Checking for spaces

From The Blood Red Pencil

For those writers who will be sending manuscripts electronically at any time during the submission or publication process, there is one more little housekeeping chore to be done: eliminate extra spaces and other formatting errors inadvertently added to the manuscript.

On your Microsoft Word toolbar there is an icon that looks like the editing symbol for new paragraphs. If you click on that icon, your text will indicate spaces in your work as dots. You may have a perfectly formatted manuscript, but if you are an old-style typist like me, you’ll probably find a lot of extra spaces at the end of paragraphs and sometimes at the end of sentences within paragraphs.

Since many manuscripts are now submitted electronically, and publishers/editors often require print-ready formatting from the authors at some point in the process, it’s wise to add this step to your self-editing procedures.

If your publisher wants one space after a period instead of two (common when using fonts other than Courier New), first use the Find/Replace function to search out two spaces and replace with one.

After that, check every page of the manuscript and eliminate extra spaces, being careful not to delete periods. Click on the icon again to hide the formatting symbols.

Note that page breaks, hidden text, paragraph, and indent or tab characters will also be visible and may be added, corrected, or deleted in this final editing step.

Love

6 sure-fire ways to make an editor love you (from http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules)

• Ask questions about the business.
• Ask what you can do to make your book or project or idea more successful.
• Ask about the publisher's strengths and weaknesses, and where your help can really make a difference.
• Share your action plan for marketing and promotion, and ask the publisher for specific things where they can meaningfully and realistically help you (usually things you know they've done to assist other authors).
• Ask for examples or models of what other authors have done that have led to success.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. (Do not hide out, do not point fingers, do not blame.)

Advice

Be passionate. Be persistent.

Advice for the Non-Published

If you're still unpublished: (From http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules)

• Begin to establish your online presence (site, blog, social networks) and develop relationships with your target readership as well as opinion makers who recommend books. Make a dream list of online venues where you'd want your book reviewed or mentioned; start cultivating relationships with those sites or people.
• Identify groups or organizations that would be most interested in your book, and start a database of e-mail addresses and snail mail addresses. For instance, let's say your book is going to appeal to surfers. Develop a contact list of every surf shop and club.
• As you write and revise your work, think of ancillary materials or products that complement the work. Think of competitions or giveaways or fun diversions that would be interesting to someone who enjoys the book. In the future of publishing—which will not be restricted to paper—ancillary materials and experiences can add value, appeal, and something special to your work.

Laying out your novel

REVISION TIP #3 From http://halseanderson.livejournal.com/

Many people struggle to find a way to look at the larger picture of their novel. They can line edit a page or take a chapter to their writer's group, but managing the unwieldy novel is hard.

Here is what I do.

1. Get the largest piece of paper you can find. I go to an art supply store and buy an enormous artist's pad for this task.

2. You need to carve out three hours of concentration time. Turn off the internet and phone. Loan your dog and children and partner to nice people who will return them fed and watered after the the three hours. Chain off the driveway so delivery trucks and friendly people who don't understand what you mean when you say "I'm working" can't drop in.

3. On one of your massive sheets of paper, list every chapter in your book. Describe the action in the chapter in one sentence.

4. Now prepare a separate action list. (This one will take up a couple of sheets of paper. (Did I mention that you 'll need to clear off the kitchen table for this? And maybe the floor?) This list will break down each chapter into the scenes. Keep it brief! F. Ex.: "MC (main character) drops homework in fish tank. Fish die. MC hides them in flower vase. Mother sees them and flips out."

5. (This is the fun part) With a colored pen or pencil, go through the detailed chapter list and make notes about the emotional arc of your MC and the important secondary characters. Also, make sure that changes in mood are properly motivated, and that conflicts are set up. You might use different colors to represent different plot elements.

6. The threads of your novel are laid out in front of you. Step back and study it. Do your characters have reasonable emotional responses to the actions in the chapters? Do the building levels of conflict appear in the right order? (I often move scenes around at this stage.) Which scenes and/or chapters can you completely remove from the story without affecting anything else? What characters can you eliminate? Do you have any characters that can be combined because they serve the same purpose in the story. (I do this a lot.)

7. By the end of this process, your papers will be covered with notes, stickies and lots of colored arrows.

8. Sit down with the giant map of your novel and apply the changes to your manuscript. I like to do this on a hard copy first, then type in the changes.

