Karen GoatKeeper's Blog, page 24
February 8, 2017
Being Picky
My book deadline looms. Pressure mounts. Should I cut a corner or two?
Definitely not.
There is nothing more annoying to a reader than a book where corners have been cut. The timing is off. The grammar is off. The spelling makes you cringe. Facts are wrong.
Don't think this is only found in independently published books.
I was browsing my way through a lavish botany picture book. An easy plant was misidentified. A family name was incorrect.
Indie books may have these problems more commonly simply because the author, like me now, is pushing too hard to get done and cuts corners.
The advice is to hire an editor for grammar and spelling. The editor may not know English or it seems that way. If your English skills aren't the best, what do you do?
The easy solution begins with spellcheck and grammar check. These are not perfect but are a place to start. Double check in a dictionary.
Next find an editor. Then find a friend with a good grasp of English and have that friend read the book. Be sure this friend will tell you the flaws found.
This is fine for spelling and grammar. My main problems in Running the Roads is different. The ending follows five different groups of people interacting at various times and places before converging at one place at one time. The action takes place over five days.
I wrote out each set of actions separately and matched them up to the day and time. Timing problems were corrected. Additional actions were inserted.
Even so there was one I missed.
In a way I'm glad I'm working on two books. The easiest way for mistakes to slip by is to reread the same book over and over without a break. I'm alternating.
Will I find all the errors? If I don't, it won't be from cutting corners.
This does have an additional benefit. My speed reading is getting a work out.
Definitely not.
There is nothing more annoying to a reader than a book where corners have been cut. The timing is off. The grammar is off. The spelling makes you cringe. Facts are wrong.
Don't think this is only found in independently published books.
I was browsing my way through a lavish botany picture book. An easy plant was misidentified. A family name was incorrect.
Indie books may have these problems more commonly simply because the author, like me now, is pushing too hard to get done and cuts corners.
The advice is to hire an editor for grammar and spelling. The editor may not know English or it seems that way. If your English skills aren't the best, what do you do?
The easy solution begins with spellcheck and grammar check. These are not perfect but are a place to start. Double check in a dictionary.
Next find an editor. Then find a friend with a good grasp of English and have that friend read the book. Be sure this friend will tell you the flaws found.
This is fine for spelling and grammar. My main problems in Running the Roads is different. The ending follows five different groups of people interacting at various times and places before converging at one place at one time. The action takes place over five days.
I wrote out each set of actions separately and matched them up to the day and time. Timing problems were corrected. Additional actions were inserted.
Even so there was one I missed.
In a way I'm glad I'm working on two books. The easiest way for mistakes to slip by is to reread the same book over and over without a break. I'm alternating.
Will I find all the errors? If I don't, it won't be from cutting corners.
This does have an additional benefit. My speed reading is getting a work out.
February 1, 2017
Describing Feelings
People have feelings. Trite but true. Those feelings can make a character come to life if the reader can feel them too.
As I went over my books for next month release, I found myself trying to make the character's feelings real and floundering for a time.
In Edwina Aleta is conflicted. She is 12, angry but trying to be the little adult her father expects her to be. Saying "Aleta is angry" conveys nothing of the depth of her fury and none of her conflict. Instead she grits her teeth reminding herself adults aren't supposed to pound someone else into a pulp. She walks across the field so no one will think she is upset then bashes her way through the overgrown weeds to fling herself on the ground pounding a broken figurine into the dirt.
In Running the Roads Ridge has found his car there on the car lot. He finds himself looking at the flattened oval of a hungry grill and narrowed cat's eyes of headlights. He is drawn to it, running his hands over the hood. Showing it to his mother who must approve of it, he finds himself touching it again.
The feelings of the characters show in their actions. But there is one more step to this.
The actions are false, the feelings are false, the words will read false to the reader, if the writer does not become the character in the scene and feel what the character feels and knows the actions are true to the feelings.
There is a problem with doing this. Leaving writing behind for the day is like leaving a piece of yourself with it.
As I went over my books for next month release, I found myself trying to make the character's feelings real and floundering for a time.
In Edwina Aleta is conflicted. She is 12, angry but trying to be the little adult her father expects her to be. Saying "Aleta is angry" conveys nothing of the depth of her fury and none of her conflict. Instead she grits her teeth reminding herself adults aren't supposed to pound someone else into a pulp. She walks across the field so no one will think she is upset then bashes her way through the overgrown weeds to fling herself on the ground pounding a broken figurine into the dirt.
