Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 215
February 22, 2011
Writers Tip #50: No More Casual Writing
Write well
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can't quite put your finger on it, but you know you've done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer's tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today's tip: Always put your best pen forward when writing.
That includes any writing, be it an email, a memo, a journal entry or your mss. Use every writing opportunity to practice your craft. Address every occasion like a sunrise, extravagant and full of promise. Write, edit,
hone your words, let them show your voice. Never settle for a poorly-worded, mistake-laden message no matter how insignificant you consider the occasion or the recipient. Express yourself as well as you can at that particular moment.
Why? Good writing is a habit. Coming up with the appropriate words and perfect phrasing is a learned skill. Learn it. Train yourself until excellence is a knee-jerk reaction when you put your fingers on the keyboard or pen to paper. Until your expectation of yourself is that when you write, it's well done.
Filed under: writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: casual writing, writers tips
February 18, 2011
WordDreams Hits a Milestone
200,000 hits! Wow. I didn't see that in my future when I started this blog. Thank you guys for visiting, spreading the word, being so loyal. I try to listen to what you're interested in and provide my take on it. That way, we both learn from each other, make this community of Indie writers stronger, more relevant and more fun.
My list of top posts haven't changed much since January. Here're the quarterly results:
200k hits! Let's celebrate!
Do You Have a Character Who's a First Lady?
178 Ways to Describe Women's Clothing
Ten Favorite Geek Words–Part I
113 Ways to Characterize Your Protagonist
How to Describe a Person's Clothing
How To Describe Your Character's Appearance
Plotting a Story–with a Spreadsheet
How To Write Descriptions People Want to Read
The one that got my attention was your interest in my series on descriptors–how to describe clothing, emotions, nature. I'm glad you-all find them useful. I'll add a few more soon. I was also pleased to see how many of you visit All Posts. This tells me whatever brought you to my blog inspired you to stay a while. That's cool.
It's not just that you visit, stay for a while, and check other posts you're interested in, it's that you click through on average 48 times a day to other sites I link to. You trust me not to waste your time on frivolous links to sites you won't care about as a writer. I take that trust seriously.
'Nough said. Back to writing. I've got a novel to finish!
Filed under: blogs, social networks, writing Tagged: blogs, hits, top posts
February 15, 2011
Announcement: I'm Writing a Column For Write Anything
Write Anything, the bloggers associated with Emergent Publishing, is one of the most eclectic groups I've ever met. They live
Yeah, they mean that
all over the world–Australia, London, France, USA. They write anything from sci fi to historic fiction to creative non-fiction. Some are full-time writers. Some want to be. One's a self-proclaimed 'Marxist horror writer'.
Can you imagine a more fascinating group to hang out with? Their mission is egalitarian, all-inclusive, as open as the basket on a hot air balloon. Close-minded here will be as functional as a screen door on a submarine.
Come visit me in my new office (please!). I'd sure appreciate friendly faces. My first post is February 16th (or was it the 17th in Australia?) on the mysteries of my background (now doesn't that sound exciting?). To make it worth your while, anyone who drops in and leaves a comment, I'll send you a free copy of my upcoming ebook, Tech Tips for Writers. It should be out by the end of summer (if I get my act in gear). In fact, if you tell me what tip you'd like included, I'll give you a shout out in the book.
Now, I must prepare for this weekend's Southern California Writer's Conference where I hope to meet the agent who will make me famous.
Filed under: blogs, Journalism, writers, writing Tagged: bloggers, blogs, gig
February 14, 2011
Writers Tip #49: Yes, You Must Have Basic Formatting
We all need help
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can't quite put your finger on it, but you know you've done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer's tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today's tip: Submittals must be done right.
When book agents and editors see a manuscript that isn't double-spaced, they know right away that the author hasn't done the basic groundwork needed. That likely means that their mss will be far from polished–too far to be worth the agent's time.
Don't blare that message to the person you desperately need to take you seriously. Follow your mom's advice: Put your best foot forward every time you're in public. In this case, 'public' is the eyes of the person who holds your future in your hands.
Here are a few simple rules:
Double-space the mss. The Query letter can be single-spaced, but not your submittal
Address the agent by name, not 'Dear Sir/Madame'. Take the time to go to their website and get a name.
Keep the Query to one page. If they want more, they'll ask.
12-point font is standard and Courier or Times New Roman. Don't try to be fancy or slip by with font size 11. They'll notice.
'SASE' means 'self-addressed stamped envelope'. Send one if they request one.
Have one-inch margins.
That's it. That's formatting. Now be as creative as you can about selling your story.
–Click to have Writer's Tips delivered to your email.