9. Don't forget to unchain the driveway and let your loved ones back in.

Book Proposal--the section on competition

From Chip MacGregor.com
What you want to do is to find a handful of titles (normally about three to seven) that are similar to your proposed book.

In your proposal, you want to list the title, author, publisher, and release date. You need to give some indication of what the sales were (that will take a bit of research). You want to explain very briefly how that book is similar to your own. And, in many cases, you want to offer a short explanation of how your proposed book is different.

Some traps to avoid:

Don't pick a book that has sold more than 250,000 copies. Ifyou've writing a juvie book and compare it to Harry Potter, you're going to look stupid ("Rowling sold a bazillion copies, so I can too!"). Anything that has sold that many copies isn't a competitor, it's a conqueror. Ignore it and use something else.

Don't pick a book that has sold twelve copies. That suggests to the editor that "nobody cares about this topic." Hey, the writing of books is endless. If there has never been a successful book on the United States Parrot Importation Act, there's probably a reason.

Don't ignore the obvious successes. If you're doing a military historical novel on the Battle of Gettysburg, it would be pretty dumb to leave off Michael Shaara's Killer Angels. That sends the message to the editor that you don't really know your field.

Don't make snarky comments about each book. I often see that, and it's annoying to have some unpublished wannabe send me something that says, "THIS book was successful, but it's not nearly as good as mine" and "THIS book sold 100,000 copies, but the author made mistakes in his chronology." A comparative analysis section isn't a review of everything on the market -- it's simply a vehicle for helping the editor know how to position your particular title.

Don't guess if you use one of the publisher's own books. In other words, if you're going to send something to Little, Brown, and you want to use Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian as a comparable title, make sure you have all your facts correct. Because you'll look like a bonehead if you state the book came out in 2oo2, the author's name was "Kosovo," and sales were about 50,000. (All of those facts are wrong.)

Do use a publisher's own titles. If you have a Jane Austen-like novel that you're trying to sell to Harvest House, by all means reference their Debra White Smith titles. (She wrote modern updates of the Austen novels, and they did well for Harvest House.) It will immediately help them understand the audience for your project.

Again, the goal here is to help a publisher get a frame of reference for your book. It's a way of stating, "My book is similar to these five titles, that have all seen success in the marketplace. There is clearly interest in this type of book, and your house has done well with this genre in the past." You're basically making the editor's job easy for him or her. It won't be the deciding factor in whether or not they publish your book (for that I suggest you come up with a good story and some great writing), but it helps move your proposal along. One less reason for them to say no.

Checking for redundancy

1. Don’t say the same thing two or more different ways (unless you have a conscious and valid reason for doing so).

2. Don’t tell us what a character is going to say before she says it.

3. Don’t tell us what a character said after he says it.

4. Don’t use ten words to tell us something you can effectively say in three words.

From The Blood-Red Pencil

Setting up your manuscript

From Blood-Red Pencil http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com
GENERICS

•Use letter-sized white paper – 20 lb.
•1″ margins all around.
•These days, most use Times New Roman, 12-point font, but there is nothing wrong with using Courier. Avoid sans serif fonts; those are fonts without feet, such as Arial.


COVER PAGE

•In the upper left hand corner, you’ll put the following information: full name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, and word count.
•Space down to nearly 1/3 to 1/2 of the page and center the title of your book, then the word “by,” and then your name. Here’s a PDF example of a cover page -http://shonbacon.com/sample-cover.pdf
•If you have an agent, his/her contact information will go in the bottom right hand corner of the cover page.


THE STORY

•Double space throughout.
•Use a ragged right margin – in order words, do not full justify your manuscript.
•In the header, on the left hand side, you will place your last name and book title (or partial book title) and on the right hand side, the page number.
•Though you will be tempted to do this, do not place copyright information on your novel; do not let fear of theft make you do it!
•Place chapter headings about 3 double-spaces down the page, centered and place two to three double-spaces between the chapter heading and the start of the chapter.
•Indent every paragraph – and this seems nonsensical, but I’ve read manuscripts that have not been indented, I’ve read manuscripts where writers literally hit the space bar five times, and I’ve read manuscripts where the author uses the TAB button, which usually moves the cursor a half-inch in. Personally, I hit the TAB. It’s easier for me, and I don’t have to remember to go 1,2,3,4,5 every time I make a paragraph. Besides, this is the age of computers; why manually do anything when you can configure the word processing program to do it for you?

