right people who love your work as much as you do. Don't rush it just to be able to say you're published. It will happen.
7. This is an industry about rejections. You will get hundreds of nos before you get that one yes that get's your work published.
8. Hone your craft. To do this you have to write. And keep writing. Pick one genre or two to start out in. That way your writing can grow within that genre. If you are all over the place you will never be able to improve than if you focus on one or two things.
9. Do your research. Find the agents, publishing houses, and editors that focus on the genres you write. Then read the submission guidelines and FOLLOW them. By following them you are more likely to get a request for pages. I'm amazed at how many stories I hear about people who get things sent to them in genres that they don't represent. It takes two minutes to check what people are looking for and how they want it sent.
10. Social Media is an amazing tool. I've learned a lot from just using Twitter. Tons of publishing people post pet peeves, what they are looking for in queries, tips and a ton of other good advice. Also DONT query them on social media! That is a big no and an annoyance. Go their website and follow there directions. Social media is a great way to make new connections and to start branding yourself. It's never too soon to start branding yourself. Just remember the 80/20 rule. 20% self promotion 80% interaction. It's also not about the quantity of followers you have but the quality. Use Social media as a tool for research.
11. Only send email to agents and editors business accounts. Showing that you can find their personal information is creepy and sends up red flags. This will not get their attention in a good way. Follow the sub guidelines.
12. Write what you enjoy writing. Don't let the market dictate what you need to be writing. If you don't like the genre then don't do it.
Okay that is all I can think of off the top of my head right now. There are still a ton of lessons I've learned and still need to learn.
Even with all the struggles and hard ships in the end writing is worth it to me. Even if I don't get published, writing is a release and fun. Keep doing what you love doing. I know I am.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Evolution of a Story
As I'm sitting here typing chapter notes for a new work in progress, I'm amazed where my characters are taking me. This is the first book that has a lot of characters right off the bat, and I'm trying to find a way to not overwhelm the reader, as well as myself with all the information. Not everyone is needing to be introduced by name, but it doesn't mean that I don't know each and everyone personally.
But, as I'm trying to get my notes all in one place I'm realizing that my characters are evolving to more than what I thought they were. They do know each other than I do at the moment and what I had orginially thought of them and their place in the story has changed.
Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad thing. I'm only about 20 pages in to the first draft and hand a general idea of where the story is going with a shadow of an idea of who the antagonist is. But the more I sit down and listen to my characters the more the story is growing and they are get strong.
Every time something new pops up I have to take a step back and go, "Oh, I didn't know that about you. That changes everything!" All in a good way of course. If I had forced all these characters in to doing something that isn't in their nature then it wouldn't read as natural. If it means I have to go back and change something then so be it.
With each book I seem to go about it differently. Let it be from creating the characters first to having a scene and then the characters come from that. One thing is always the same. None of my characters end the way that I had orginally pictured them. For example in my first paranormal romance, both the main characters were in high school. When I had finished the story one they were both in college and one of the protagonists turned out to be a bad guy. It was a completely different story I had thought of, but it still held the core I'd wanted, but the characters evolved enough to make the story adapt and evolve.
Seeing this is an amazing thing to me. It's one of the many reasons I love to write. Not only do I get to create these wonderful worlds, but these people I get to meet and experience is mindbogglingly wonderful.
Anyways, I'm going to go back to meeting my characters, and hopefully one day you will meet them too. :)
But, as I'm trying to get my notes all in one place I'm realizing that my characters are evolving to more than what I thought they were. They do know each other than I do at the moment and what I had orginially thought of them and their place in the story has changed.
Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad thing. I'm only about 20 pages in to the first draft and hand a general idea of where the story is going with a shadow of an idea of who the antagonist is. But the more I sit down and listen to my characters the more the story is growing and they are get strong.
Every time something new pops up I have to take a step back and go, "Oh, I didn't know that about you. That changes everything!" All in a good way of course. If I had forced all these characters in to doing something that isn't in their nature then it wouldn't read as natural. If it means I have to go back and change something then so be it.
