P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 282
October 3, 2015
Break This One Habit & Find More Writing Time
Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft
I noticed a bad habit the other day and realized it is rather costly to my productivity. No, it’s not just wasting time on the internet or any other act of procrastination. Rather, it is a bad habit involving poor perspective. But I think breaking this one bad habit could mean much to productivity as a writing in a serious way.
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Want to guess what this bad habit is? It’s the simple comment to myself, “I don’t have enough time.” I noticed that between five and seven times a day I may have upwards of fifteen minutes when something else is pending that I literally give up the time to write, believing there’s no actual time to accomplish something productive. You want to know what I did when I realized this? I ignored myself and wrote just over 100 measly new words of fiction. That’s not much since I know I can sit down and write several thousand words in a day.
But then the math hit me square in the head. Let’s say you actually write six months out of a year – the other half dedicated to editing and/or the business of writing. Those one hundred measly words five times a day add up quickly. If I need 40,000 words over thirty days of writing that adds up to 15,000 words out of those forty, or 37.5% of the total. String that out over six months and it’s 90,000 words.
Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list
Let’s put that in perspective. It’s a whole book. It’s 18 short stories at an average of 5,000 words. If you average 1,000 words per blog post it’s 90 of them. Since most of my posts average around 500 words that’s actually about 180 posts or almost 70% of what I would post on my blog in a year (and I have a lot of back-logged ideas). That’s a lot of productivity over time.
Now, I’m not advocating that you or I frantically squeeze writing into every available second. I’m just observing how often I think I don’t have time when I actually do. I mean what am I doing with those spare fifteen minutes several times a day? Surfing the internet aimlessly?
Instead of fumbling useful time away I think I’d like to use it to be more productive – even if I don’t approach that full total part of it means I’m much further along with a number of projects. And what about actual spare time? I think I may find that I have more time for walks, reading, conversations, etc by being productive when it’s time to be productive.
I’m chipping away at this bad habit starting today (and it started by writing this post). How about you? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
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Privacy Policy
This blog does not share personal information – including email addresses – with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies (which is a WordPress.com function and not mine).
You can turn off the use of cookies at any time by changing your specific browser settings.
I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.
This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on July 2nd, 2015. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: ph at phsolomon.com (replace the “at” with @, it’s written that way to avoid spammers).
Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Pinterest, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing
Why You Should Begin Using Scrivener Today & How
Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.
I’ve seen several comments from other writers indicating they got Scrivener but just didn’t have time to learn it. I understand the feeling. When I first started with Scrivener there was so much to learn and I needed to do other work that I didn’t have time to work with it. It wasn’t until I read several posts in which other authors described how they used Scrivener that I began to understand.
Why the confusion and reluctance in engaging with Scrivener? It is fundamentally different from just using a text editor. It is a robust development software for the whole project. We’re used to just sitting down and typing in Word all the things that we are developing, creating any number of files and trying to track all the details somehow. But once you develop a project in Scrivener or convert an existing project into it you begin to understand just what you can do and how it benefits you. The important point is to take the time to learn it somehow and there are great how-to videos as well as lots of reading material that help with Scrivener.
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But why start using it today? There’s no time like the present to make the transition. If you have a writing project that needs starting why not make that the point where you begin learning. Why else should you begin in the middle of a busy schedule? You will learn through usage and then understand the power the design of this software brings to writers. Here’s 5 good reasons to make the change from Michael Hyatt.
It’s as easy as this: click File => New Project to show the New Project Window. Here’s a screenshot with Fiction selected:
Choose the category for your writing on the left and then what it will be on the right. Not picture here but below all this just type in the name of your project and then browse to the folder on your computer where you will store the project just like in Word.
What else should you learn? Begin by understanding the Editor and Binder as well as how to manage projects, project templates and document templates. Just knowing what you can do with these elements gets you much further along. Try to find authors who write what you do and find out how they use it. Once I found how other fantasy authors use it to develop and track details of a fantasy world it really helped me get started. Likewise, other bloggers who use Scrivener have developed templates for organizing your whole blogging year. It’s a bigger scope creative tool but it makes writing much simpler by allowing your to spend more time being creative.
Where’s your snag in beginning with Scrivener? What tips can you offer other people who are starting with Scrivener?
Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
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Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Just as a note: I now have a marketing affiliation with Scrivener. For support questions, pricing, licensing and other concerns please contact the vendor. As such a buy ad for Scrivener appears on the sidebar. I’ve started this program since I like the product so much and want to offer readers the chance to obtain this software. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. You can also find my FTC statement on this site’s sidebar.