Self-Editing One Step at a Time: Fine-Tuning Sentence Structure

From The Blood-Red Pencil

During this part of the self-editing process you will look at the structure of your individual sentences and then compare that structure to the surrounding paragraphs and pages. The purpose of this exercise is to:

1. Look for sentences which are too long.

Bad: The day I walked down the hill from my apartment to the town center was the day I began my adventure in Tourettes-sur-Loup, a village in the South of France which is famous for its spring festival of violets and perches on the edge of a cliff as though hanging on for its very life.

Better: The day I walked down the hill from my apartment to the town center was the day I began my adventure in the South of France. I was in Tourettes-sur-Loup, a village famous for its spring festival of violets. It perches on the edge of a cliff as though hanging on for its very life.

2. Find awkward sentences that might require a second reading to be clear. This may require correctly punctuating the sentence, or the sentence may need to be rewritten.

Bad: I rounded the corner and bumped into the old woman on my bicycle.

What I meant to say: I rounded the corner on my bicycle and bumped into the old woman.

3. Spot series of sentences with the same or similar structure within a paragraph or on the same page.

Look at the subjects of the sentences in each paragraph. Then check out the subject/verb/object set. Vary sentence structure wherever appropriate.

One good sentence containing a series of three might be very effective. Seven or eight sentences containing a series of three, all on the same page, might be noticed by the reader and be a distraction that pulls him out of the story.

Example: I walked into the coffee shop, ordered a cappuccino, and carried it to my car. I sat for a moment, sipped my coffee, and watched a man cross the parking lot. I started the engine, rolled down my window, and turned on the radio.

4. Look at fragments and determine if complete sentences would be better.

Fragments are often used in dialogue or for emphasis in narrative (especially when writing in first person). Too many fragments in narrative, however, may signal to an agent or editor that a writer does not know a fragment from a complete sentence. Use fragments with care.

Example: Marilyn knew her boyfriend would call and beg her to forgive him. She wasn't going to do it. Not this time.

5. Make good use of short sentences in action or high tension scenes. Again, you'll want to vary the sentence structure, and even throw in a complex sentence for variety. But if you're aware that short sentences increase tension, you can use them to good advantage.

Example: Marilyn had just turned off the shower and pulled the towel off the rack when she thought she heard a noise. She froze and listened. Nothing. She quickly dried herself and slipped on her robe. Then another sound--a soft squeak. She reached toward the doorknob, but jerked her hand back. Someone was in her bedroom. She could hear him breathing.

6. Use the same form or format for each element in a series.

Bad: I was weeding the garden, pruning the roses, and mulched the tomatoes.

Better: I was weeding the garden, pruning the roses, and mulching the tomatoes.

Paying attention to sentence structure and how the sentences on a page relate to one another helps establish your professional attention to detail. It really is worth the time it takes to do a thorough job.

--------------------

Patricia Stoltey is a mystery author, blogger, and critique group facilitator. Active in promoting Colorado authors, she also helps local unpublished writers learn the critical skills of manuscript revision and self-editing. For information about Patricia’s Sylvia and Willie mystery series, visit her website and her blog. You can also find her on Facebook (Patricia Stoltey) and Twitter (@PStoltey).

Dialogue Tag Tips

* If you must use tags, use "said" as much as possible and be sparing with your adverbs. Make their words do the declaring and, if you need sad, craft sad words.

* Use character tags sparingly. If you can identify the speaker with out a tag, do so.

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Ten Questions to Test My Book Idea

1. Why are you writing this book?
2. What is your book about?
3. How are you qualified to write this book?
4. Why is this an appropriate and timely topic? Why this book, now?
5. Who are your target readers?
6. How will they benefit? Why should they read it? What will they learn?
7. How will you reach them? Where are they likely to buy this book?
8. How big is the market? How many potential readers are there?
9. What else is out there on this subject? How is this book unique, special, important?
10. How will you help to promote your book?

From http://writeanonfictionbook.blogspot.com/2009/11/ten-questions-to-test-my-book-idea.html

How to use styles and document map

How to write smarter in Microsoft Word with Document Map from Iain Broome on Vimeo.

