L.M. Nelson's Blog, page 37

Guest Nicholas Rossis: You’re a SUCCESS!

This is a great article. Thanks Nicholas and Rachael.

Fiction by Rachael Ritchey

I’m so excited one of my favorite authors has agreed to be a guest on my blog.  Today I’d like to welcome Nicholas Rossis to our little corner of the wide web of the world.

Nicholas is from Athens, Greece (this alone is “‘nough said”

Meet the Characters – Part 12

The next character is Nathan’s other sister, and Lauren’s twin, Lacy.

Full name:  Lacy Nicole Hanson

Age: 15

Physical Description: brown hair, green eyes

Hometown:  Kirkland, WA

Family:  Has a twin sister named Lauren. Father’s name is Dr. Randal Hanson. Mother is Jane Hanson. Older brother, Nathan.

Education:  Currently attends Lake Washington High School.  Has had extensive dance training, including ballet, jazz, and contemporary. Performs with her high school dance team and at local dance festivals.

Career Goals: Wants to study choreography at the Barnard Dance School at Columbia University and be a choreographer

Hobbies:  water skiing, snow skiing

Favorite things:  dancing, shopping, sunbathing, snorkeling, listening to music, watching Dancing With the Stars, dance festivals, hanging out with her twin

Favorite Places: dance halls, the beach

Music Preference: dance/ club music

Relationship Status:  Single

Character traits:  Rebellious. Strong-willed. Challenges authority. Questions rules. Openly speaks her mind and tends to be argumentative. Often dresses in tight fitting clothes. Flirtatious. Protective and has a “sixth sense” as far as her twin is concerned.

For other character bios, see links below.

Jane     Randy     Jim     Bruce    Mandy    Greg    Gabby   Mike    Nathan    Lauren

How Not to Get Overwhelmed: Copyrighting Your Work

Helpful information.

Fiction by Rachael Ritchey

This is the fifth article in the series: How Not to Get Overwhelmed with Indie Publishing. Below is the list, including links to the subjects we’ve already covered. Today’s topic is Copyright. We’ll be focusing on US, though, because that’s where I live. It will be purely informational since copyright involves law, and I do not give legal advice.

Acquiring Beta Readers
Editing/Editor Considerations
Book Cover Design
The Back Cover Synopsis & Author Bio
Copyright (US)
Paper & Ebook Publishing Platforms (mainly US)
ISBN (and bar code (US))
Ebook Formatting
Paperback and Hardbound Formatting
Uploading Your Book to One or Various Platforms
Marketing Strategies

Here’s the symbol

Here are the codes for various uses of the copyright symbol:

http://www.alt-codes.net/copyright_alt_code.php

Here’s the definition of Copyright from Merriam-Webster:

“the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)”

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Meet the Characters – Part 11

With the  release of book 3 in my series, Beyond the Hardwood, I would like to introduce you to two more characters you will meet in this book. The first is one of Nathan’s younger sisters, Lauren.

Full name:  Lauren Marie Hanson

Age: 15

Physical Description: brown hair, green eyes

Hometown:  Kirkland, WA

Family:  Has a twin sister named Lacy. Father’s name is Dr. Randal Hanson. Mother is Jane Hanson. Older brother, Nathan.

Education:  Currently attending Lake Washington High School. Extensive vocal training, dance classes, and acting workshops. Performs in school plays, musicals, and local theatre productions.

Career Goals: To studying acting at the Juilliard School in New York City and perform on Broadway.

Hobbies:  water skiing, snow skiing, swimming

Favorite things:  performing on stage, show tunes, musicals, poetry, film noir movies, shopping, smoothies, sleepovers, singing in the shower, Shakespeare Festivals

Favorite Places: the theatre, the beach, shopping malls

Music Preference: show tunes

Relationship Status:  Single

Character traits:  Modest, independent young woman with expensive taste. Confident on stage, but shy around unfamiliar people. Kindhearted and helpful toward others. Goal-oriented, determined, supportive of friends and family. Has a “sixth sense” as far as her twin is concerned.

For other character bios, see links below.

Jane     Randy     Jim     Bruce    Mandy    Greg    Gabby   Mike    Nathan    Lacy

New Book Look

I am currently in the process of reformatting the interior of my books and revamping my book covers to make them look more like a series. Not only that, I’m also about to ditch my publisher and go solo, so I wanted a fresh start with a  new designer.  Love the direction we are going.

A Photo Journey Through Seattle

A photo tour through one of my favorite cities. Enjoy!

One Chel of an Adventure

As I mentioned in my last post, I visited my aunt up in Washington State a couple years ago. While we were there we visited many highlights in Seattle including: Poulsboro Marine Center, Bremerton, The Glass Museum, The Woodland Zoo, The Seattle Aquarium, The Original Starbucks, and Pike’s Public Market. This is my photo journey through Seattle and its surrounding areas:

xx Chels

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19 Self-editing Tips

If you’re in that editing stage and looking for some tips, this is helpful.

WordDreams...

Help!

Now that I’ve published my first novel, To Hunt a Sub, I can say from experience that writing it and editing it took equally long periods of time (and marketing is just as involved). After finishing the final rough draft (yeah, sure) and before emailing it to an editor, I wanted it as clean possible. I searched through a wide collection of self-editing books like these:

The Novel Writer’s Toolkit by Bob Mayer

Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne

The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall

…and came up with a list of fixes that I felt would not only clean up grammar and editing, but the voice and pacing that seemed to bog my story down. Here are ideas you might like:

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13 Things Mentally Strong Writers Don’t Do

Great insights here. Definitely worth reading.

Kristen Lamb's Blog

As y’all know I do a ton of reading and this includes lots and lots of blogs and articles. Over the holiday I ran across one article that just had me jumping up and down and yelling, “YES! THIS!” The Business Insider article “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” is based off Amy Morin’s book (which I highly recommend).

It doesn’t matter if we strive to have a healthy marriage, strong kids or a killer career, these tenets cross-apply to all areas of life. Mental toughness is a key component to being successful. Yes, even for writers.

So I figured I would tinker with this and make it more directly apply to writers and what we must do (or not do) if we long to do well in this career. Thus, today we are going to discuss 13 Things Mentally Strong Writers Don’t Do.

#1 They don’t waste time…

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Proof Preview

Received my proof today.  Now for the joyous task of reading through it to make sure there aren’t any issues.

Better get your tissues

Sand & Sutures just received a 5-star review.