Privacy Policy
This blog does not share personal information – including email addresses – with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies (which is a WordPress.com function and not mine).
You can turn off the use of cookies at any time by changing your specific browser settings.
I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.
This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on July 2nd, 2015. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: ph at phsolomon.com (replace the “at” with @, it’s written that way to avoid spammers).
Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Editing, Fantasy, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, Templates, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing
October 2, 2015
What Wattpad Can Do For You Now
I’m not usually an early adopter when new social media, software and other services hit the public. I like to sit back and see how well it works and let the kinks get worked out.
That being said, I recently joined Wattpad – finally – and found that it’s been very beneficial. I know, a writer not on a form of social media designed to share writing. But there are several reasons why you should be on Wattpad, including it’s partnership with Smashwords to feature existing authors.
Reasons I Joined Now
1. With the release of The Bow of Destiny I wanted to share related, pre-release short stories as well as what I’ll be working on in the future.
2. I wanted to interact more with other authors. Let’s face it, writing is a solitary process so the chance to give and receive input from other authors is important.
3. I wanted to expose my fiction to reader response to improve the final drafts before release.
Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft
Why You Should Join Now
For all the reasons above, plus one additional reason – join early in your writing career to build your following. By building your following you want to gain trust for your writing. The sooner you begin this process the more you establish your writing brand. Personally, I wish I had started much sooner than I have. My mistake was viewing this purely as a development platform rather than one which is social as well as constructive.
But this isn’t all. As you may have read from the link above, Smashwords teamed with Wattpad to feature works by 72 romance authors, covering 74 books – all of which have been on Smashwords. All of the books featured were free, giving the authors exposure to millions of readers in such a way that their brands gained more visibility as a result. I haven’t seen much on the results but you can bet that this will be done again using authors from romance, fantasy, science fiction and other genres.
Experience
So far, I’ve found Wattpad unresponsive with IE 11. However, it works well with Chrome though I haven’t tried it with Firefox yet. I like the format though the editor is rather difficult at times. I do like being able to save it as a draft and then go public as well as withdraw content as necessary.
Over all, I’m happy to be on Wattpad, sharing content and writing insights with other writers. I currently have What Is Needed out for pre-release and feedback until it’s out on Kindle, Smashwords, etc, for September. I’ll have another short story for August up on Wattpad within a week for pre-release before it’s posted on retail sites for free. Everyone’s welcome to read what’s out there and comment- I’m happy to receive feedback to improve the story before it’s released.
Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
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Privacy Policy
This blog does not share personal information – including email addresses – with third parties nor do I store any information about your visit to this blog other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies (which is a WordPress.com function and not mine).
You can turn off the use of cookies at any time by changing your specific browser settings.
I am not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission.
This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on July 2nd, 2015. If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: ph at phsolomon.com (replace the “at” with @, it’s written that way to avoid spammers).
Filed under: Amazon, Author Platform, Barnes & Noble, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, Indie Publishing, iTunes, Kobo, Mailing List, Pinterest, Planning, Pre-order, Self-publishing, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Smashwords, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Twitter, What is Needed, Writing Tagged: Amazon, Announcement, blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Fantasy Fiction, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Launch, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Pinterest, Self-publishing, Smashwords, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Twitter, Wattpad, What is Needed, writing
Duly Noted In Scrivener
Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.
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Just wandering back to the Inspector and its functions again this week. I’ve written previously about the Inspector in general as well as using keywords and snapshots which are handy features on the Inspector.
Just to review, the Inspector is turned on by using the View menu => Layout and clicking Inspector or CTRL + Shift + I on your keyboard (Italics is just CTRL + I).
Document Notes is the first feature on the left of the Inspector menu at the bottom of the bar. From there you can enter notes about the document in which you’re working. Simply type in the field and you have a note. If you want to remind yourself you’ve done something in the document here’s the place to do just that. But notes here are only for the document itself and not the whole project.
If you want to use Project Notes, that is, notes that are for the whole project you can toggle to those or turn them on from the Project menu. To toggle from the Inspector you must be in the Documents Notes feature and click on the up-down arrows to get this menu.
You can click onto Project Notes and make a note for the whole project.
You can display the same thing in a window by clicking on the Project menu and choosing Project Notes.
Looking at the previous screenshot you can also open this feature window by clicking on Manage Project Notes.
