Virginia S. Anderson's Blog, page 33
April 18, 2016
Motivate Yourself by Submitting to a Writing Contest
Here’s a new list of contests you might find helpful, from the writers at Live to Write—Write to Live. Check it out!
Today’s post is as much for me as it is for you. You see, I’ve been quite lethargic about writing fiction lately, as my business has been so pleasantly busy that I don’t have time to write for fun.
I put don’t have time in italics, since, we all know that we make time for what is important to us. I do have time. I have the same amount of time as everyone else and if I truly want to write fiction, I will find a way.
Today’s post is my self-motivation for finding that way.
Submitting to contests is a great way to be inspired to write, to actually write, and to actually submit. I’ve done it. I know it’s always fun and challenging and a unique way to get the must to come out and play.
My all-time-favorite contests are the quarterly 24-hour contests by WritersWeekly.com
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April 16, 2016
“That” or “Which”? What Would You Choose?
A New Yorker editor writing in the Times Literary Supplement debates a grammar textbook writer! Loads of fun. I personally think the “which” in the sentence under scrutiny should be “that.” It clearly refers to the “sourness” and “relentlessness,” and yes, these are appositives, and yes, the point following “which” is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Do you agree?
Aren’t words a hoot?
Top Ten Things a Writer Doesn’t Want to See in a Review
Pretty funny from Lindsay Schopfer
! I am glad to report that on my Book Reviews for Horse Lovers page, I have not yet been guilty of any of these!
April 13, 2016
7 really useful ‘How To’ articles – Getting the word out on WordPress
A wow from Sue Vincent! If you’re a WordPress blogger (or reader), these tips will make the process more efficient and enjoyable.
A few weeks ago I had a bit of a blip in the stats. Both visitors and views went up to several times the usual numbers. I was curious, especially as there hadn’t been anything of exceptional note published that day. The normal haiku, a couple of reblogs, and a couple of posts that were relatively lightweight. Nothing that might have been able to explain the hike in the figures.
There were no more ‘likes’ per post than usual… it seemed odd and, though not at all ungrateful for the extra traffic, the blue spike in the graph sort of bugged me. It reminded of that universally recognised digital taunt… the middle finger.
Was it telling me that I should stick to lightweight stuff if I wanted these kind of figures? That fluff is preferred over substance? I know that simple posts, easy on eye and mind get more of…
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April 12, 2016
Demystifying Amazon Giveaways
Let me know your experiences with Amazon giveaways. Are they worth the effort? Do you agree with this terrifically detailed and helpful post?
The real one bounces
Amazon got into the “giveaway” business about a year ago, and they have been tweaking and tuning and changing them ever since. As a result, any research you do on whether they are a good promotional tool is going to turn up a lot of outdated information. If it isn’t Spring 2016 as you read this, then consider this post outdated too. Go look for a better source.
One of the recent changes was allowing you to give away Kindle books. That seemed like an interesting new approach to raising awareness. If you follow this blog, you know awareness is the only problem you have as an author promoting your books. But there are so many questions! So for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sciencing the fuck out of these giveaways, to try to get some answers.
How an Amazon Giveaway Works
You start…
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April 11, 2016
Em Dash Love!
I’ve been reading an ebook in which I’ve encountered a small formatting problem that interrupts my immersion in the story. Whoever set this book up for Kindle asks hyphens to do the work of dashes.
Why Not Use Hyphens?
This practice creates problems in two ways:
First, it’s easy to miss the tiny hyphen when it marks a move from one clause or phrase to another:
He really hated the food at that organic restaurant down on the corner of Main and First-all green slimy stuff full of grit.
Compare:
He really hated the food at that organic restaurant down on the corner of Main and First Street—all green slimy stuff full of grit.
Second, my brain sometimes wants to read two hyphenated words as a compound noun or adjective rather than as a border between clauses.
She took the slow train out-bound to make her late!
Compare:
She took the slow train out—bound to make her late!
In such cases, I’m thrown off course and have to break my concentration to go back and find where I took the wrong turn.
Using dashes properly can prevent these wobbles.
What Do Dashes Do?
