You don’t need anyone else’s approval or permission to enjoy the magic of writing — of sitting by yourself, figuring out which words should go together to express whatever it is you’re trying to say.
You don’t need anyone else’s approval or permission to enjoy the magic of writing — of sitting by yourself, figuring out which words should go together to express whatever it is you’re trying to say. It’s OK to let your book be published if you can see its flaws but don’t know how to fix them. Don’t let your book be published if it still contains flaws that are fixable, even if fixing them is a lot of work.
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Some of the greatest noteworthy statements and lines come from scriptwriters and writers in general. If only those who hold any power to enact upon words such as these would listen ... then DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR A CHANGE!!! Hey, here's a thought .... maybe it's time the people realized they are the ones who have the power!
Female writers are asked more frequently about all of the following topics than male writers: whether their work is autobiographical; whether their characters are likable; whether their unlikable characters are unlikable on purpose or the writer didn’t realize what she was doing; how they manage to write after having children. It’s not your responsibility to convince people who don’t like your books that they should. Taste is subjective, and you’re not running for elected office.
"YOU WRITE IT, I HELP PERFECT IT!" This is my editor's mantra and as an author of 3 novels with more to follow, I highly recommend the services of Susan Pilski to any writer seeking the best person for his or her editor. Sue did an excellent job on YOU CAN RUN, the second book in my crime-action-adventure-thriller series. I've taken the liberty of copying the following information from her website: WHAT I WILL DO FOR YOU AND FOR HOW MUCH:
Line-by-line Copy Editing This will cost you $1.50 per page. (Times Roman font, at least 11pt. and double-spaced). It includes basic proofreading (spelling, grammar, punctuation),. In addition, I will check the overall structure of your manuscript. Is the writing clear? Is the word choice appropriate? Are there any redundancies or inconsistencies in your plot or narration? Are the characters or situations believable? Using WORD or OpenOffice (whichever the client prefers), I will track changes and leave comments in the margin of the manuscript to address these issues. Payments can be made in various ways and will be discussed on an individual basis. I offer discounts to my returning clients and guarantee professional results with friendly service. Deadlines are always met! For more information, please e-mail me at [email protected] THE ARCHER'S DIARY This is a story that spans the centuries and rewrites history — but at what cost?
These Ladies Went Out To Nature And Started Singing. Their Song Is Absolutely Stunning Noteworthy is an all-female a cappella group from Brigham Young University, consisting of nine women who are all students at the university. They were founded to be a female counterpart to the university's male group, Vocal Point. The group was founded in 2003 by student Esther Yoder. Since then the group has competed in a wide variety of singing competitions, including the first season of NBC's "The Sing-Off" in 2009 (where they were sadly eliminated midway through the competition).
In this video, the 2015-2016 members of the group sing a stirring rendition of the classic "Amazing Grace." Technically, this video is not strictly a cappella since that would mean a strictly vocal performance while this video does feature a few light instrumental tracks, but the beauty of their harmonies is in no way diminished by that technicality. Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at [email protected]. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
For those who are writers – or work with them – it may be taken for granted that writers write because that’s what they do. It’s who they are. But what attributes really describe a great writer? 1. The best writer knows he or she needs to give way to a great editor, and to see the collaboration as a means to making one’s voice powerful. 2. The great writer has something to say about something. Always. Just as some people can talk for hours at a time, writers can pen their insights, views, and opinions non-stop. 3. They also know that good writing is not about quantity, but quality. Using an economy of words and minimal set up to make a point or advance a storyline are always appreciated. 4. They possess a strong vocabulary. The great writer doesn’t have to toss around SAT words, but he or she should inject a variety of terms, words, and references that reflect a historical perspective, trendy awareness, and cultural diversity. 5. The best writers have a singular message to get out. They are driven by convictions and passionately lobby for them. Writers are neither natural nor indifferent. They are guided by a bias that informs their writing. 6. The best writers challenge us. They don’t merely tell us what we want to hear or expect to experience. Top-shelf writing raises questions, rankles the establishment, speaks up for the disenfranchised, and gives legitimacy to ideas never before discussed or new spins to unfairly dismissed proposals. 7. They give us context and perspective. They help us understand where we come from, who we are now, and enlighten us to the possibilities of what could, or even should, be. 8. They usually aim to compensate, or right some wrong that reality has brought upon us. They give us hope with and desire. They help us experience what isn’t, and give shape to the formless. 