In Running the Roads Ridge has found his car there on the car lot. He finds himself looking at the flattened oval of a hungry grill and narrowed cat's eyes of headlights. He is drawn to it, running his hands over the hood. Showing it to his mother who must approve of it, he finds himself touching it again.
The feelings of the characters show in their actions. But there is one more step to this.
The actions are false, the feelings are false, the words will read false to the reader, if the writer does not become the character in the scene and feel what the character feels and knows the actions are true to the feelings.
There is a problem with doing this. Leaving writing behind for the day is like leaving a piece of yourself with it.
January 25, 2017
Marketing Dilemma
I love to write. The piece can be flash fiction, a blog post, a nonfiction book or a novel. It doesn't matter as long as I can write.
Writing is fine. Having a pile of novels in the drawer or on the computer is fine. But sharing them is better.
And so the marketing dilemma begins.
As Edwina and Running the Roads get close to publication, I wonder if anyone will read them. More importantly, will anyone know they are there? After all, readers must know a book exists in order to read it.
So, I am announcing that I have two books being published in March.
Edwina is the tale of Aleta who's parents have divorced. Her room has been invaded. She is feeling lost, rejected, worthless. Then she meets Edwina, her new best friend. The problem is that Aleta is the only one who can see or hear Edwina. But Edwina is very real and that fact may save their lives.
Running the Roads introduces Ridge, now 16, road rally crazy and owner of his first car. And what a car! It's a gray Ford Fiesta with flames on it. It's a dream come true. It's a ticket to freedom for Lisa but only if Ridge can truly drive like a rally driver.
My two new books are announced. The marketing dilemma remains. I need to tell more people about my books.
Next comes my website. Perhaps a newspaper release. Perhaps a couple of giveaways. Ideas. Ideas. Ideas are needed.
Writing is fine. Having a pile of novels in the drawer or on the computer is fine. But sharing them is better.
And so the marketing dilemma begins.
As Edwina and Running the Roads get close to publication, I wonder if anyone will read them. More importantly, will anyone know they are there? After all, readers must know a book exists in order to read it.
So, I am announcing that I have two books being published in March.
Edwina is the tale of Aleta who's parents have divorced. Her room has been invaded. She is feeling lost, rejected, worthless. Then she meets Edwina, her new best friend. The problem is that Aleta is the only one who can see or hear Edwina. But Edwina is very real and that fact may save their lives.
Running the Roads introduces Ridge, now 16, road rally crazy and owner of his first car. And what a car! It's a gray Ford Fiesta with flames on it. It's a dream come true. It's a ticket to freedom for Lisa but only if Ridge can truly drive like a rally driver.
My two new books are announced. The marketing dilemma remains. I need to tell more people about my books.
Next comes my website. Perhaps a newspaper release. Perhaps a couple of giveaways. Ideas. Ideas. Ideas are needed.
January 18, 2017
What Makes a Writer?
A writer writes. Published or not, a writer writes because that is what they do.
Stephen King in On Writing agrees with that. He adds that a writer reads a lot and a wide range of books.
I've met writers who will not read a book in their genre. They are afraid they will steal ideas from those books.
That is part of the process of becoming a writer. You mimic authors you admire, their style, their voice. It is a way of finding your own voice. You simply don't publish these but use them as a way of learning to write.
And stealing ideas? All writers do that to some extent. There are certain plot patterns and classic story lines that appear and reappear in literature.
Using a story line does not mean writing the same book. Long ago I remember a line from a television program saying that if five people look at a dragonfly, each will see a different one. Every writer brings their own point of view, experiences and ideas to that story line. It morphs into something new with roots in the old.
Think about Romeo and Juliet. That story was old before Shakespeare. And it has been redone since. West Side Story is one.
Reading and writing are two requirements of King's I can meet. Another I can't and I envy him in this.
The Ideal Reader. That person the writer writes for. That person who reads a draft and gives reliable feedback so the writer can improve the draft. That person who roots for the writer's success.
I'm still looking for an Ideal Reader.
However, the book On Writing is a great read for anyone who wants to be or thinks they may be a writer.
Stephen King in On Writing agrees with that. He adds that a writer reads a lot and a wide range of books.
I've met writers who will not read a book in their genre. They are afraid they will steal ideas from those books.
That is part of the process of becoming a writer. You mimic authors you admire, their style, their voice. It is a way of finding your own voice. You simply don't publish these but use them as a way of learning to write.
And stealing ideas? All writers do that to some extent. There are certain plot patterns and classic story lines that appear and reappear in literature.
Using a story line does not mean writing the same book. Long ago I remember a line from a television program saying that if five people look at a dragonfly, each will see a different one. Every writer brings their own point of view, experiences and ideas to that story line. It morphs into something new with roots in the old.