For more information click on http://www.msoffice-tutorial-training.com/word-document-map.html (MS Document MAP)
In Word 2007 it’s very similar. Styles are right there in front of you in the default toolbar, which you can expand to look like the Mac version in my video. Document Map is switched on by selecting a tick box in the ‘View’ tab.
From How to write smarter in Microsoft Word with Document Mapfrom Write for Your Life by Iain Broome

Getting Into Writing Flow

Did you know, when you’re multitasking between writing and doing something else, it can take up to thirty minutes to get your mind back on track? Flip-flopping between activities is not an option for a writer who’s trying to get some writing done.

This is why I subscribe to a method of pure writing flow. It’s one of the many ways that I use to counter the background noise bubbling up from every direction.

What is flow? It’s kind of like a river of writing, it’s an uninterrupted stream of consciousness directly from the source of your creativity through your brain, into your nervous system, out your hands, into your computer. I like to think of it as zen writing meditation.

There is some important prep work that needs to be done before you’re ready for some serious writing flow time:

1, Isolate yourself.
Shut the door to your study, turn off your cell phone, turn off your email program, shutdown your Twitter. Make note of any other things that I haven’t mentioned here that could possibly distract you from entering the flow. Make sure they can’t beep, howl, vibrate or demand anything from you.

2, Just you and computer.
I write with a program called WriteRoom, which turns my Mac into a tool for simply writing. A simple text editor will work as well. This way it’s just me and the words I type, nothing more. There’s no jumping dock icons grasping my attention, it’s just me and the writing. This is important, because it’s so easy to open Firefox and get lost in the internet. Sometimes if I find that WriteRoom isn’t enough isolation, I’ll turn off the internet altogether.

3, Don’t start writing, yet.
Take a moment and center yourself. I usually do around fifteen minutes of quiet contemplation before I even start touching keys. Focus on the idea that you have, but not too hard, just enough to see a vague outline of what you want to achieve. Why? Because this gives my mind a chance to let everything else in the world go, and just focus on the task at hand: writing.

And now it’s time to write, let the worlds spill out of you onto the page, and trust that they’re okay. There are moments in every creative’s life when they tap into the source of their creativity and they’re able to ride that creativity unto a finished project. With this writing philosophy I’m trying to get at that creative source.

Don’t edit yourself.
While you’re flowing, it’s important not to go back and edit things that you may have screwed up. Accept that you spelled miscellaneous wrong, and realize that you’ll be able to go back and fix that after you’re done. You’ll be able to rearrange paragraphs, after your flow is complete. If you stop and fix these things now, you’ve broken the stream of thought and you’ll have to start from scratch.

The time to edit yourself, to second guess what you did, is after your flow is over. When your copy has gone the full life-cycle from conception to being fully typed on the page.

Don’t second guess yourself.
You might be looking at the words coming out of you, and saying ‘wow, this absolutely crap.’ ignore that little voice. It’s trying to sabotage your writing, if you stop and delete what you’ve put out now, you’ll never get to the next sentence, which will inevitably be more brilliant than the one you’re writing now.

The important part is to bypass your inner critic and editor, as they’re conspiring to destroy your ability to get your ideas down on the page.

Keep the pace.
Imagine flowing like kayaking down stream a moving river, but you’re not the boater, you’re the kayak. No matter what happens, even if the person in control stops paddling for a bit, you’re going to keep going. The words will keep coming out of you and out onto the page, until you’ve reached the place where you pull the boat out of the water.

There are several other art forms that tap into spontaneous flow.
MCing is one of these art forms, rappers commonly tap into a stream of consciousness, a process that bypasses any second guessing. The words are moving so quickly out of a rapper’s mouth that they don’t really have time to pre-formulate those words.

Improv dance is another art form that involves tapping into flow. The dancer simply moves spontaneously to the music without any pre-choreographed movements. One of the goals in improv is to bypass the inner critic and just do the first physical action that drops into
your mind. This same philosophy can apply to writing.

Like any skill, flow takes practice to master.
Some people will be better at it initially than others. Don’t judge yourself if your inner critic is screaming at you to stop writing, just acknowledge that it’s there, and with time you can learn to ignore it and just write with the pure energy of your thoughts. Try flowing for short periods of time initially, maybe twenty minutes? And then gradually build on that time frame.