9. The elite writers tap into our emotions and state of mind. They give us fear, lust, hope, ego, and anger. They let parts of ourselves come out to dance when no one else is looking. 10. They tell us we are not alone. Our thoughts, our past, and our lives seem to have value when we read a book. Our history becomes the litmus test by which we judge a book, but above all, writers comfort us and fuel us with support. 11. Terrific writers make us think, even second-guess our assumptions and question our viewpoints. They force us to come around and see things from their perspective – or they push us further away and form a completely opposite view. 12. They can make us feel better about ourselves by using humor or tragedy. They can become inspiring to us. Words can lift and transform anyone. 13. Great writers are willing to suspend their beliefs and understanding of reality in order to create whole new worlds that actually help us live in the present one. 14. They allow their personal experiences to guide their writings. Their honesty and truths help demonstrate lessons we could never learn unless we actually experienced what they did. 15. Above all, the best writers are great because they strive to be so. They dedicate themselves, proudly, to live their craft and to experience every action and thought with an eye on their writing. Nothing happens to them means more than how they’ll write it. The great writers strive to improve, to make their work better even by installing the slightest adjustment. They are always writing, even when they’re not. Diana Athill1 Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out – they can be got right only by ear). 2 Cut (perhaps that should be CUT): only by having no inessential words can every essential word be made to count. 3 You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye. Almost always it turns out that they'd be better dead. (Not every little twinge of satisfaction is suspect – it's the ones which amount to a sort of smug glee you must watch out for.) Margaret Atwood1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.
2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type. 3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do. 4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick. 5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting. 6 Hold the reader's attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don't know who the reader is, so it's like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B. 7 You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there's no free lunch. Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine. 8 You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up. 9 Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page. 10 Prayer might work. Or reading something else. Or a constant visualisation of the holy grail that is the finished, published version of your resplendent book. Ask someone in the 19th century if they wanted to buy a windmill, and you would be asking them if they felt up to a lifetime of relentless work, accompanied by the endless sound of rotating mill sails. Two hundred years later, however, the windmill that Nick and Catherine Edwards are selling, on the Fylde Coast, near Fleetwood, is an altogether more attractive proposition. Now, though, the four-hooved occupants have moved out, and the loudest noises are those of humans admiring the 360-degree views. It's not a situation which would have been envisaged by Ralph Slater, the millwright who constructed the building in 1808. But instead of being a place of hard toil, the Pilling Mill has become both the tallest building on the Fylde coast (five storeys,73 feet high), and the home with the best views. This thanks to a wraparound balcony not envisaged in the original plans, but added by Nick and Catherine in 2008. Pictures: Matthew Bishop And there it stands today. But although in many ways this is an unusually-shaped property, and the kind of place where you remember on the ground floor, that you've left your keys on the top floor, one thing everyone agree on, is that it's got character. And also a surprising amount of space, though not always on the same floor. Like all windmills, it starts off wide at the bottom (30 foot diameter), and by the time you reach the top it's just 18 feet wide. And if the weather's bad, you don't need to go outside for a run, you just climb the stairs a few times (there are five floors), then lie back and look out over Lancashire. When the sky is clear, you can even see England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike, 40 miles away. “We know, though, that out there is someone who will love this place as much as we have.”
Pilling Mill is on the market for £495,000 with Hatched Estate Agents (0161 300 1666) The long awaited sequel to THE PITS, and the second book in the Kramer and Shadow Crime Novel Series is currently close to having the editing completed. The release of YOU CAN RUN is planned before Christmas 2015. Watch for further announcements .... be among the first to grab a copy!
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Greg Smith -AuthorI have 30+ years as a graphic designer under my belt. During that time I've worked on countless books; designing covers, layout, etc. Now I've decided to "go behind the camera." Now I'm trying my hand at writing. Archives
March 2017
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