From the window you can type in new notes for the project as pictured below. When new notes are added (via the + button on the right of the tabs bar) they have individual tabs unlike document notes. Click on the X to remove a note-tab.
So that’s the quick primer on using notes in Scrivener Inspector. This feature lets you make notes with ease so you have a reminder of what you where going to do – or did (unlike the Scratchpad which allows you to insert text across open projects). They are stored in your document or project rather than keeping all it straight with actual sticky notes.
Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
Follow Blog via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Just as a note: I now have a marketing affiliation with Scrivener. For support questions, pricing, licensing and other concerns please contact the vendor. As such a buy ad for Scrivener appears on the sidebar. I’ve started this program since I like the product so much and want to offer readers the chance to obtain this software. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. You can also find my FTC statement on this site’s sidebar.
Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing
RRBC B2S Book & Blog Block Party Featuring the Release of The Bow of Destiny!
Introduction, Rules and Prizes
Welcome to the Rave Reviews Book Club’s BACK-TO-SCHOOL BOOK & BLOG BLOCK PARTY on P. H. Solomon’s Archer’s Aim. Location: Birmingham, AL, USA. The club has been making blog tour stops all month and today is my day which is also RELEASE DAY for The Bow of Destiny!
NOTICE! ALL PRIZES HAVE BEEN AWARDED BUT THE BOOK IS ON SALE THROUGH SUNDAY, 10/4. READ ON FOR THE RELEASE POST AND TRY THE SCAVENGER HUNT!
Since it’s release day, I’m hosting a giveaway where there will be 4 winners. Here’s a list of prizes for 4 lucky winners today:
1 Kindle Fire HD 6, 6″ HD Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB
3 additional winners will each receive one $25 Amazon Gift Card (either physical or e-card – your choice)
How do you enter to receive prizes? Easy! Just leave a comment ON THIS PAGE and you’re in! It’s that easy so relax and read on about the book join in some fun I’ve included for the day. Rave Reviews Book Club will gather all the commenter’s names and choose the winners from that pool (only shipping to the US).
Want to have more fun with your comment? Read on to join my scavenger hunt about The Bow of Destiny. Click through each page to gather answers to the questions and add them to your comment when returning to this page. Also, I’m answering tweets at #BowofDestiny and hosting a party my Facebook page. Additionally, I have the whole week scheduled with a variety of online appearances – see the schedule on my News page. Ready to begin? Let’s go!
Blurb:
Haunted by his past. Hunted in the present. Uncertain what is real.
Athson has seen things that aren’t there and suffered fits since being tragically orphaned as a child at the hands of trolls and Corgren the wizard. When a strange will mentioning a mysterious bow comes into his possession, he’s not sure it’s real. But the trolls that soon pursue him are all too real and dangerous. And what’s worse, these raiders serve Corgren and his master, the hidden dragon, Magdronu, who are responsible for the destruction of his childhood home. Athson is drawn into a quest for the concealed Bow of Hart by the mystic Withling, Hastra, but Athson isn’t always sure what’s real and who his enemies are. With Corgren and Magdronu involved, Athson must face not only frequent danger but his grasp on reality and the reasons behind his tragic past.
Book Trailer
Scavenger Hunt
Since this book is about a quest, I’d like to take readers along for a little one as well. Ready to find out more about the book? If you’re ready, here’s the first question: based on the blurb, who is the main character in The Bow of Destiny? Click the link to proceed to the next question and the last link will bring you back here where you can post your answers as part of your comment.to enter the giveaway. Remember, you don’t have to participate in the hunt to be eligible for a prize, just making a comment on THIS PAGE does that. However, if you are going on the scavenger hunt PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE COMMENTS ON THOSE PAGES – leave comments on this ONLY ON THIS PAGE WHEN FINISHED to be entered into the prize giveaway. First scavenger hunt stop.
Writing Background & Book Development
If you’re just back from the scavenger hunt, I hope you didn’t get winded. I’ll slow down a moment and let you catch your breath. The Bow of Destiny started some three decades ago with the title of the upcoming second book, An Arrow Against the Wind. I had completed the manuscript in the mid-90’s and shopped it around until a small press accepted it. But the contract was dubious so I backed away and from there life intervened for several years.
Along the way, I became dissatisfied with the style of the book and attempted several re-boots but these never went far. Finally, I recommitted to writing about five years ago, held my nose, split the original manuscript and re-wrote it. After a great many lessons in writing with multiple rounds of editing, I finally finished the book this past June.