Eventually you might be able to do an hour of free flow writing, or imagine being able to flow for six hours straight? You’d be able to write tens of thousands of words, wouldn’t that be amazing?

FromFlow to Done: Tap Into Your Creative Source

from Write to Done by Mary Jaksch

Book Proposals

What should it contain?
The form of your proposal may vary; sections may be in a different order; but no matter what its length or organization, an effective book proposal must answer these questions:

1. Why are you writing this book? What do you hope to achieve?
2. What is your book about (in one or two sentences)?
3. What are your qualifications for writing this book? What is your specific knowledge, experience, or expertise in relation to your subject?
4. Why is this an appropriate and timely topic? What’s the big picture, the context? The political or social environment? In other words, why this book, now?
5. Who are your target readers? What do you know about them? What do they read, do, watch on TV? Where do they surf on the Web?
6. How will your audience benefit? What problem will your book solve or questions will it answer? What will readers learn?
7. How will you reach them? Where are they likely to buy this book?
8. How big is the market? How many potential readers are there? How many books can you sell? How do you know?
9. What else is out there on this subject? How is this book unique/special/important?
10. How will you help to promote your book? Publishers need to know; you need a plan. What connections in the world will help you get the word out?

FromThe Who, What, When, & Why of Book Proposalsfrom The Writing Life by Bobbi Linkemer

Editing

Editing Tips

1. Edit On-Screen and Track Changes

Many writers and editors swear by the printed page. But that’s a messy and inefficient way to edit. If you start editing on-screen, you’ll adjust to the new format and soon find it’s much easier than marking up print. Use Microsoft Word’s feature, Track Changes, which does just what you’d expect — it tracks all the changes you make as you edit. Then, you (or the writer for whom you’re editing) can go through and review every edit and accept or reject those changes individually or collectively.

2. If You’re Not Sure, Look it Up (and Know What You Don’t Know)

Your greatest wisdom as an editor is knowing what you don’t know. Having resources in your arsenal is one thing. Using them is something else entirely. Don’t be lazy! Remember that every time you look something up, you learn something new and expand your own writing skill set. Plus, the more you look things up, the less you’ll need to look them up in the future. Eventually, they become natural for you and part of your own writing process.

3. Keep a Grammar Manual and Style Guide Handy

When you’re not sure about grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, or context, you need to use your reference books, so make sure you have the right resources handy. Be vigilant, be correct, and use good judgment, keeping in mind that sometimes it’s best to bend the rules (but only if you know what the rules are and why you’re breaking them).

4. Run Spell Check and Grammar Check First

Before you do anything, run spell check and use your word processing software’s grammar checking tool (if it has one). Automated checkers don’t catch everything, but they can catch a lot and that means you’ll have more time and brain energy for manual editing. Also, use the find-and-replace feature (in Microsoft Word, this is found under Edit –> Find), which allows you to quickly find or replace a single error multiple times. For example, many people are still in the habit of using a double space after a period. I always do a find-and-replace to replace all those double spaces with the modern standard — single spaces after every period or terminal punctuation mark.

5. Read Slowly, Backwards, and Out Loud

The most crucial aspect of editing and proofreading is reviewing every single word and examining the written work at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels. Plus, you should be able to assess every document or manuscript in its entirety to check for readability, organization, and flow. This means you’ll have to go over each piece numerous times. To separate yourself from the content so you can better evaluate the writing, read slowly and read out loud. To check spelling, read backwards. You’ll catch a lot of minor mistakes and typos this way.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to check titles and subtitles!

6. Listen for Wording and Rhythm

Editing involves more than checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation (that’s proofreading, folks). When you read the piece out loud, pay attention to the rhythm. Does it flow smoothly? Do the sentences alternate in length or are there a series of really short (or really long) sentences? Break up some of those longer sentences and join some of the smaller sentences together to give the writing better rhythm and more musicality.

7. Note Consistent, Repeated Errors

Do the writer a favor and make notes as you edit; specifically, note mistakes that are repeated consistently throughout the writing. Repeated mistakes are often a signal that the writer doesn’t know better and it’s likely whomever you’re editing for will appreciate it if you correct them.