With each book I seem to go about it differently. Let it be from creating the characters first to having a scene and then the characters come from that. One thing is always the same. None of my characters end the way that I had orginally pictured them. For example in my first paranormal romance, both the main characters were in high school. When I had finished the story one they were both in college and one of the protagonists turned out to be a bad guy. It was a completely different story I had thought of, but it still held the core I'd wanted, but the characters evolved enough to make the story adapt and evolve.
Seeing this is an amazing thing to me. It's one of the many reasons I love to write. Not only do I get to create these wonderful worlds, but these people I get to meet and experience is mindbogglingly wonderful.
Anyways, I'm going to go back to meeting my characters, and hopefully one day you will meet them too. :)
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
I'll always remember my first....
No matter how good or how bad something, you always remember the first time you do something.
For my writing career it's my first writers conference at RWA in SoCal. My first pitch to an agent in person. My first rejection from the first pitch in person. My first novel I wrote. My first novel I finished the edits on. My first query letter I mailed.
And to this week I get to add to my firsts. My first request for pages from an agent from that second query letter I sent on a whim to an agent I respect, but hadn't really planned on sending it in quite yet.
When I got that email I had to read it twice to make sure my imagination wasn't playing tricks on me. It wasn't. The agency wants to read 30 pages of my work. AAAHHHHHH. I was at my day job and gave my boss a high five cause I was so excited.
Now what?
I did a quick read through out loud to catch any last little errors and saved those pages in a separate file. Following their directions to a T I sent in what they asked as tears of joy and excitement and utter horror that this is actually happening.
After I hit the send button I made a little hysterical giggle and let out a sigh. I did it. There is no turning back and I feel like I can call my self a writer.
No this doesn't mean that I'm going to be represented by this particular agency. But it means that I have gotten that one step closer to making it happen. Would I love to be represented by this agency? Hell yes. But right now it's about waiting to hear back if they want to read more pages after this. And after that if they want to read the whole thing. If they like my and they sent me an offer of representation then the real work begins.
That's when we really see if what I want and what they want match up. If it does then EPIC win. If not then I'm off to find someone who is just as passsionate of my work as I am and can help me make myself a better writer and help my career grow in an industry that I'm still learning about.
But for right now I'm celebrating the fact that I made it this far. I got my manuscript done. WIN. I sent out a query letter. WIN. I was asked to have pages sent to someone in the industry that can quite possibly be a business partner. WIN.
I will take those 3 wins, pat myself on the back and see where it will go from there.
Good luck to everyone else in their firsts and always remember to embrace those wins and not let those rejections bring you down. You made it this far don't stop now. I'm not. And I'm loving every second of the journey.
Edit two weeks later: I get to ad to another of my firsts. My first emailed rejection letter. Yes, I'm bummed, but hey I got a request of pages from my query and that's the farthest I've ever gotten so far. So, I'm taking this experience as a win, and moving on to find another agent that I would want to represent me and my work. And then the process starts over again. And again. And again if it has to. Until I find that right agent that see my potential and loves my work and my ideas. Then the real work begins. Trying to sell my work to publishers. Till then I'm going to keep writing and keep sending my work out. This business is about rejections till you get that one yes. And I'm going to celebrate every little win I can to get me through the rejections. I love writing and I'm not going to stop. Ever.
For my writing career it's my first writers conference at RWA in SoCal. My first pitch to an agent in person. My first rejection from the first pitch in person. My first novel I wrote. My first novel I finished the edits on. My first query letter I mailed.
And to this week I get to add to my firsts. My first request for pages from an agent from that second query letter I sent on a whim to an agent I respect, but hadn't really planned on sending it in quite yet.
When I got that email I had to read it twice to make sure my imagination wasn't playing tricks on me. It wasn't. The agency wants to read 30 pages of my work. AAAHHHHHH. I was at my day job and gave my boss a high five cause I was so excited.
Now what?
I did a quick read through out loud to catch any last little errors and saved those pages in a separate file. Following their directions to a T I sent in what they asked as tears of joy and excitement and utter horror that this is actually happening.
After I hit the send button I made a little hysterical giggle and let out a sigh. I did it. There is no turning back and I feel like I can call my self a writer.
No this doesn't mean that I'm going to be represented by this particular agency. But it means that I have gotten that one step closer to making it happen. Would I love to be represented by this agency? Hell yes. But right now it's about waiting to hear back if they want to read more pages after this. And after that if they want to read the whole thing. If they like my and they sent me an offer of representation then the real work begins.