Think about Romeo and Juliet. That story was old before Shakespeare. And it has been redone since. West Side Story is one.
Reading and writing are two requirements of King's I can meet. Another I can't and I envy him in this.
The Ideal Reader. That person the writer writes for. That person who reads a draft and gives reliable feedback so the writer can improve the draft. That person who roots for the writer's success.
I'm still looking for an Ideal Reader.
However, the book On Writing is a great read for anyone who wants to be or thinks they may be a writer.
January 11, 2017
Challenges
My piles of books are so discouraging. I am a fairly fast reader but don't know how I will ever get through all of them.
And I am addicted to a local used book sale.
My personal challenge this year is to move 40 books off my piles onto someone else's pile.
That doesn't mean read 40 books from my piles. If I read a book and put it back on my shelf as I intend to do with Grow Your Own Chinese Vegetables, it will not count toward the 40.
Now, I think I can manage to keep to my challenge on my own. However, having someone else reminding me will help when the going gets tough. You know about those days when you could throw up your hands in despair and quit. Everyone gets those from time to time.
The first part of accountability is my reading challenge of 65 books. Yes, this is over the 40 books but it gives room for library books and books set back on the shelf.
The second part is something new. It's part of a group I'm in and called the Popsugar challenge. It is a list of book descriptions such as food, spy thriller and red spine. The entire challenge is 50 books long. I'm raiding my piles and will enjoy checking them off as the year progresses.
Like last year I will hold to my book sale challenge. Yes, I can go. I will not make myself totally miserable over this most enjoyable outing. However, only 10 reading books can come home with me.
That is a gain of 30 for the year. And the challenge is the minimum. Maybe I will learn to read faster.
I do agree with Stephen King in On Writing about reading. If you don't read, you aren't much of a writer.
Oh, Edwina and Running the Roads both seem to be on target for March release.
And I am addicted to a local used book sale.
My personal challenge this year is to move 40 books off my piles onto someone else's pile.
That doesn't mean read 40 books from my piles. If I read a book and put it back on my shelf as I intend to do with Grow Your Own Chinese Vegetables, it will not count toward the 40.
Now, I think I can manage to keep to my challenge on my own. However, having someone else reminding me will help when the going gets tough. You know about those days when you could throw up your hands in despair and quit. Everyone gets those from time to time.
The first part of accountability is my reading challenge of 65 books. Yes, this is over the 40 books but it gives room for library books and books set back on the shelf.
The second part is something new. It's part of a group I'm in and called the Popsugar challenge. It is a list of book descriptions such as food, spy thriller and red spine. The entire challenge is 50 books long. I'm raiding my piles and will enjoy checking them off as the year progresses.
Like last year I will hold to my book sale challenge. Yes, I can go. I will not make myself totally miserable over this most enjoyable outing. However, only 10 reading books can come home with me.
That is a gain of 30 for the year. And the challenge is the minimum. Maybe I will learn to read faster.
I do agree with Stephen King in On Writing about reading. If you don't read, you aren't much of a writer.
Oh, Edwina and Running the Roads both seem to be on target for March release.
January 4, 2017
Confidence the Dragon
I picked up a young adult novel at a used book sale. It lived in a pile for a time then finally surfaced.
Face the Dragon was about six young people moved up a grade and into an accelerated program at school. Each is smart enough. Each has problems
This brings us to dragons. Beowulf is a favorite English literature assignment. It is an interesting piece of very early English literature mixing pagan and early Christian beliefs.
But this is ancient history, isn't it?
The main character in the novel, Eric, has a different way of looking at this ancient story. Beowulf faces a dragon knowing he must prevail or die. Eric points out we all face such dragons in our own lives.
Our dragons are different yet just as real. The treasure may not be gold and jewels but could be even more precious.
As Beowulf, his friends and kinsmen did, we have a choice of facing our dragons or running away. Most of his friends and kinsmen ran. He stayed and fought. He prevailed thanks to his kinsman Wiglaf who faced his own fear to stand and fight.
My dragon is having confidence in myself. I face it every day. There are days I would gladly run away. But I want that treasure of seeing my books in print.
What is your dragon? May you face it bravely and win that treasure this year. May you have a friend brave enough to help when you need help the most.
Happy New Year.
Face the Dragon was about six young people moved up a grade and into an accelerated program at school. Each is smart enough. Each has problems
This brings us to dragons. Beowulf is a favorite English literature assignment. It is an interesting piece of very early English literature mixing pagan and early Christian beliefs.
But this is ancient history, isn't it?