8. Readability Comes First, Writer’s Voice is Second

The whole point of editing is to make a piece of writing more readable. That’s why it’s essential you review the piece to make sure it’s easy reading. Additionally, it’s your job as editor to retain the integrity of the writer’s voice (which is a writer’s own unique style). It can be tempting to start rewriting. Avoid that! If you shift from editing into rewriting, the writer’s voice could get lost and replaced with your own or some weird hybrid voice.

9. Pay Attention to Formatting

Formatting is actually separate from editing. This involves things like font size, face, and other formatting options, such as bold or italics. I sometimes offer formatting as an additional service for clients who need editing, but whether I’m on the clock for formatting or not, I always pay attention, so at the very least I can nudge the writer with a little feedback like “Check your formatting.” Chapter titles and subheadings, for example, should have the same font. Citations should be formatted the same (and preferably, adhering to a style guide). Just keep an eye out for inconsistencies in this area.

10. Review to Perfection

I like to follow a five-step process for editing:

1. Read the entire text
2. After running spell/grammar check, edit and proofread for blatant mistakes and awkward wording.
3. Second review focusing on wording and readability.
4. Third review focusing on proofreading (check for grammar, spelling, punctuation) — this is where I read out loud, slowly.
5. Final review and polishing.

I repeat step five until I can’t find anything to improve.

That’s in an ideal world, of course. It would be difficult to review an entire novel countless times (not to mention really, really expensive), and let’s face it, no matter how many times you review a piece of writing, you’re always going to find something that you could make better. Use good judgment and keep going over the piece until you feel it’s as close to perfect as possible.
Good Luck with Your Editing!

from http://www.writingforward.com

Pacific

Query Letters

A query letter is a selling tool: You’re trying to show the editor that your book is new, different, exciting, and very, very commercial. You also want her to know that you picked her especially because you like her taste in fiction, because you loved the books she edited, because you want to work with her . You’re selling not only your book, but also your enthusiasm for her in particular. And you’re going to do it all in three short paragraphs, trying to keep the letter to one page, two at the most, because she’s a busy woman and you don’t want to waste her time. You have to grab her attention, make your point, and get out.

• Paragraph 1: Establish a relationship with the editor by telling her how much you liked the book she edited (always tell the truth). Stress the things you liked that are similar to your story. Then tell her that you’ve written a novel and you’d like to send her the proposal. (Do not say you write just like the author of the book–she’s already got one of those–or that your book is better.)
• Paragraph 2: Imagine that the editor is putting together a book ad or a pitch to the sales force and she’s asked you for the copy. You want to sell the things that make your book stand out from the crowd, so show her the fascinating protagonist, the powerful antagonist, the riveting conflict, the irresistible setting, all in your captivating and unique voice. Write a blurb or a tagline that grabs her and that she can use to grab readers. Show her your expertise on the subject: If you’ve written a medical thriller and you’re a doctor, mention it; if it’s a book about a cooking school murder and you’ve been to cooking school, tell her that. Support it with other people’s quotes; if you’ve got a friend who’s a published writer or an expert in a field your book addresses and who will give you a blurb, put that in. Remember, the editor would love to publish a good book, but she needs to publish a book that will sell, so show her how commercial it will be.
• Paragraph 3: Give her every way possible to contact you: SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope), e-mail, phone number, fax number, pony express, whatever. And thank her for giving you hours of pleasure with the book she edited (always tell the truth) and for considering your book.

http://www.jennycrusie.com/for-writers/essays/stalking-the-wild-editor-how-to-get-published-maybe/

22 Best Writing Tips Ever

Best Writing Tips

1. Do it. Write.
2. Read as much and as often as you can. Remember, every writer is a reader first.
3. Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your brilliant ideas.
4. Make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available whenever you are writing.
5. Be observant. The people and activities that surround you will provide you with great inspiration for characters, plots, and themes.
6. Invest in a few valuable resources starting with The Chicago Manual of Style, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and The Elements of Style.
7. Grammar: learn the rules and then learn how to break them effectively.
8. Stop procrastinating. Turn off the TV, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.
9. Read works by highly successful authors to learn what pleases publishers and earns a pretty penny.
10. Read works by the canonical authors so you can understand what constitutes literary achievement.
11. Join a writers’ group so you can gain support from the writing community and enjoy comradery in your craft.
12. Create a space in your home especially for writing.
13. Proofread everything at least three times before submitting your work for publication.
14. Write every single day.
15. Start a blog. Use it to talk about your own writing process, to share your ideas and experiences, or to publish your work to a live audience.
16. Subscribe to the top writing blogs on the Internet. Read them, participate, and enjoy!
17. Use writing exercises to improve your skills, increase your talent, and explore different genres, styles, and techniques.
18. Let go of your inner editor. When you sit down to write a draft, refrain from proofreading until that draft is complete.
19. Allow yourself to write poorly, to write a weak, uninteresting story or a boring, grammatically criminal poem. You’ll never succeed if you don’t allow yourself a few failures along the way.
20. Make it your business to understand language. Do you know a noun from a verb, a predicate from a preposition? Do you understand tense and verb agreement? You should.
21. You are a writer so own up and say it out loud: “I am a writer.” Whether it’s a hobby or your profession, you have the right to this title.
22. Write, write, write, and then write some more. Forget everything else and just write.

