Ceanmohrlass's Blog, page 5
February 15, 2016
Publishing
Totally confused now. I understand that there are the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses, then there are smaller publishers, then vanity publishers, then like me, Self-published. But I have found a ton of conflicting information about publishers. I am more confused than ever now. I can see never paying to publish a book. But I hear that some smaller presses do have you pay upfront for the print and marketing and using their contacts to get reviews etc. and that was considered taboo. No clue what to try on this current novel. Wanted to try the agent/publisher route for exposure, but have read so many horror stories I don’t know now! I couldn’t imagine after tons of rejections to get a contract, only to have it sat on and learn they only contracted your book to get it suppressed as they have a big name that has a competing book coming out. Shew… what to do, what to do.
February 9, 2016
In production
The new novel is at 36,013 words! Slowly but surely… The plan is to have this on final edit early summer and start the grueling process of agent shopping…
Back to work next week for the spring season so writing hours will be limited. Onward and upward! Have an awesome week everyone!
February 4, 2016
Book Trailers
I recently toyed with creating a short book trailer. I am pleased with the final result but I will do another version later when the book is completed as the first trailer was a trial after research on the subject. I quite enjoyed the final result and had fun creating it! There are free sites to obtain background music with certain themes to add for effect.
I used the movie maker from Windows on my laptop to create and I understand that Mac computers come with iMovie to use as well. There are many how-to sites out there so I won’t be posting one here. Back to work on the novel, getting antsy now…
February 2, 2016
February writing tips 1
I have some writing tips I have come across and am compiling them for anyone interested.
If you work in Word, you can cntrl+f and type in these words to search the document for them and then delete/replace them with a more appropriate word.
-ly words: get rid of them if at all possible. Replace with a more descriptive word.
-ing words: change to the past tense version
stock phrases: exchange them for a single word wherever possible
redundancies: be careful not to say the same thing in two different ways in the same sentence
thing: replace it with the proper word
There is/There are: Don’t start a sentence with these. Rework the sentence.
Telling words: eliminate them as much as possible. Rework sentence to show the action.
Realized: Drop it completely. Rework the sentence so it shows the character as they come to the conclusion and make it active.
the sound of: Drop it completely. Describe the sound if it is necessary to the scene/storyline.
in (used as an emotion, ie: Lori froze in fear.): Rework it, show the characters reaction, body language, etc to describe the fear or other emotion.
February 1, 2016
February already!
I can’t believe it is February already! This year is already flying by. Work starts shortly and I’m in a mad dash to get the current novel finished, but not so much that it doesn’t turn out as I expect. I get sidetracked in research and it seems like before I know it, the day is over!
I recently have gotten on a nitpick about my grammar and punctuation. I need to work more on that, and my dyslexia makes it tough sometimes. I can read a line over, and over, and by golly, there is still something I missed! I do self-edits after every chapter, (many, many self edits actually) and it irks me when I catch something from a prior chapter I thought I had corrected. I heard that a word file can corrupt over time, so I do a ‘save as’ with a different name once I am most of the way through. Learning new things every day here!
Compiling information on formatting and other items, and will share as I get my notes rewritten so they make sense. Have a great week everyone!
January 30, 2016
Dreams
Happiness is… What? Happiness is what? My ending to that statement changes from one end of the spectrum to another frequently. The ending that has returned time, and time again, is ‘serenity’ and it is again. Oh, I have gone through phases where it would have been winning the lottery, meeting my soul mate, getting a good report from the doctor just once, and trading my happiness for my children and grandchildren to be happy forever. Serenity is still my choice when I have everything I need in life. The job is back in full swing shortly, my writing and posting time will diminish drastically, but I will focus on serenity as my number one goal. The book is outlined and coming together wonderfully so I can relax and prioritize for just a bit longer. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, and I will be back on here frequently with tips I find, and frustrations that appear. Til later :)
January 27, 2016
Happiness is…
A 5am wake up to a brand new 5 star review on Me and My Bacon! Woohoo!! Raspberry cupcake and Dr. Pepper celebration here! Have a great day everyone!
January 26, 2016
The grand idea
I’ve spent weeks working on this book and just recreated chapter one completely! I was on my morning walk and the idea just struck from nowhere! Gotta love this cool, crisp air! I fussed while my computer took its time booting up, grabbed my pen and paper and wrote out a new chapter one while it came to life! Nothing like having to insert a new chapter one and renumber the other chapters… Revisions are crazy!
January 25, 2016
Interesting sites for writers pt2
I spend a bit of free time searching for websites to help in my writing and publishing. I found a few more that are interesting and offer some good advice.
http://nelsonagency.com/pub-rants/
http://writing.shawguides.com/
I don’t endorse, nor am I paid by any of these sites, I just found them interesting and am passing them along in case they may be of use to others!
Have a great day! :)
January 23, 2016
Busy busy
4:30 Edits, edits, edits! 5:30 Write 6:30 Edits, and more edits LOLO It’s 8 now, coffee wearing off and brain losing charge! LOLOL I just ran out of ink in my pen and it was a mad dash to find just one of the zillion pens tucked all over the house! Time for another coffee! This afternoon is pottery day with my daughters, should be very interesting! Have a great day everyone! :)