That's when we really see if what I want and what they want match up. If it does then EPIC win. If not then I'm off to find someone who is just as passsionate of my work as I am and can help me make myself a better writer and help my career grow in an industry that I'm still learning about.
But for right now I'm celebrating the fact that I made it this far. I got my manuscript done. WIN. I sent out a query letter. WIN. I was asked to have pages sent to someone in the industry that can quite possibly be a business partner. WIN.
I will take those 3 wins, pat myself on the back and see where it will go from there.
Good luck to everyone else in their firsts and always remember to embrace those wins and not let those rejections bring you down. You made it this far don't stop now. I'm not. And I'm loving every second of the journey.
Edit two weeks later: I get to ad to another of my firsts. My first emailed rejection letter. Yes, I'm bummed, but hey I got a request of pages from my query and that's the farthest I've ever gotten so far. So, I'm taking this experience as a win, and moving on to find another agent that I would want to represent me and my work. And then the process starts over again. And again. And again if it has to. Until I find that right agent that see my potential and loves my work and my ideas. Then the real work begins. Trying to sell my work to publishers. Till then I'm going to keep writing and keep sending my work out. This business is about rejections till you get that one yes. And I'm going to celebrate every little win I can to get me through the rejections. I love writing and I'm not going to stop. Ever.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Novelous Ladies
Not like I needed to add any more to my already busy plate, but I decided that nope I'm a crazy lady and going to do more.
That means I have two announcements to make.
1. I've started my second paranormal romance, about a human raised in a werewolf pack.
2. I've started a book review blog that two of my good friends and fellow avid readers will help me run. At the moment it is still a work in progress as we will be reviewing all the books that we've been wanting to read. What does this mean? It means that we don't get ARC and all have a different taste for books than the other. Thus we will be posting both newly released books and older novels that we have discovered. None of us are getting paid for this, as it is a fun project to share with others our thoughts of our current reads and in hope to inspire others to enjoy an author they might not have known about before. Check it out at www.novelousladies.blogspot.com
We will be posting on Novelous Ladies as much as possible. Translation hopefully once a week, if not every two weeks. As of the moment it's still at the basics and will be developed more as soon as I get more time.
Anyways, as I've got a new schedule to stick to I've got one thousand words on my new project to write in a next hour. I also have to finish my next book to read for Novelous Ladies.
Hope you all will come and check out the new blog. Later days and keep writing!
That means I have two announcements to make.
1. I've started my second paranormal romance, about a human raised in a werewolf pack.
2. I've started a book review blog that two of my good friends and fellow avid readers will help me run. At the moment it is still a work in progress as we will be reviewing all the books that we've been wanting to read. What does this mean? It means that we don't get ARC and all have a different taste for books than the other. Thus we will be posting both newly released books and older novels that we have discovered. None of us are getting paid for this, as it is a fun project to share with others our thoughts of our current reads and in hope to inspire others to enjoy an author they might not have known about before. Check it out at www.novelousladies.blogspot.com
We will be posting on Novelous Ladies as much as possible. Translation hopefully once a week, if not every two weeks. As of the moment it's still at the basics and will be developed more as soon as I get more time.
Anyways, as I've got a new schedule to stick to I've got one thousand words on my new project to write in a next hour. I also have to finish my next book to read for Novelous Ladies.
Hope you all will come and check out the new blog. Later days and keep writing!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Editing! Will it ever end?
After taking a workshop in self editing for a few weeks a while ago, it got me thinking about something. Am I spending too much time editing? When looking at how long it's taken me to get through a round of edits in my Contemporary work got me worried. It's been close to six months to get through it once.
YIKES!
Yes that is a long time but let's do a break down of exactly just how long I'm able to work on it.
So I work a full time day job. That's 40 or more hours a week I'm not able to even tough my manuscript. Add on an hour commute by car one way that's 10 hours a week I can't work on it. Though I do think about things I might want to tweak or whatnot. That leave me oh say if I get home at 6 o'clock on week nights about 3 hours to get some work done. Oh wait, can't forget time to cook dinner and clean up a bit before I need to get to bed. Personally I need a full nights sleep to be able to function properly. So I make sure that I get that 6-8 hours a night. That means on average I can get maybe 2 hours a night if I don't get distracted by real life. In reality that's not a lot of time. But it is something. Then can't forget the weekends. Oh, sweet sweet weekends.