As to editing, I don’t know that I would have gotten this far without the talented editor I found, Jessica Barnes. She formerly worked with Random House and I found her insights spot-on. She’s been an incredible resource for bringing this book to publication. I’ll share about how I worked with Jessica and learned from her in a later blog post.
Regarding the cover, I went searching for artists I could commission and found a good many talented people available. However, I came across a piece of artwork entitled, Robin of Loxley, which closely fit The Bow of Destiny in theme. I looked up the artist, Christopher Rawlins, and inquired about developing similar artwork for the book. Chris indicated he could do the work and off we went. I sent him some ideas and descriptions and from those he forged the basic image found on the cover in a single try. I was stunned with how brilliantly he captured the essence of what I needed. I’ll go into further details about the cover development in another blog appearance but hat’s off to Christopher on a superb job.
About the Author
P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing.
Contact
Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Pinterest | Google + | Wattpad | Amazon Author
Published & Upcoming Books
Book 1 of The Bow of Hart Saga: The Bow of Destiny is available at the following and other online retailers: Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords.
Book 2 of The Bow of Hart Saga: An Arrow against the Wind due out 4/18/2016. It can currently be found for reservation at these select online retailers: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks. Amazon pre-orders are still pending.
Book 3 of The Bow of Hart Saga: The White Arrow is due out Fall of 2016 (links pending).
Prequel short stories to The Bow of Hart Saga:
Trading Knives – Kobo, iBooks & Barnes & Noble, Smashwords & Amazon
What Is Needed – Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, Smashwords & Amazon
Other Titles
The Black Bag found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords & iBooks.
Works Planned
A parallel series to The Bow of Hart Saga is also in process as three novellas.
There will likely be a sequel trilogy for The Bow of Hart Saga and possibly at least a prequel book.
Guardians of the Gate epic fantasy is also a book/series in development.
The Black Glove adventure-fantasy series is also in development.
P. H. Solomon is also working on numerous other short fiction projects to be submitted to fantasy magazine markets in the future.
See www.phsolomon.com for announcements or follow on him Twitter, Facebook or other social media listed.
Thanks for stopping by an participating in the book release events today. If you have time, stop my Facebook page or leave a twitter comment with #BowofDestiny. I have more blog appearances all week and a Blog Talk Radio appearance on Friday so check out the schedule on my News page for more details. Don’t forget to leave your comments to be entered into the prize giveaway.
Filed under: Amazon, An Arrow Against the Wind, Barnes & Noble, Blog Tour, Blogging, Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fantasy Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, iTunes, Kobo, Mailing List, Marketing, Pinterest, Rave Review Book Club, Self-publishing, Smashwords, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Twitter, Writing, YouTube Tagged: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Blog Tour, Book Release, Book Trailer, Coverart, Epic Fantasy, Facebook, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fantasy Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, Kobo, Launch, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Pinterest, Rave Reviews Book Club, Smashwords, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Twitter, YouTube
P.H. Solomon and The Bow of Destiny on Tell Me a Story
PHS:
I’m being interviewed today on Tell Me a Story! Listen in and then: Join the Hunt for The Bow of Destiny!
Originally posted on Annette Rochelle Aben:
Friday, October 2nd, 1:30pm EDT ~ Take a young man, tragically orphaned at birth, present him with a strange document willing him a mysterious item and the tale that ensues becomes the book we are going to learn more about from author, P.H. Solomon. 
Today on Tell Me a Story, we welcome Birmingham. Alabama native, P.H.Solomon who recently released his first novel-length title,
The Bow of Destiny. Tune in to learn more about the adventures of Athson (main character in The Bow ofDestiny), what drives P.H. Solomon to write his speculative fiction, as well as what in the world speculative fiction is in the first place! Visit his web site at http://www.phsolomon.com/blog where you will find links to everything from his Amazon Author page to his many social media outlets. Tell Me a Story is a presentation of The Magic Happens Radio Network and…
View original 15 more words
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October 1, 2015
Scrivener: The Essential Writing Tool
Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page. Sorry for the hiatus in writing a new post for several weeks but my efforts have been directed elsewhere. I hope to share more posts on this topic in the future.
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I was pleased to release my book, The Bow of Destiny, earlier this week. As you can imagine, Scrivener was a big help in self-publishing this fantasy novel. There are so many ways I’ve used the software to get to this point that it’s hard to imagine doing it all without Scrivener. It’s been a long hike – like doing the Appalachian Trail – and Scrivener has been in my pack the whole way. Here are some ways that Scrivener has helped me self-publish over the last year:
1. Newsletters – I used my newsletter template to write each volume this year and email it to mailing list followers. Scrivener has been instrumental in this since I have a project for all my newsletters for this year. I can open the project, write my content and transfer it to mail out easily. If I didn’t use Scrivener, I would have been hunting for all my information in separate files.