The main character in the novel, Eric, has a different way of looking at this ancient story. Beowulf faces a dragon knowing he must prevail or die. Eric points out we all face such dragons in our own lives.
Our dragons are different yet just as real. The treasure may not be gold and jewels but could be even more precious.
As Beowulf, his friends and kinsmen did, we have a choice of facing our dragons or running away. Most of his friends and kinsmen ran. He stayed and fought. He prevailed thanks to his kinsman Wiglaf who faced his own fear to stand and fight.
My dragon is having confidence in myself. I face it every day. There are days I would gladly run away. But I want that treasure of seeing my books in print.
What is your dragon? May you face it bravely and win that treasure this year. May you have a friend brave enough to help when you need help the most.
Happy New Year.
December 28, 2016
Ending the Year
The past year had good points and bad ones as do most years. Publishing only one book, Capri Capers, was most disappointing.
But a New Year is coming.
Already I've found a new reading challenge and am busy piling up books for it. Maybe next year I will finally make a dent in my book piles.
This is the last week to review picture books until I complete next year's reading challenge. I saved my very favorite picture and chapter books for this week. My librarian recommended another that is now on that list.
If you enjoy tales about legends, perhaps you could look for The Dream Eater, Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like or Where the Buffaloes Begin. Snakes become good characters in Verdi. His antics always make me laugh. Another fun humorous book is Six Dinner Sid.
The new one on my favorite list is Cinders A Chicken Cinderella. The illustrations are superb. How many chicken breeds can you identify?
The last week in the year was once a week long holiday celebration, a way to let go of the past year and start the new one. We may not get the holiday anymore, but the letting go and new beginning are still a good use of this week.
Happy New Year to everyone.
But a New Year is coming.
Already I've found a new reading challenge and am busy piling up books for it. Maybe next year I will finally make a dent in my book piles.
This is the last week to review picture books until I complete next year's reading challenge. I saved my very favorite picture and chapter books for this week. My librarian recommended another that is now on that list.
If you enjoy tales about legends, perhaps you could look for The Dream Eater, Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like or Where the Buffaloes Begin. Snakes become good characters in Verdi. His antics always make me laugh. Another fun humorous book is Six Dinner Sid.
The new one on my favorite list is Cinders A Chicken Cinderella. The illustrations are superb. How many chicken breeds can you identify?
The last week in the year was once a week long holiday celebration, a way to let go of the past year and start the new one. We may not get the holiday anymore, but the letting go and new beginning are still a good use of this week.
Happy New Year to everyone.
December 21, 2016
Discomfort Zone
My writers group likes doing anthologies. We have finished two so far and are starting a third.
I like doing the 3000 word maximum entries. I find them challenging as they are usually much different than how I normally write.
This year is no exception for being different. Maybe it is too different.
This year the theme is strange happenings. I heard mumbles of historical events, scary stories, fairies.
I signed up. I thought about the topic. This is not in my comfort zone. This is not even close to my comfort zone.
Horror movies were fun when I was young. Not now. Ghost stories and the like are rarely on my reading list.
My mind is blank. Brainstorming produces nothing. I am too practical anymore.
However, life itself is scary at times. Like my stove trying to blow up. Like driving on ice, well, attempting to.
Now, how do I turn an essay of scary life events into a good anthology piece?
Good question. I have a week to find an answer.
I like doing the 3000 word maximum entries. I find them challenging as they are usually much different than how I normally write.
This year is no exception for being different. Maybe it is too different.
This year the theme is strange happenings. I heard mumbles of historical events, scary stories, fairies.
I signed up. I thought about the topic. This is not in my comfort zone. This is not even close to my comfort zone.
Horror movies were fun when I was young. Not now. Ghost stories and the like are rarely on my reading list.
My mind is blank. Brainstorming produces nothing. I am too practical anymore.
However, life itself is scary at times. Like my stove trying to blow up. Like driving on ice, well, attempting to.
Now, how do I turn an essay of scary life events into a good anthology piece?
Good question. I have a week to find an answer.
December 14, 2016
Creating Plant Pages
Winter has arrived. I'm not a lover of cold weather. There is no snow, only cold. The plants are dead dry stalks or cold green leaves hunkered down waiting for spring.
That makes it time to go through the pictures I took last season. It's time to start assembling plant pages which may eventually end up as a plant identification book.
Notice that word eventually? Notice the erosion of confidence about my botany project?
I have met the plant identification keys. I have met the lists of plants. I am discouraged but am not willing to quit - yet.
The pages themselves aren't so bad. I may actually have a standard format for them now.