I've cut out a lot of distractions on weekends, i.e going out drinking or clubbing with friends to be able to make the time to get some writing and editing done. This has helped some on the writing front, but not so much in the friend front. Life goes on and that's okay.
Back to the numbers on average in a week I can get maybe 20 hours of editing time. Wow, that is actually a lot of time now that I've broken it down. Grammar not being my forte editing can sometime be a slow process for me. In order for me to be able to get more time with my work since I'm not around a computer all the time, I've printed out my work and make notes by hand. Yup I go old school on my manuscripts before I go back and type up my changes.
Does that count of two rounds of edits? Maybe. I do seem to catch more things while I'm typing up my original changes and now that I have a new list of things to look for and actually reading my work out loud I'm finding that my writing skills are improving. Not drastically but enough that I can notice when I go back to my past works. Put happy dance here. :)
When it comes to my writing and editing I don't set page goals or word counts. Yes, it's nice to be able to bust out ten pages in a day. In reality that isn't always possible and I don't want to get myself down in not being able to reach my goals.
Here are my reasonable workday goals. Get at least one sentence done. Then after that one sentence go to the next one. Even if I can't get one page done I made a baby step. A baby step may be small, but it is progress. Progress is the goal. Large or small it is something. Something that not everyone is able to do.
Weekend goals are larger than workday ones. Get pages. That's right pages done. If I can get more then one page done pat yourself on the back. Personally I want to make more than that, but I'm working on how to work around my focus issues trying to use them to my advantage then against me. One solution to this is that first thing in the morning on weekends I make a pot of tea and sit in the front room before my roommates wake up and get to editing. Little or no music playing. No TV or movies playing, but my full attention to my work. As of late I'm finding that this is working. I've been able to bust out 10 pages on a good morning. 5 on others.
I'm also going to start taking advantage of my old University's library that with the school year has a 24 hour study area for people to use. Not living too far from there and a roommate that still is in school I'm going to use this on weekend, maybe even workdays for a few hours in hope that my productivity will keep rising.
Trial and error is what it's going to take to be able to find the right timing for making my pages faster than what I am doing now. Also the realization that I'm NOT a full time writer means I can't bust out a full edit in a day or month. My skills aren't to that level as of at. It will be. Just not tomorrow.
Realizing your short comings and where you excel. Don't let what other people can do bring you down. I don't. Or try not to. My situation is different from every other writers and as long as I don't over edit that that's all that matters to me. Let it take a long time, but in the end you need to set a limit and just get it done. Get your work out there and see if you can get it published.
Good luck in your editing endeavors! I can't wait to read everyone's work.
YIKES!
Yes that is a long time but let's do a break down of exactly just how long I'm able to work on it.
So I work a full time day job. That's 40 or more hours a week I'm not able to even tough my manuscript. Add on an hour commute by car one way that's 10 hours a week I can't work on it. Though I do think about things I might want to tweak or whatnot. That leave me oh say if I get home at 6 o'clock on week nights about 3 hours to get some work done. Oh wait, can't forget time to cook dinner and clean up a bit before I need to get to bed. Personally I need a full nights sleep to be able to function properly. So I make sure that I get that 6-8 hours a night. That means on average I can get maybe 2 hours a night if I don't get distracted by real life. In reality that's not a lot of time. But it is something. Then can't forget the weekends. Oh, sweet sweet weekends.
I've cut out a lot of distractions on weekends, i.e going out drinking or clubbing with friends to be able to make the time to get some writing and editing done. This has helped some on the writing front, but not so much in the friend front. Life goes on and that's okay.
Back to the numbers on average in a week I can get maybe 20 hours of editing time. Wow, that is actually a lot of time now that I've broken it down. Grammar not being my forte editing can sometime be a slow process for me. In order for me to be able to get more time with my work since I'm not around a computer all the time, I've printed out my work and make notes by hand. Yup I go old school on my manuscripts before I go back and type up my changes.