Multi-Function Tool – photo licensed via iStockPhoto
2. Editing the Book – The Bow of Destiny was largely completed when I really started using Scrivener so I imported it and completed my editing and development in a novel template. The same is true of the next book, An Arrow Against the Wind. However, with this second book, I still needed to complete the rough draft and do some structural editing. Scrivener was perfect for these tasks after I imported the book since I could use collections to organize my structural editing – see my posts on the topic: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4. However, the third book, The White Arrow, will be entirely developed in Scrivener and I’ll start that process in November with occasional, related posts about how I’m using Scrivener to do the development.
3. Project tracking – Scrivener allows me to do all kinds of project tracking. There are the built-in tools that track a project’s stats. Also, there’s meta-data to mark the status of sections and scenes in projects. However, I also used my Author Platform Manager, a custom project template I developed, to track what I’m doing overall as a writer. I can put anything necessary in it. If I develop an idea in it I can transfer it to an open project with the Scratchpad.
4. Blogging – Part of growing as an author includes blogging. I couldn’t have blogged near as much without Scrivener. It allowed me to put all my blog posts in one project for the year and create an ongoing schedule to follow. Without using Scrivener, I would have been lost and disorganized in the effort. It’s allowed me to often work ahead when I needed to and still keep the busy blogging schedule.
5. Blog Tour Development – I developed a blog tour project template based on my blog template and what a big help Scrivener was there. I was able to work on my tour ideas and posts well in advance as I developed all of my author content. It’s been a major help just to keep all that in one place and work steadily at the release. I’m starting a new one with ideas within the week for the release of An Arrow Against the Wind 4/18/2016. With editing on this upcoming title ongoing, there’s no time like the present to organize the next release.
6. Developing & Writing Short Stories – Part of my release has involved using short fiction. I’ve also written some other short stories this year that are being submitted to magazine markets. Without Scrivener I would have floundered through developing these stories. The good thing is that with Scrivener, I can easily import these into another project to develop an anthology if I want to go that route. I’ve been able to manage and organize my short fiction with ease using Scrivener.
7. Document Templates – This feature in Scrivener has been very important to me all year. I’ve been able to use these templates to create my basic blog structure in my blog project. What a time-saver! I’ve also been able to use this feature to save more time writing my newsletters, short stories and more. By making document templates in my projects, I’m able to do repetitive writing without duplicating the same material repeatedly. If the material for the template needs an update that’s simple enough to change – one time.
Scrivener has been with me all the way during the last year. It’s been indispensable for me as a writer. I would not have done near as much as I have without it. I look forward to continuing my usage and expanding how I use it. As I develop an entire novel from it I expect to use the composition tools more than I have such as the lay-out manger as well as features for word searches and more.
If you’ve published using Scrivener, how has it helped you get there? If you use it for other writing, how does Scrivener make you more effective as a writer? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
Follow Blog via Email
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Just as a note: I now have a marketing affiliation with Scrivener. For support questions, pricing, licensing and other concerns please contact the vendor. As such a buy ad for Scrivener appears on the sidebar. I’ve started this program since I like the product so much and want to offer readers the chance to obtain this software. I’m not required to write about Scrivener to be an affiliate; I just like it that much. You can also find my FTC statement on this site’s sidebar.
Filed under: Blog Tour, Blogging, Creativity, Editing, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, Indie Publishing, iTunes, Mailing List, Marketing, Pinterest, Planning, Science Fiction, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Smashwords, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Trading Knives, Twitter, Wattpad, What is Needed, Writing Tagged: Barnes and Noble, Blog Tour, blogging, Editing, Epic Fantasy, Facebook, Fantasy Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, Indie Publishing, Kobo, Launch, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Pinterest, Planning, Self-publishing, Smashwords, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Trading Knives, Twitter, What is Needed, writing
Juggling The Bow of Destiny Release
I just recently released The Bow of Destiny on my site as part of a larger blog tour of Rave Reviews Book Club’s members who were featured each day during September. Many thanks to those who stopped by the site and celebrated with me. I’ve already received few positive reviews from pre-release readers. A number of people like the release day post design so I wanted to share some of how I developed it since it was like a juggling act to bring it all together!