Page one has the scientific name, blooming time, native or introduced letter and scientific family. Pictures and descriptions of flowers, leaves, stems, sometimes roots (if interesting) and fruit. Habitat, edibility or poisonous round out the page.
Page two has the common name(s), a picture of the plant and a short essay about the plant.
The difficulty lies with identifying the plants. The first inkling was the wild petunias. I thought there were two. There are three. Now I've found the two mountain mints are not two but a half dozen.
This means tackling the plant keys only a botanist could love. It would help if the plants were still growing, maybe. It would help if I read botanese.
Will I quit? Not this year. When will the project get done? That timeline just got a lot longer.
By the way, I am putting a version of some of the pages up on my website and asking for feedback on them.
That makes it time to go through the pictures I took last season. It's time to start assembling plant pages which may eventually end up as a plant identification book.
Notice that word eventually? Notice the erosion of confidence about my botany project?
I have met the plant identification keys. I have met the lists of plants. I am discouraged but am not willing to quit - yet.
The pages themselves aren't so bad. I may actually have a standard format for them now.
Page one has the scientific name, blooming time, native or introduced letter and scientific family. Pictures and descriptions of flowers, leaves, stems, sometimes roots (if interesting) and fruit. Habitat, edibility or poisonous round out the page.
Page two has the common name(s), a picture of the plant and a short essay about the plant.
The difficulty lies with identifying the plants. The first inkling was the wild petunias. I thought there were two. There are three. Now I've found the two mountain mints are not two but a half dozen.
This means tackling the plant keys only a botanist could love. It would help if the plants were still growing, maybe. It would help if I read botanese.
Will I quit? Not this year. When will the project get done? That timeline just got a lot longer.
By the way, I am putting a version of some of the pages up on my website and asking for feedback on them.
December 7, 2016
Rewrite Challenges
NaNo is over. My novel is almost over. Rewrite lies ahead.
I took a peek at the NaNo forums about rewriting novels. So many people are frightened of them. I suppose they are scary, especially the first time.
My novel still doesn't have a real title. I refer to it as Edwina. Titles are important but the novel is more important. And the novel needs work.
Starting the rewrite is so tempting. However, first I need to finish the rough draft. I think I know what to write now once I get to sit down and work on it the next time. Then I will start the rewrite.
Everyone says to let the novel sit before starting the rewrite. Sometimes I do. This novel I will not wait for but will push on to do a first draft.
The place to start for me is to pinpoint major problems. One is my main character. I didn't plan ahead very well and didn't know her well when I started to write. I do know her now. That will change the tone and situations in the beginning of the novel.
Secondly I will tackle Edwina. She is fun or should be fun. I want her role to expand a little and insert more of that fun into a novel that has gotten much too serious.
Third are the supporting characters. They are stereotypes and two dimensional. I know who one of them is but let her slip away almost into nothingness as the novel progressed. She does some important things in the plot and needs to be more than a ghost of a character.
The bad guys weren't planned to begin with. I have no idea who they are yet. They didn't even have names for a chapter or two.
Which brings me to names. There are so many for teachers and others in the novel. The cast isn't huge but each member needs a name.
Once the first draft is done, then it can sit a time. Then I will know more of what the novel is so I can ponder how to take it from there to where I want it to go.
I took a peek at the NaNo forums about rewriting novels. So many people are frightened of them. I suppose they are scary, especially the first time.
My novel still doesn't have a real title. I refer to it as Edwina. Titles are important but the novel is more important. And the novel needs work.
Starting the rewrite is so tempting. However, first I need to finish the rough draft. I think I know what to write now once I get to sit down and work on it the next time. Then I will start the rewrite.
Everyone says to let the novel sit before starting the rewrite. Sometimes I do. This novel I will not wait for but will push on to do a first draft.
The place to start for me is to pinpoint major problems. One is my main character. I didn't plan ahead very well and didn't know her well when I started to write. I do know her now. That will change the tone and situations in the beginning of the novel.
Secondly I will tackle Edwina. She is fun or should be fun. I want her role to expand a little and insert more of that fun into a novel that has gotten much too serious.
Third are the supporting characters. They are stereotypes and two dimensional. I know who one of them is but let her slip away almost into nothingness as the novel progressed. She does some important things in the plot and needs to be more than a ghost of a character.
The bad guys weren't planned to begin with. I have no idea who they are yet. They didn't even have names for a chapter or two.
Which brings me to names. There are so many for teachers and others in the novel. The cast isn't huge but each member needs a name.
Once the first draft is done, then it can sit a time. Then I will know more of what the novel is so I can ponder how to take it from there to where I want it to go.