Filed under: publishing, writers resources, writers tips Tagged: agents, query letter, submittal, writers tips
February 11, 2011
MIT Gives Away Its Knowledge for FREE
MIT shares its knowledge
MIT is stepping to the front by making their scholarly articles available to the public. They will be available through an open source platform DSpace, a scholarly repository for over one-thousand organizations (if you have a favorite University, i.e., Notre Dame or USC, check to see if it's listed here). MIT's corner is called DSpace @MIT.
DSpace@MIT's Open Access Articles collection contains over 1800 scholarly articles that MIT Faculty have made openly available on the web. Additionally, MIT Thesis Collection contains selected digital theses and dissertations from all MIT departments dating as far back as the mid-1800s. Since 2004, all new Masters and Ph.D theses have been added to the collection after degrees have been awarded. Browse the collection here.
MIT analysis of usage statistics for last fiscal year indicates that content was downloaded by end-users over 15.2 million times or, on average, at a rate of over 41,000 files per day (credit: MIT).
See an article in Campus Technology News Update about its launch.
Why do they do this? Maybe it has something to do with what Hal Abelson, the Class of 1922 Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science ad chair of the Ad-Hoc Faculty Committee on Open Access Publishing, said:
"Scholarly publishing has so far been based purely on contracts between publishers and individual faculty authors.In that system, faculty members and their institutions are powerless. This resolution changes that by creating a role in the publishing process for the faculty as a whole, not just as isolated individuals."
Filed under: education, teacher resources Tagged: education, homeschool, homeschooling, MIT, teacher resources, teaching
February 10, 2011
Need to Liven up Your Plot? Try This
Readers love novels for their plots and characters, but it takes more than that to get readers to love the book, recommend it to friends. Most times, it's the way the author characterizes settings, minor characters, feelings–that sort. It's what happens as I'm reading the narrative parts and those pieces between the action and adventure. How does the writer keep my interest when the plot slows down?
I'm always on the look-out for creative bits and pieces to liven up the corners of my story. Here's a true story about a dog who plays with dolphins. I can see this in a story–that harbor next to my main character's office where every morning a Labrador named Casey seeks out his friend.
Filed under: characters, plot, setting, writers resources, writing Tagged: characters, dog, dolphin, man's best friend, plot, setting
February 7, 2011
Writers Tip #48: Have a Web Presence
Why writers need a web presence
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can't quite put your finger on it, but you know you've done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer's tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today's tip: Writers must have a web presence.
A web presence is your reach beyond the realtime world into cybersphere. Why is a web presence so important for today's writers? Here are three reasons:
If you have a contract with a publisher, s/he is too busy marketing books for popular, well-known authors to worry about you. That means sales and marketing is up to you. The worst situation I can imagine is after you give away the rights to your baby (maybe you sold them–no matter the price, it doesn't compensate for the hours or years of labor that went into writing your book), the guy who bought them (the publisher) allows your story to languish–selling a couple of books a month. That's not uncommon. The only way to fix that is you marketing your books.
If you're self-published, you are the go-to guy/gal for marketing your novel. You can attend conferences, give speeches, have book signings, but another tried-and-true method that can reach exponentially more potential buyers is the internet. More on that later.
If you're in between–sending queries out seeking an agent, trying to attract the attention of the person who will love your writing as you do–what better way than for them to see how well you write and how many people follow you. Today's agents want to see your web presence as a precursor to giving you a chance. It helps them decide how serious you are as a writer.
There are many ways to make your presence known on the internet:
A blog showcases your writing skills and allows you to interact with readers and potential readers. It gets them excited about your writing so they spread the word and you go viral (I'm still waiting on that step).
A website on your book (or a page on your publisher's website) tells readers everything you want them to know about your book, including the location of your blog, twitter account, Facebook. The downside is it's static. Readers can't ask questions and you can't respond to a trend or personalize it to the uniqueness of individual readers.
A Twitter account gets you out there in real time, chatting with readers as well as other writers, spreading your good word in a personal, down-to-earth way that appeals to many. Each tweet is a quick insight to your readers, having a mandatory limit of 140 characters.
A Facebook account is similar, but has more depth. You can post pictures, blogs, other reader comments.
There are a few books to help you through the steps required to get live on the internet:
Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book on the Internet!
The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't
We Are Not Alone: Writer's Guide to Social Media, by Kristen Lamb (review coming soon–so far it's great)
In my case, here's what I do on the web:
I host several blogs, WordDreams on writing and one on my field of interest and a few more
I contribute weekly columns to several ezines, online newspapers, blogs, to reach people my blogs don't
I have a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a LinkedIn account (a discussion for a later post) and a few more aggregators and social media personalized to my interests
I have seven marketing outlets for my books, most with their own 'about the author' page
I have a Goodreads account, highlighting my writing expertise
I've gone on a bit too long, but I want to motivate you to set up a web presence. Now get going!