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I designed the post this way for several reasons. First, I wanted to give visitors the option to explore the book as much as possible without using up valuable time for those who just wanted to make a quick stop. Next, since the book is an epic fantasy about a quest, I thought that a little fun with a scavenger hunt was appropriate. Lastly, since I was mostly releasing entirely on my site that day, I wanted to basically have a mini-blog tour that covered a number of topics.
But in designing how this rather complex set of posts would work, there were a number of challenges to meet. As you can imagine, the main page needed to be the first post seen by visitors to the blog page. There were also other pages to consider but handling them required they be relatively unseen without clicking specifically to them.
Here’s how I approached it:
1. I wrote the main page and carefully crafted it so visitors could take either option which included a link to the next stop on the scavenger hunt.
2. I wrote pages for each stop on the scavenger hunt with links to each successive page. Each page was designed to provide some information about characters in The Bow of Destiny with a final question about a detail on the page.
3. Next I used several blog publication tools from WordPress.com: the scheduler and the publicize. I scheduled the scavenger hunt pages to go live before the main page and this main one to be scheduled last. In this way, the main page was displayed first on the blog. I used the publicize tool only for the main page, turning off all options for the scavenger hunt pages so news about them would not be sent out over my connected social media channels.
This strategy allowed visitors to choose reading only the main page or going on the scavenger hunt. It met my goals and allowed those people with time to have a little fun getting to know more about the book. But either way, the visitors were able to make a final comment on the main page to enter the giveaway.
So there you have my little tricks to running a mini-blog tour on your site. Depending on your site platform you should have similar tools to use in designing something similar should you want to do the same as I did. Thanks again to everyone who visited on Monday.
Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Sign up for my Archer’s Aim Digest mailing list to receive the forthcoming edition of my newsletter with announcements about upcoming releases and events. You’ll receive my a SPECIAL coupon for The Bow of Destiny, the first novel of The Bow of Hart Saga. Speaking of which, it is now available on Barnes & Noble, iBooks Amazon – Kindle & Smashwords. Additionally, September’s FREE book, What Is Needed is available at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords & Amazon.
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Filed under: Amazon, Author Platform, Barnes & Noble, Blog Tour, Blogging, Creativity, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fiction, Goodreads, iBooks, Indie Publishing, iTunes, Kobo, Mailing List, Marketing, Pinterest, Planning, Self-publishing, Smashwords, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Trading Knives, Twitter, What is Needed, Writing Tagged: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Blog Tour, creativity, Epic Fantasy, Facebook, Goodreads, iBooks, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Pinterest, Planning, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, The Bow of Hart Saga, Tips, Trading Knives, Twitter, What is Needed, writing
The Bow of Destiny by P. H. Solomon
PHS:
Another blog tour stop for The Bow of Destiny today – check out an interview with Spark!
Originally posted on Cindy's Notebook:
As I mentioned on Monday, I added an animal character to The Bow of Destiny at the suggestion of a beta reader. What I settled on was a dog based on my German Shepherds and named him Spark. If you haven’t read the part of the scavenger hunt from Monday please take a look since it shares a funny way of communicating that my male dog has – his tail. That’s correct, when you ask him simple questions he wags his tail for yes and doesn’t for no. So Spark does the same thing. However, Athson is the only one who can see him besides, you, the reader. But, Athson doesn’t quite understand that Spark is communicating with him. Now that you know, you can read the book and understand something additional happening in the book.
With that in mind, I decided to interview Spark for a bit of…
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September 30, 2015
Book Spotlight #6 – “The Bow of Destiny” by P.H. Solomon
PHS:
One of the stops on the tour this week – thanks for Timothy Bateson for hosting!
Originally posted on Timothy Bateson (ramblings of an author):
Release date: 28 September 2015
Haunted by his past. Hunted in the present. Uncertain what is real.
Athson has seen things that aren’t there and suffered fits since being tragically orphaned as a child at the hands of trolls and Corgren the wizard. When a strange will mentioning a mysterious bow comes into his possession, he’s not sure it’s real. But the trolls that soon pursue him are all too real and dangerous. And what’s worse, these raiders serve Corgren and his master, the hidden dragon, Magdronu, who are responsible for the destruction of his childhood home. Athson is drawn into a quest for the concealed Bow of Hart by the mystic Withling, Hastra, but Athson isn’t always sure what’s real and who his enemies are. With Corgren and Magdronu involved, Athson must face not only frequent danger but his grasp on reality and the reasons behind his tragic past.
“The Bow of Hart Saga: The Bow Of…
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