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.