http://www.writingforward.com/writing-tips-and-tools/writing-tips/the-22-best-writing-tips-ever

Keep Writing

In an article titled “Outliers – 10,000 Hours for Success,” Marelisa Fábrega cites research conducted by neurologists and psychologists who collectively found that to become a true master at anything, one must put in 10,000 hours:

“In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years… No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.“ – Daniel Levitin

Memoir Writing With A Partner

Steps to Writing a Memoir

1. Start with whatever your partner can do. It can be a recorded or written list or a spoken dialogue about his or her life. If your partner cannot start, you might offer a list of key events and ask for feedback, thoughts, and reactions about these or inquire about how friends and family were affected by these events.
2. Develop a list of questions on a specific topic coming from multiple angles and ask about one or two each time you meet.
3. Listen and write everything down. You may not think something your partner says is significant, but months later you will see why it matters.
4. Let your partner repeat stories, and view this as a chance to get new details and better words.
5. Tell others about the effort. Many of our friends and relatives sent photos or came to visit and told Mom stories. Some of this material made its way into the book. Some triggered memories, which was also wonderful for all of us.
6. Have your partner answer three overarching questions, appropriate to the time, and weave these into the book. These can differ based on your interests and the interests of your partner and family, friends, or business associates. I asked my mother what was her experience of the moment, what was the family dynamic in her judgment now, looking back, and how did the economy back then impact her.
7. Buy books, music, and videos of the places and times to trigger memories. Mom would look at these on her own and write down a memory or thought that these brought to mind. Many of these comments were incorporated into the text. As part of the research I also reached out to local historical societies, and went on Ebay looking for relevant items, old postcards, programs, etc. Also, reviewing the materials provided hours of fun for her while I was not there.
8. Read, reread, and discuss the draft text. Again, this provided many enjoyable hours for Mom when she was otherwise alone. Often I asked her to focus on a theme or a person and spend the next few days writing down whatever came to mind.
9. Always work with whatever your partner’s natural tendency is. Nail it down and then push for the opposite. My mother was very factual; almost matter of fact and devoid of emotion. I captured that, and then pushed to find the little details that hinted at the emotions, which began slowly but surely to release the flood of feelings!
10. Have a professional editor go over the manuscript for typos, grammar, and punctuation and also to edit out any redundancies.

“How to Write a Memoir with a Partner” is by Deborah Prutzman, co-author of Addie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression (1915-1935).

Tip for Writing Elegiac Poetry

I worked through my grief about my dad by drawing, and my mom by writing. here's some tips I found about writing about loved ones we've lost:

Naomi Shihab Nye gave us an exercise: 1) Write down three questions you'd like to ask someone who's lost to you, either through death or estrangement. 2) List three to five physical items that come to mind when you think of this person. 3) Write down three to five quotes that you associate with the person. Then take bits and pieces of what you've written and work them into a poem of a few lines. You might find that those few lines are enough on their own, or you might expand them into a longer poem or even (for the purposes of this site) a prose piece.

Writing and Loss originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 18:13:55.

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

by Brian Clark

1. Write.
2. Write more.
3. Write even more.
4. Write even more than that.
5. Write when you don’t want to.
6. Write when you do.
7. Write when you have something to say.
8. Write when you don’t.
9. Write every day.
10. Keep writing.

Ready, Set, Go!

Here we go! Blog number . . . seven??!! A bit ridiculous, I know. But the most useful ones are really made with me in mind, so I can store information, sites, books about writing, and tips.