Does that count of two rounds of edits? Maybe. I do seem to catch more things while I'm typing up my original changes and now that I have a new list of things to look for and actually reading my work out loud I'm finding that my writing skills are improving. Not drastically but enough that I can notice when I go back to my past works. Put happy dance here. :)
When it comes to my writing and editing I don't set page goals or word counts. Yes, it's nice to be able to bust out ten pages in a day. In reality that isn't always possible and I don't want to get myself down in not being able to reach my goals.
Here are my reasonable workday goals. Get at least one sentence done. Then after that one sentence go to the next one. Even if I can't get one page done I made a baby step. A baby step may be small, but it is progress. Progress is the goal. Large or small it is something. Something that not everyone is able to do.
Weekend goals are larger than workday ones. Get pages. That's right pages done. If I can get more then one page done pat yourself on the back. Personally I want to make more than that, but I'm working on how to work around my focus issues trying to use them to my advantage then against me. One solution to this is that first thing in the morning on weekends I make a pot of tea and sit in the front room before my roommates wake up and get to editing. Little or no music playing. No TV or movies playing, but my full attention to my work. As of late I'm finding that this is working. I've been able to bust out 10 pages on a good morning. 5 on others.
I'm also going to start taking advantage of my old University's library that with the school year has a 24 hour study area for people to use. Not living too far from there and a roommate that still is in school I'm going to use this on weekend, maybe even workdays for a few hours in hope that my productivity will keep rising.
Trial and error is what it's going to take to be able to find the right timing for making my pages faster than what I am doing now. Also the realization that I'm NOT a full time writer means I can't bust out a full edit in a day or month. My skills aren't to that level as of at. It will be. Just not tomorrow.
Realizing your short comings and where you excel. Don't let what other people can do bring you down. I don't. Or try not to. My situation is different from every other writers and as long as I don't over edit that that's all that matters to me. Let it take a long time, but in the end you need to set a limit and just get it done. Get your work out there and see if you can get it published.
Good luck in your editing endeavors! I can't wait to read everyone's work.
Before You Hit Send Workshop
For the last few weeks I've been attending an online workshop on self editing, Before You Hit Send, by the wonderful Angela James of Carina Press, and I suggest that everyone take it. New writer, experienced writer, writer with little confidence and writers with more confidence then what they know what to do with should eventually take this course.
Yes, this means that you are going to have to take time out of your busy schedule of day jobs and writing to go over some basics of grammar and then going into more detail of more complex topics that us writers might forget about when it comes to our editing process. You know the little thing called backing up your work? Yes, the thing we all forget to do. She talks about and give some great suggestions and websites that will help you be able to do so.
With Angela having years of experience of editing in the publishing world she gets straight to the point with each of the lessons, even giving mini assignments to help us writers put that lesson to work. As someone who is a bit ADD, okay I'm alot ADD at times, the classes are easy to read and follow along. Yes, grammar can be tedious and frustrating as hell, but Angela does a great job with making it a bit more easy to understand. I know that I struggle with some more of the intricate rules in grammar. With the review I admit I'm still boggled by them, but do feel more comfortable that they wont be running awry everywhere in my writing. At least I hope they wont. :)
Think you know it all? Well guess what we don't. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true. Writing is an ever growing craft that the more you do it, the more you improve. This also means taking classes or workshops to help flush out some things your might have forgotten over time. So, take advantage of the classes that experienced professionals put on. Though I'm sure that there are more than a few smucks out there posing as them. Do your research! But, I promise you think one thing if you take this serious. You will come out learning ten fold what you thought you would. Plus Angela does interact with her students in the forum. Have a question? Ask and it will be answered. With other people posting questions as well you might also learn from others as well.
Who knew right? Learning from others questions? Odd concept right. ;)
Anyways, as an aspiring author I'm glad I threw down the few bucks (yes it cost money, but trust me it's worth every cent. PS it's really, really, really, affordable)
Having been in the editing process for two different books, I'm glad I took the class. I've always been nervous about letting other read my work, but honestly now with an established list of things I need to be looking for I'm more comforatble in my writing and putting it out there. That is what it is to be a writer right? To have others be able to enjoy our work. No matter how many works you might have, no one will be able to enjoy the hours of hard work you put into it if you don't feel as if you've cleaned it up enough for other to read.
