R. Canepa's Blog, page 4

Proofreading on the Kindle

I've had my new Kindle v3 for about two weeks now.  It's my first Kindle, so I'm still getting used to the whole thing, but overall I love it so far.

About a week ago, I was due for a read-through of MOROCCO, yet I also wanted to read something on my shiny new toy.  Then bingo: I combined the two.

And I have to say that I think I'm going to make the Kindle a big part of my proofreading process.  Not in the beginning, when I have to scribble notes to myself and draw so many squiggles and arrows ...

It's Funny What You Actually Know

A good friend of mine asked if I'd be willing to come speak to her writing group about publishing options.  The group is my old writing group, but I've been out of it so long that only two of us original members remain (besides me).

My first response was, "Eeeek."  Or maybe it was "Ack!"  At any rate, it definitely had both vowels and a "K" in it.

But then I started thinking about it, and I was like, you know, I might still be a newbie in some ways, but I have learned a lot, so why not?

So ...

On Hiding Things From The Reader

I took up reading "the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" via the Kindle App because I haven't read very many of them.  Overall, the experience has been fun so far.  I expected some dated language and whatnot, considering its status as a classic, but what I've really noticed is the difference in storytelling.

Some of it just plain wouldn't fly today.

The biggest thing that jumped out at me was one case of hiding stuff from the reader–blatantly.

Spoilers ahead.

During "The Red-Headed League," the...

The Sound of "Finished". A MOROCCO Update.

Today started like normal (though a little later than usual): coffee, breakfast, feeding the cat.

Writing work was difficult through most of the afternoon and early evening.  Ordered pizza so I could keep working.  Hit a stride after dinner and continued on until about 12:15 AM (15 or so minutes ago).

I stopped because I just finished my revision of MOROCCO.  Boo-yeah!  13 hours and many words later, I have a finished second draft.  Final word count: 37,418.

A far cry from the 16,000 of my...

It's Not About Sides–Until You Make It So

The world of publishing is in turmoil.  In the upheaval, two different and fairly antagonistic factions have come about: the New York publishing houses (referred to as "traditional publishing") and the independent/self-published authors.

Both have their benefits and their drawbacks.  Both also have their fierce proponents.

But it's not about sides.  Nor should it be.

I'm an "indie" author only because I have a book that I published myself.   Yet I haven't joined the Association of Independent...

August 11th MOROCCO WIP Update

ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/andriesoudshoorn

Had a stellar run of editing and writing new text for MOROCCO lately.  The going has been rough lately–it was a relief to hit a stretch where scenes organized themselves into lines like good students and the words came easy.  Further proof that the most important thing is to just keep going.

Total wordcount is now over 30,000 words, up from the original 16,000.  That's a huge increase, but I knew I would have to add a lot of new stuff in order to...

Coming Up For Air

Poor blog–been a bit neglected lately writing-wise. Lots going on lately. Notes on WIP, points of view, similarities between photography project and writing.  There's other stuff going on, too, but those are the subject of other forthcoming posts.

MOROCCO EDITS

Still ongoing.  I wish I could say it's going well, but truth be told, it's a struggle all the way.  This wasn't an easy story to write, and its track record continues during the revision process.  The important thing is that it's...

MOROCCO Revision and WIP Update

ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/andriesoudshoorn

Got some work done on MOROCCO today [7/11:], but not nearly as much as I'd hoped to do.  Today was one of those easily-distracted type of days, further made difficult by a torrential afternoon storm and the necessity of eating.

I'm still spending time going through the story to ask myself Big, Important questions about each scene and character, making notes, cross-referencing previous scenes and thoughts, and so forth.  Editing can be tough work...

Oh The Lies We Tell

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellasdad

I have a confession to make: Up until a few weeks ago, I'd never played Scrabble.

The revelation of that little chunk of wisdom to a few friends provoked a few, "really?!" responses.  It came about during my questions and ranting while playing Words With Friends on the iPhone.  "What do you mean it doesn't allow proper nouns?" I cried.  "Why doesn't it spell backwards?"

It also doesn't do very well with medical terminology, in case you were curious.

Beyond...

Responsibility Means…

My 365 image from the 27th reminded me of an old teacher that I had.  We were given sentences to write as punishment any time we did something wrong in class.

His default was "Responsibility means following directions," but he would also adapt it to meet the infraction in question.

But they always began with "Responsibility means…"

There are multiple ways I could go with this.

The whole idea of punishment in schools (now versus then), that people rarely write by hand any longer, that it could be ...