Over-editing and Beta-Reader Etiquette

I have now hit the freak out stage of editing. Beware. I know that there is such a thing as over-editing, but I don’t know how to tell if I’ve hit it yet.  I’ve read through my draft several times, …

New Year’s Resolutions?

I know I should have done this yesterday, but because this was my most non-traditional end of a year ever, I was in an airport most of the day. I saw this though, so that was cool. Also, I feel like it …

Editing Part 1

It’s weird what you learn about yourself when editing your own book. For instance, I put a lot less on paper than I actually think about. In case that doesn’t actually make sense, let me give y’all an example. One of my handlers is Asian. I know this and this is how I’ve imagined her, but while reading through my draft, I realized that I never actually said that. It took me two edits to realize this. Granted they were a spell check edit and a grammatical edit, but still. During my content edit, I can fix this.

What are y’all’s weird editing things? I know it can’t just be me.

Weird Thing Happened In Barnes and Noble Today

I was at Barnes and Noble with my mom today and this woman passes me and says, “These are good books, right?” and I politely reply yes and she starts giving me a sales pitch.

Her name is Charlotte Fairchild and she tells me her book, Murder on the Silver Comet Trail is free on Kindle, which upon further research means KDP not Amazon. The link to the book is below.

So we have a long conversation about Agatha Christie, because she says that the book doesn’t have any blood and guts in it, which I thought was weird because murder generally involves blood.

Then she tells me about this button she has, which I found out later was part of a non-profit. Link to it below.

https://www.gofundme.com/remind-women-to-use-buddy-system

We talk about self-defense and women in tech for a while. She was an extra in two movies and didn’t think there were enough women working tech. I don’t know which movies.

I didn’t get the chance to ask, because her sister comes up to her and tells her they need to go. That’s when she tells me her name and we talk about the movie Sabrina.

It takes guts to cold sell someone in the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble. I don’t think I could do it.  I get nervous calling people I know.

What do y’all think? Could you ever coldsell someone in a book store? Do you think it’s a good strategy? Has anyone read this book?

 

I love solution oriented things.

Why is it so many new novels are—to be blunt—crap? How can we find an author we love with one book, then all the love goes away with the next? What’s going wrong? What’s missing? Where did everything go wrong? How can we learn and do better? First and foremost, to be an author it’s…

via Six Simple Reasons Our Story Sucks

I’m Not Currently Planning On Killing Any Of Mine, But Just In Case

Killing characters comes naturally to some authors, for others its a struggle to harm their precious babies. I talk about the considerations that should go into such a decision and what impacts character deaths can and should have.

via (Fictional) Murder With Purpose — Miles of Pages

Third Thing

I finished the first draft of my book!! I actually finished it in May, but I’ve started the editing process now and want to keep y’all updated. This hopefully means that I’ll remember to post more.

Three Things

I thought about doing all of them in one post, but that would be long and disjointed, so I’m going to do two in this one and the other one later.

First thing: I’ve graduated college! Because of that, I need a new name for this blog. Any suggestions are welcome.

Second thing: I got an award!

Thank you  L.E. Hunt The Palace for nominating me! Check her out because she’s awesome and she’s getting published soon.

So here are the rules.

1. Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.

2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you.

3. Give 11 random facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 11 blogs (with under 200 followers).

5. Notify these blogs of the nomination.

6. Give them 11 questions to answer.

I don’t understand the fascination with 11, but here goes.

1. What’s an interesting place you’ve been? My family went on a cruise to Greece and Italy as a celebration of my graduation. It was ten days and it was fabulous. I even found out I can sleep on a boat.
2. Strange childhood obsession? Warriors by Erin Hunt. It’s a series about cats that a friend and I were into in middle school.
3. Favorite book genre? I’m going to go with YA, both because I write it and because so many other genres can fit under it.
4. If given the chance to be immortal, would you take it? Heck no. When God decides he wants to take me, I want to go. I’m not trying to be morbid, Heaven’s just better.
5. Can you whistle? No.
6. Was there ever a time you preferred the movie to the book? Yes. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
7. Do you have any pets? Technically Lizzy is my mom’s dog, but yes.
8. If you could have another ability, what would it be? The ability to refill things.
9. What place do you want to live the most? Probably Middle Earth.
10. Favorite Disney movie? I’m going to break this down into two categories: Disney princess and non-Disney princess. My favorite Disney Princess Movie is The Little Mermaid. My favorite non-Disney princess movie is Peter Pan.
11. What is the best thing ever? Chocolate.

Now to the 11 random facts about me. I’ve always been terrible at these, so sorry in advance.

1. I have broken four bones.
2. I love dogs
3. I hate cats and they hate me
4. I’m terrified of down escalators
5. I don’t like whipped cream
6. If I had my way, I would never have roommates again
7. I sleep like one of the dead, so it’s likely unsafe for me to live alone
8. My favorite color is blue
9. I watch violent movies on Valentine’s day
10. My first phone was a pink Razr and it was indestructible.
11. I’m incredibly unathletic, but not for lack of trying.

Most of the blogs that I follow are ginormous and don’t need any help, so I’ve only nominated six.

Willow Wood

katelynjeane Purposeful Living

L.A. Smith The Travelers Path

Honoring the Heroines

Maria Alexander

Gabriel Lucatero

These are the 11 questions I want them to answer.

1. Who is your favorite superhero?
2. Favorite Disney sidekick?
3. Favorite non-Disney animated movie?
4. What do you do when you have writer’s block?
5. If you could pick one mythological being to be real, what would it be?
6. What’s the best vacation you ever went on?
7. What’s one unpopular opinion you have and why do you have it?
8. What’s your zombie apocalypse plan?
9. If you were a fictional character, what kind would you be? (hero, sidekick, villain, henchman, etc.)
10. What would you do if you won the lottery?
11. Sci-fi or Fantasy?

I have one question for everyone. Had you ever heard about this award before now?

 

Routine is a far better friend than inspiration

I’m going to bet that your muse doesn’t always show up when you want her to. Muses are tricky, fickle creatures. They are like cats in that they prefer to do things only when they damn well please and never according to anyone else’s schedules or needs. Also, like cats, they have a tendency to […]

via Tempting the Muse – A Quick Bit of Advice — Live to Write – Write to Live

I’m about to finish my first draft, and I found this to be super helpful.

Image via Flickr Creative Commons courtesy of Anja Pietsch.I asked you guys to tell me in the comments what you would like me to blog about, so today we are going to talk about the author platform. When do we start? When do we need a newsletter? How do we find time? I think we…

via When is the Best Time to Start an Author Platform? — Kristen Lamb