Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson's Blog, page 17

WANTED 20 REVIEWERS - FREE EBOOK!

Today is launch day for Waiting with God!



As you know, reviews are the life blood of every book's early days, especially for indie-authors.



So, I'm looking for 20 readers who would be interested in reading Waiting with God and placing reviews on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com.



It's a quick, inspiring read, that I honestly believe you'll enjoy.



If you're interested, send me an email at: HenryandGeorgePress [at] gmail [dot] com with the email address associated with your ebook reader and I will gift you a FREE ebook of Waiting with God!



Thank you for your help!

So Thankful for Snow! Feb 23 - 25 2013

Last week we received over a foot of snow.








Of course the dogs and I had to go out and investigate.














This is what our driveway looked like. 




I won't describe the bill we received from our snow plow guy.











My favorite view, looking up the hill.











This was Charlie Brown's first big snow.











You can see the wonder in his eyes. He loved it...




or he's in shock at the thought of the bill from the snow plow guy.














Here's Henry looking very wolf-like.














And chewing snow off the bottom of his paw.














Here's George tromping through the snow.




He loves the snow.











We all love the snow.




So much to be grateful for!

And the winner is...

Their Final Touch-Ups

Our Book Cover Finalists

Help Me Choose My Next Book Cover And Win a Book!

I'm coming out with a 31-day devotional in March. 




As usual,  I've created a number of book covers and can't decide on my favorite. 

You can help me, by choosing the one you like best!

Please leave a comment with the number of the cover you like best.




One entry will receive your choice 

of an ebook or paperback copy of the book with the winning design.




Thank you for your help!















Cover 1: Butterfly and Flower

















Cover 2: Blue Bird

















Cover 3: Flowers and Envelope

















Cover 4: Pink Flower Border

















Cover 5: Pink Rose Lower Border

















Cover 6: Grey Scroll Border

















Cover 7: Red Poppy Cover




















Cover 8: Yellow Flower Cover















Cover 9: Red Poppy Border Bottom










Well...which will it be?

Release Fear

Today's Verse:

We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
Let your unfailing love surround
us Lord,
for our hope is in you alone.

~ Psalm 33:20-22


Reflections:

When we can release our own fear about the outcomes of today and tomorrow, we can open our hearts to place our hope in God.

We we release the overwhelming emotion of fear,
we can make space in our hearts for God's  unfailing  love, which as this psalm promises, will surround us.

Going, Going, Gone! Snow Day 29 Jan 2013

Our first snow day of 2013.

Here's Henry.

Always the leader of the pack.











Charlie always wants to go wherever Henry's going.











George might be slow,

but he hates to be left behind.











They're all together now.

Making their way down the driveway.











To our neighbor's cabin.

To see if he left anything to eat on the back porch.




Come back here you knuckleheads!

Editing and Proofreading Checklist for Writers: A Guest Post with Karen S. Elliott

I am a big fan of Karen Elliott. I've known her via her blog ( I subscribe via email and you should, too) and through Facebook. If you want to learn about creating a platform, you should follow Karen.




She's also an editor extraordinaire and has dedicated her talents to making those of us who write without looking at the keyboard (or our manuscripts, it might seem) look better.




I asked Karen to do a guest post and then gave her free rein on the content. As you'll see below, she was incredibly generous... What you'll find is a checklist to guide you through the self-editing process. However, what I think you'll also find by the end of the post is why hiring an editor, like Karen, is really so necessary for an indie-author. 




I learned this lesson the hard way with my first book, when I received numerous reviews from readers who loved the story, but hated the typos and grammatical errors that we missed by me and MS Word spellcheck. It's absolutely true that a writer makes a lousy editor of their own work.




At the end of this checklist, Karen has included numerous links to reach her. Check them out.






























Editing and
Proofreading Checklist







Check for consistency





Character – Where
your characters live, where they work, their likes and dislikes, their phobias,
dress/style, favorite foods/allergies.




Names, Proper Nouns – Did you call your main
character Allan in the first chapter
and Alan in all the other chapters?




Electronic Age – If
you use words like e-mail or email, web-site or website, on-line or online –
each of these words needs to be consistent throughout your manuscript.




Who’s talking? –
If your English-teacher character is talking prim and proper English in Chapter
Three, make sure she doesn’t go all street slang in Chapter Twenty.




Know your props –
If you have your police officer with a Glock in Chapter Four, he should still
have a Glock in the final chapter.  





Where are you? –
I have often drawn my own map on a large sheet of paper to maintain
perspective. Or use Google maps. If you write Route 83 and Burdick Expressway
intersect in Minot, ND, they’d better intersect.







Fixing what’s wrong




Adjust your mind set
from “writer” to “proofreader.” You are looking for things that are wrong.




Spell check – Do
not – DO NOT – depend on your computer’s spell checker.




Read out loud –
This will help you hear where there
are stops and starts, what’s awkward. Take it a step further – read your MS or
short story into a tape recorder or have your computer read it to you and
listen while looking at a printed copy.




Print it – Sounds
silly, but it works. You’ve been looking at your project on the screen – you
need a new perspective – you need to see it on paper.




Change the font –
If you have been looking at your MS in Times New Roman, change it to Palatino
Linotype. It will look completely different.




First Reader – Ask
someone to look at your MS with a critical eye. If they come back to you and
say they loved it, they are not critical enough.




Mom or BFF –
Don’t ask them to proofread, unless
mom was a proofreader for Merriam-Webster (my mom was!). Not that you shouldn’t
trust them, but you shouldn’t trust them with proofreading your manuscript.




Sounds like –
Look at words like there and their, you’re and your, and its and it’s. If you know you have trouble with a certain word(s), search
for that word throughout your manuscript. Labor-intensive, yes. But it works. Also
check for words like wet and whet, rain, reign, and rein, affect and effect and
so forth.  