Filed under: authors, business, marketing, social networks, writers, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: marketing, twitter, web presence
February 4, 2011
Book Review: Noble's Book of Writing Blunders
Good tips, a bit obvious
I bought this when I'd finished the other books I purchased on how to self-edit (Self-editing for Fiction Writers, How to Write the D*** Good Novel). It's summary had good ideas, things like Don't write for your eighty-grade teacher, Don't complicate the obvious, Don't add adverbs and adjectives to prettify your prose. Common sense reminders of what I should know but sometimes forget in the flurry of my own prose. After spending an hour with it, I decided the best ideas were the list on the dustcover and beyond the title, there wasn't much else to learn.
These sound good, don't they:
Don't Passify Your Verb Voice
Don't Repeat Without Relevance
Don't be Afraid to Make Your Own Rules
All writers who haven't made a name for themselves, and with that name garnered the right to write as they please, must follow enough good writing rules that an agent will read their mss. I can add a few more to that list–Show not Tell, Beware the Gerund.
When I opened the book, I found that the other writing blunders in the Table of Contents weren't as obvious from their title. Look at these:
Don't be a slave to the grammar guru. The only time to ignore grammar is in dialogue.
Don't write the perfect paragraph. I didn't have to read that one to know where he was headed
Don't sprinkle the poet's urge over the narrator's product. I get that one too–and I've abused it. But then, I grew into my writing, decided to leave poetry for others.
Here's what I'm trying to say: The book has good tips, but Noble takes a long time to make them. I got them more succinctly in other books, long ago in my career. I don't think that means I no longer need help. I think it means I need a different kind of help.
The best list of self-edit tips I've ever found is in the Marshall Plan. They're brief, more like reminders than missives, and all very (very) important.
You can read the background on William Noble on his webpage. He seems a likeable, even charismatic man, with a long history of writing. I like that. I may even try one of his other books.
Filed under: book reviews, editing, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: fiction, Marshall Plan, william noble, writer, writers resources, writing
February 2, 2011
Book Marketing 101: Sell Your Books at Google Ebookstore
On Monday, Dec. 6, 2010, Google finally launched the Google Ebookstore. Long-awaited, it's a viable outlet for ebooks of all kinds. Google Books. It offers ebooks for Androids, iPhone, iPad, Nook, Sony and the Web. All in one place. Doesn't that sound right? I found one of my books there…
Google Books Version of my Book
Google ebooks has millions of books in every imaginable category including nearly 3 million free ebooks available in the US (Google is expected to expand service to Europe in March 2011 and, later next year, to Japan). Books are stored in the cloud with unlimited storage for each customer. They're compatible with Android phones, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, web browsers (as pdfs even) and an estimated 85 ebook devices. You can view a portion, buy it right away, or save it for later viewing. Interesting, but Google ebooks are not compatible with Amazon Kindle yet. I wonder why.
Information Today gives this summary of ebook sales in the future:
In April 2010, Goldman Sachs estimated that ebooks will represent 12.8% of all book sales by 2015. More realistic figures from Forrester find an even brighter future. "7% of US online adults read ebooks today—many of them without ereaders," explains McQuivey. "[T]his small, energetic group will grow so rapidly that it will easily spend nearly $3 billion on ebooks in 2015." Even this figure may be underrating the potential growth for this industry that now has established standards (EPUB), a strong and growing core market, significant financially-strong core companies, and a product that is a clear fit with technological advancements—information and reading anytime, anywhere, on the device of your choosing for a price less than their print alternatives.
Authors can sell their books through Google Ebookstore by joining Google Partners (used to be Google Editions). I'm thrilled to say I've sold one book.
On the other hand, I'm surprised. Google should do to ebooks what Amazon did to online book sales. I'm well-expecting them to double or triple (or more) my Scribd ebook sales. Scribd's reputation is for free viewing of online books and manuscripts. Their store is an add-on. Google ebookstore is the Real Deal.
The next step is when they sell the hard copy and the ebook bundled. Then, you get the ebook for 20% of the hard copy price. I wonder when that's coming on line?
Filed under: business, digital books, marketing, sales, writers resources Tagged: digital books, ebooks, Google, marketing, sales
February 1, 2011
Here's a Funny Plot Line
This is reported by Scopes to be false. Since I write fiction, I don't care. It's a creative plot line. Read on:
Click image for lawyer jokes
BEST TRUE (?) LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY
This took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.' The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.
The lawyer sued – and WON! (Stay with me.)
Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.
NOW FOR THE BEST PART…
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.
Filed under: humor, plot, problem-solving, writers resources Tagged: creative, lawyer jokes, plot lines