Above all, they “set off” sentence elements, much like colons and commas: pointing to new, related information or isolating an “interrupting” element, but more visibly and with more emphasis.
Compare:
They do much the same work that colons and commas do—pointing to new, related information or isolating an “interrupting” element—but more visibly and with more emphasis.
They also indicate an abrupt breaking off, usually in dialogue, but also possible in narrative if the author chooses a conversational voice.
Here’s an example from my book King of the Roses:
“The race will go on as scheduled,” he said. “Order the riders to the paddock.”
“But—”
“But—”
“We can’t—”
“This racetrack will not be governed by the indefensible behavior of one man.”
Doing Dashes Right
In my writers’ group, how to create dashes comes up fairly regularly. To my surprise, many in the group don’t know how to create the standard “em dash.” Some folks new to formatting do fall back on the single hyphen (recently I saw a single hyphen with a space after it). The most common option, however, is two hyphens, sometimes with spaces before and after, sometimes without spaces. (Eeek! I note that the CSS for this theme corrects the two hyphens to a dash, so I can’t fully make my case here that an em dash is preferable. I foxed WP by adding a space between the hyphens, which almost works):
His favorite meal – – a big sticky burger oozing grease – – couldn’t be had at Greens and Grit.
I don’t have huge issues with this choice. To me, though, the standard em dash is more assertive. Compare
“But – – ”
“But—”
And an em dash is so easy to create!
Creating em dashes
Asked how to generate an em dash at a writing group meeting, I shared what I assumed was universal practice: Shift-Option-Hyphen. Nope, I learned. That’s Mac practice. For PC users, that didn’t work. So I had to figure out how to do it on a PC.
Answer for PC: Insert/Symbol
The first time you do this, you should select the subset “General Punctuation” and scroll until you find the likely culprits. Clicking once on an icon in the table of choices will tell you whether you’ve actually located a true “em dash” as opposed to a horizontal line or something called an “en dash,” which Wikipedia says can be used as a valid dash if it is set off by spaces, but which is also used for “spans” as in this example from Wikipedia:
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was fought in western Pennsylvania and along the present US–Canadian border (Edwards, pp. 81–101).
Once you’ve located a true em dash and inserted it into your text, you can copy it and use it wherever needed using CRTL or COMMAND + V.
This site gives Autoformat options for creating em and en dashes on a PC, if you have that process set up. A simpler option, in my view, for always having the dash you want at hand on a PC is to paste one into a Word file, name the file “Dash,” and open it as needed. In your document, type whatever you like as a placeholder, as long as you’re consistent: two hyphens, two xx’s, two smiley faces (do avoid combinations that could conceivably occur elsewhere in the text, such as “bb”)—then use Find/Replace. Type your placeholder into the “Find” box, paste your dash of choice into the Replace box, then click “Replace All.”
Done.
Of course, proofread to make sure you didn’t convert something you didn’t intend to!
And now I must go dashing off—! (Sorry! ) Tra-la!
April 7, 2016
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT?
Follow up to the post below about book theft! Chris the Story Reading Ape supplies links and specific advice, as well as a DMCA form letter and a way to find the offending server. Keep this page!
VERY IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT SEND THE OFFENDING SITE A DIRECT NOTICE. They may be a click farm looking for you email and you will be infected with a virus. If they are on Facebook – Use Facebook’…
Source: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT?
36 KILLER WRITING TIPS FROM STEPHEN KING
These points from Stephen King about writing resonated wonderfully with me. Thanks to Charles French for finding and sharing this!
Reblogged on WordPress.com
Source: 36 KILLER WRITING TIPS FROM STEPHEN KING
April 6, 2016
A Reassuring Post at The Book Designer on Piracy
David Kudler, at Joel Friedlander’s site, reassures us that book piracy may exist but it’s manageable—and who knows, maybe even a good thing once in a while. Have you been through this? How did you deal with it? Let us know!
April 5, 2016
“Common Sense Marketing” from WITS
Here’s an encouraging message about book marketing from Writers in the Storm (couldn’t find a reblog button). Do you have ideas for “being yourself and having fun” as the best marketing strategy? How do you encourage reviews of your books?