Take a break –
Put the manuscript aside for a few weeks or a month or two. Then go back to it
with fresh eyes.







Hiring an editor or
proofreader  




Planning – Start
looking for an editor or proofreader the minute you start your book or soon
thereafter. Shop around. Ask other writers for recommendations. Ask the editor/proofreader
for a sample. 




Ask for specifics
– Ask the proofreader to outline exactly
what they consider “editing” and “proofreading.” These standards differ
significantly throughout the industry.




Scalpel or hatchet – I
suggest changes; I do not make edits
for the writer. What will your editor/proofreader do?




Research online –
Look at the proofreader’s website, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, and blog. Are
they positive? Do they share tips and links? Are their online pages clean?




Stylebooks,
references – Ask what style books and references they use. If they hem and
haw or say, “Oh, I don’t use those things,” run away.




Testimonials –
Get testimonials or references and then look at the publications of the
testimonials. Contact the people who have provided these testimonials.




Turn-around – If
a proofreader says she’ll have your 100,000-word work of art back to you in a
week, that’s just not gonna happen. Have realistic expectations.




Contract – Sign
one. If the proofreader doesn’t use contracts, again, run away. Be sure you can
accept the contract payment terms, turn-around time, cancellation terms,
additional cost for phone consultations, etc. If you can’t, ask that they be
amended.




NDA – Ask the
proofreader to sign an NDA – non-disclosure agreement. You don’t want your hard
work to end up in the proofreader’s e-book!







Can’t afford a
proofreader?




Writer’s group –
Join a critique group in your area. If you can’t find one, start one!




Exchange services
– With other professionals – I’ll read yours if you read mine. Or trade one
service for another. I used to proofread a monthly newsletter and got a free ad
every month. I’ve recently agreed to exchange editing a blog for help with
CreateSpace.




Join Linked In – There
are hundreds of groups for writers broken down by genre, e-book vs. print, and
everything in-between.




Online exchange –
Join an online exchange group or forum like Fictionaut, Dropbox, Backspace,
Goodreads, or Yahoo groups for writers.




Join Facebook groups
– On Facebook, there are pages and groups galore! 




Proofreading sites
and blogs – Search for sites and blogs that share proofreading and editing
tips.




Dictionary Plus –
It’s not enough to have a dictionary. You should have a couple other desk
references for grammar and punctuation like The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Straus, Diane
Hacker’s Rules for Writers , or Strunk and
White’s The Elements of Style .




Subscribe – Pick
one or two magazines like Writer's Digest or The
Writer . If you don’t want to fork over the subscription price, ask for
them at your local library.




Start saving –
Perhaps you could afford a
proofreader if you did a little belt-tightening. Do you really need a five-dollar
peppermint mocha every morning? 










Bio

Karen S. Elliott was raised by a mother who wanted
to be an English teacher and who worked for Merriam-Webster as a proofreader
and an aunt who could complete the Sunday New
York Times crossword in a day. Their favorite expression was, “Look it up!”
Karen is an editor and proofreader, blogger, and writer. Her work has been
featured in The Rose & Thorn Journal, Every
Child is Entitled to Innocence anthology, Valley Living Magazine, BewilderingStories.com, and WritingRaw.com. Connect
with Karen on her website, blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Fan Page, and Facebook.







  You can find Karen here:




Karen S. Elliott
www.TheWordShark.com
www.karenselliott.wordpress.com
www.twitter.com/KSElliott_Shark
www.linkedin.com/in/karenselliott
www.facebook.com/karenselliott
www.facebook.com/KarenSElliottTheWordShark

Me and My Hormones - Menopause With Training Wheels

A year ago I waved the white flag and began hormone replacement therapy, specifically a combination of estrogen patch and progesterone pill, after I was no longer able to handle severe daily hot flashes and insomnia.



The hormone replacement therapy worked wonders and within weeks I felt like myself again. What a relief! If you've never lived through hot flashes that rolled through several times a day and left your face red as a tomato and your body drenched in sweat, and your nerves standing on high alert... consider yourself lucky. Very. Lucky.



So...given the relief, why did I go off of the life saving hormones nine months later?



Two reasons: 1) The cost. The two prescriptions cost about $130 a month. That's the amount not covered by my high-deductible insurance. It's a lot of money to pay every month. 2) I'm the type of person who doesn't like to take medication of any variety. My idea of a pain killer is ibuprofen. And with all the conflicting messages about hormone replacement therapy, I didn't want to stay on it any longer than necessary.



I stopped using the hormones last September and immediately began taking an over the counter 'all natural' alternative containing black cohosh, an herbal remedy for hot flashes. This protocol has worked for many women. I tried it for three months, hoping it would work for me.



Unfortunately, it didn't.



After three months of increasingly uncomfortable hot flashes, I gave in yesterday and renewed my prescription of hormones. In some ways I felt like a failure, or that my body had failed me by not responding to a natural remedy.



Am I concerned about the risks of using hormone replacement therapy? Absolutely. And when I go in for my annual check up in March, I plan to discuss my dosage and how long I may need to continue on this prescription with my doctor. On the other hand, I am relieved to be going back to a therapy that allows me to simply feel normal again. I believe it speaks volumes about how devastating the symptoms of menopause are, that 'feeling normal' could feel like such a victory.



Why am I sharing this fascinating experience?



Because as much as I find it difficult to believe that I am actually turning 51 in two months, or going through menopause, I believe it's important to share this often frustrating experience with other women so that I can learn from their experiences of this important part of our aging process.



So, what say you? What has been your experience with menopause? Have natural remedies worked for you, or are you using hormone replacement therapy?



I welcome hearing about your experiences....