I know this post is a rant about how you should take this class, and you should, but it's up to you to take the incentive to learn from others and grow in your craft. No, no one asked me to write this post to try to get people to take the class, but if I really enjoy something then I'm going to talk about it. Let it be a book, a blog, a movie, a class, or some really funny joke a friend told me once, I'm going to blog about it.
But seriously learn from those who are in the industry that you want to be in. Twitter and blogs have been an amazing tool for me to find publishing houses, agents, and editors that focus in my genres. Believe it or not they actually talk about things that as a writer that wants to be published one day are amazing tips to be able to get yourself to your goal.
So here are Angela James and Carina Press' sites that I suggest you check out:
-Angela James' website: http://nicemommy-evileditor.com/
-Carina Press's blog: http://carinapress.com/blog/
One last thing: Thanks, Angela, for helping me feel more confident my a craft that I hope to be able to make a full time career and not just the little hobby that my friends like to think this as. I'm glad I took the class and can't wait to put it to work. But really, I am a lot more confident in my editing skills because of this class.
Yes, this means that you are going to have to take time out of your busy schedule of day jobs and writing to go over some basics of grammar and then going into more detail of more complex topics that us writers might forget about when it comes to our editing process. You know the little thing called backing up your work? Yes, the thing we all forget to do. She talks about and give some great suggestions and websites that will help you be able to do so.
With Angela having years of experience of editing in the publishing world she gets straight to the point with each of the lessons, even giving mini assignments to help us writers put that lesson to work. As someone who is a bit ADD, okay I'm alot ADD at times, the classes are easy to read and follow along. Yes, grammar can be tedious and frustrating as hell, but Angela does a great job with making it a bit more easy to understand. I know that I struggle with some more of the intricate rules in grammar. With the review I admit I'm still boggled by them, but do feel more comfortable that they wont be running awry everywhere in my writing. At least I hope they wont. :)
Think you know it all? Well guess what we don't. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's true. Writing is an ever growing craft that the more you do it, the more you improve. This also means taking classes or workshops to help flush out some things your might have forgotten over time. So, take advantage of the classes that experienced professionals put on. Though I'm sure that there are more than a few smucks out there posing as them. Do your research! But, I promise you think one thing if you take this serious. You will come out learning ten fold what you thought you would. Plus Angela does interact with her students in the forum. Have a question? Ask and it will be answered. With other people posting questions as well you might also learn from others as well.
Who knew right? Learning from others questions? Odd concept right. ;)
Anyways, as an aspiring author I'm glad I threw down the few bucks (yes it cost money, but trust me it's worth every cent. PS it's really, really, really, affordable)
Having been in the editing process for two different books, I'm glad I took the class. I've always been nervous about letting other read my work, but honestly now with an established list of things I need to be looking for I'm more comforatble in my writing and putting it out there. That is what it is to be a writer right? To have others be able to enjoy our work. No matter how many works you might have, no one will be able to enjoy the hours of hard work you put into it if you don't feel as if you've cleaned it up enough for other to read.
I know this post is a rant about how you should take this class, and you should, but it's up to you to take the incentive to learn from others and grow in your craft. No, no one asked me to write this post to try to get people to take the class, but if I really enjoy something then I'm going to talk about it. Let it be a book, a blog, a movie, a class, or some really funny joke a friend told me once, I'm going to blog about it.
But seriously learn from those who are in the industry that you want to be in. Twitter and blogs have been an amazing tool for me to find publishing houses, agents, and editors that focus in my genres. Believe it or not they actually talk about things that as a writer that wants to be published one day are amazing tips to be able to get yourself to your goal.
So here are Angela James and Carina Press' sites that I suggest you check out:
-Angela James' website: http://nicemommy-evileditor.com/
-Carina Press's blog: http://carinapress.com/blog/
One last thing: Thanks, Angela, for helping me feel more confident my a craft that I hope to be able to make a full time career and not just the little hobby that my friends like to think this as. I'm glad I took the class and can't wait to put it to work. But really, I am a lot more confident in my editing skills because of this class.
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