Patrick Rutigliano's Blog, page 18

Bestiary Chapter Eight

Is now up in the Free Fiction section! And the show is finally ready to begin…

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/free-fiction/bestiary/chapter-8/

New Article Up (Ignoring Inspiration)

Be it learning an instrument, studying martial arts, or writing, practice makes perfect.

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/articles/ignoring-inspiration/

Bestiary Chapter Seven

Is now up in the Free Fiction section!

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/free-fiction/bestiary/chapter-7/

And since this is another short chapter, I’m giving you guys a little bonus. Here’s a link to a very helpful video from Erika Moen (of Periscope Studios) regarding self-promotion. While the lecture has an emphasis on comics, a lot of the tips are very helpful to anyone with a table/booth at a convention.

More Writerly Advice

I’ve been busy with a major proofreading job over the last week. Since I didn’t have time to write a new article, I figured I’d share a few good ones from other people:

http://jmgregoirebooks.com/2014/01/03/open-letter-to-indie-authors/

http://www.freelancewriting.com/articles/FF-the-option-clause-in-a-book-contract.php

Both of the above make excellent points (the first on online conduct and the second on a particularly nasty contract issue–which I’ve come into contact with before). I hope you find them useful.

I’ll do my best to have a fresh article up for you all next week.

Bestiary Chapter Six

Is now up in the Free Fiction section! We’re about to get in the thick of things, folks…

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/free-fiction/bestiary/chapter-6/

New Article Up (Eliminating Omniscience)

And I won’t lie, I had trouble with this issue until the last year or so.

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/articles/eliminating-omniscience/

Bestiary Chapter Five

Is now up in the Free Fiction section!

In other news, I’ve finally finished polishing up my old novel to meet my current standards and subbed it out. Hopefully, it’ll bring me some good luck in the new year.

Bonus Update/Writing Tip

I felt rather bad I didn’t get that bonus post done for you guys last week, so I figured I’d drop one now.

You see, the reason I didn’t get the chance to write anything is that I’ve been busy working my tail off prepping a novel for submission. A novel I wrote a couple years ago, actually. I’ve self-edited this book at least half a dozen times and it’s been through three rounds with a professional editor, but there are certain things I know now that I didn’t know six months ago, let alone two or three years ago.

One of the most annoying habits I had back then was the overuse of the word “as.” Every writer has at least one or two of these go-to words cluttering up his older work, so I’m going to show you all an extremely convenient way to spot and eliminate these pests.

You’ve probably searched with the Find function in Word before, excising that go-to word each time the program directs you to it. However, there’s a better way.

Instead of using Find, use Replace. There, type your go-to word in the top text box and again in the bottom text box. After that, just click where it says, “Format” at the bottom of the window and select the highlight option. Make sure you check the “Find whole words only” option as well if you’re searching for a short word like “as” to make sure it’s not highlighted inside larger words (i.e. “fast”).

Done. Just like that. And what do you get out of it?

Not only is every use of your go-to word highlighted in your manuscript so you have a far easier time seeing how often it appears in your pages (since there’s no giant window obscuring about a third of your screen), but Replace tells you the number of times you used that particular word. And when you’re done with your work, all you’ve got to do is open Replace back up and swap the highlight option to the top text box. Done and dusted.

Fresh Article Up!

To all my introverted writer brethren, this one’s for you:

http://patrickrutigliano.wordpress.com/articles/writing-introversion-and-public-image/

Bestiary Chapter Four

Is now up in the Free Fiction section!

I do realize this chapter is on the short side, so I may try to make an impromptu post for you all a little later in the week if time allows. Meanwhile, enjoy your Christmas, gentle readers.