Rebecca Moesta's Blog, page 2
February 13, 2010
Win Free Tuition to Superstars Writing Seminar
Kevin J. Anderson
Eric Flint
David Farland
Rebecca Moesta
Brandon Sanderson
To register for the drawing, go to
http://www.superstarswritingseminars....
The contest closes this Sunday, February 14, 2010
The winner will be drawn Monday, February 15, 2010
Also, [...]
January 23, 2010
Writing Secrets Seminar
What does it take to become a professional in the field of writing fiction? For more than 15 years Kevin J. Anderson & I have given all-too-brief workshops on the subject. And each year we get countless requests to offer more extensive teaching sessions.
Now Kevin and I are teaming with three other international [...]
December 11, 2009
Quick question to my MySpace friends
Do any of you only hang out on MySpace?
I spend most of my social networking time on Facebook and only remember to check this account about once a month.
Am I neglecting bunches of you?
August 27, 2008
Dragon*Con Schedule for Rebecca & Kevin
Dragon*Con Schedule for Rebecca & Kevin
Current mood: rockin
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers
Kevin and I are off to Dragon*Con. For any of you who will be in Atlanta, here's our schedule:
8/29
1:00–2:00 PM 501st celebrationn — Kevin & Rebecca
4:00–5:00 PM Kevin & Rebecca autographing
5:30–6:30 PM Humor/Horror panel — Kevin
8/30
11:00AM–12:00 PM Decatur Book Fest — Kevin
2:30–3:30 PM [...]
June 6, 2008
Crystal Doors book news and Free Offer!
To celebrate the publication of the third volume of the Crystal Doors trilogy, SKY REALM, we're offering free books!
Kevin and I, in conjunction with the publisher (Little, Brown) are offering a *free* hardcover copy of Book 1 to get new readers hooked on the series. To get your free book, go to wordfire.com [...]
April 7, 2008
Writer Research
In a fiction book or story, is research really necessary?
Opinions vary, but here are some things to think about:
1. How integral are the facts to your story? If you're writing a story set primarily in World War II England, you'll probably need to know some geography, the timeline of the war, what daily [...]
May 22, 2007
Ocean Realm
Cross-posted from MySpace:
Yes, for those of you who noticed I changed my avatar to the new Crystal Doors hardcover, Ocean Realm, it IS out in bookstores now! If you’re not hooked on the trilogy yet, feel free to dive in ASAP. 
This past weekend, Kevin and I were in Winnipeg for Keycon 007 and had a wonderful time with the other guests (actor Richard Herd and artist L.A. Williams) and the gracious con staff. We’re back now for a couple of weeks of work before heading off on our Alaskan adventure.
I’ll post a blog on writing next. Don’t forget to pick up Ocean Realm!
ciao,*
Rebecca
*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)
April 22, 2007
Myths of Publishing, Part I
Cross-posted from MySpace:
Okay, in response to questions and comments from a variety of sources, it’s time I set some myths to rest about publishing and the life of an author. If other issues crop up enough, I’ll address them later.
Myth 1. Authors are rich. They are in the writing business to make a quick buck.
Contrary to popular belief, the great majority of authors are not only not rich, they don’t even make their living at writing. Here’s the deal:
A small percentage of the population attempt to write one or more books. Of those people, only small fraction complete even a single manuscript. Then, only a modest number of those folks manage to sell their books to professional publishers. From that limited group of authors, a small proportion actually eke out a living from writing. (Most of them are supported, at least in part, by the earnings and benefits of a spouse or significant other.) Out of this teensy minority of those who began the writing journey, a handful get truly rich.
Kevin and I are very fortunate in that we get to make our income from doing very satisfying, enjoyable work that we chose. For this privilege, however, we work every day of the week and almost every day of the year. Our friends and families don’t get to see us nearly as much as they’d like to. We also have a mortgage, car payments, repair bills, and so on. We do our own grocery shopping, cook our own meals (well, Kevin does, mostly), do the dishes, take out the trash, and clean the cat box.
Sorry to disappoint, but—in spite of what you see in movies—publishers don’t hold champagne book signings for us at which hundreds of lavishly dressed sophisticates show up and stand in long lines to get our autographs. Sigh. (If any of our editors or publishers are out there reading this, feel free to correct this situation. Our personal theory is that God gave us book signings to keep authors humble. Don’t ever be hesitant to come see us if we’re doing a signing in your area. You’ll make our day. (Are you listening, members of the 501st?)
Myth 2. A good book is free of discrepancies, contradictions, typos, and other flaws. Any errors that get through mean that the author and publisher are lazy or sloppy or just didn’t bother.
My father (who holds two Masters degrees) taught English for more than a quarter century, and I grew up learning excellent grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Nothing irked me more than mistakes in my reading material. I frequently toyed with the idea of writing to the publishers and offering them my obviously much-needed services.
Then I became a proofreader, next a copyeditor, then an editor, and (last) an author. Wow. What a bucket of cold, wet reality over the head! Believe it or not, there are so many levels of errors to watch for that no one person—or ten people, for that matter—can catch them all, whether the work in question is fiction or nonfiction (and blogs are another animal completely).
Each person along the publishing line tends to look for different sorts of problems, and even these people can let things slip, because no human has 100% concentration. Kevin and I even add an extra level of readers on each manuscript to strain out some of the bigger problems before we even send a book on to the editor.
I once had an editor tell me that a manuscript I had turned in was one of the cleanest she had ever seen in her years of publishing. After that, several levels of clean-up pros took over, after which I went through the typeset copy again. There were still a few typos in the published book—though precious few, I’m happy to say.
I tried to explain all of this to my father the retired English teacher, and he (proud of his error-hunting prowess) did not believe me. He explained that someone who was truly knowledgeable in the English language, with its attendant rules of spelling, grammar, and the elements of style, could deliver a perfectly clean manuscript to anyone willing to pay for such expert services. Naturally, we hired him part-time to help us give our books the added polish that they need.
After proofing our galleys for more than two years now, my dad has a new respect for the complexity of the publishing industry. As those of you who read our books know, errors still sneak through. Even if we took up every person who offered their additional services to spiff up our novels, perfection is not a viable option. But rest assured that we care about our readers and always work hard to give you books that are as fault-free as possible within the allotted time and budget as possible.
For those of you whose hobby is catching mistakes, don’t let us stand in your way. But don’t bother protesting that you could do a far better job. You might correct a different set of booboos if you got a chance to replace one of the current professionals who works on our books, but you wouldn’t catch them all.
Scoff, if you like, but I developed this opinion over the course of 20 years in publishing and having more than 30 books published by professional publishers. So, am I putting myself forward as an authority on this matter? Ja, you betcha. Nervy, huh?
Yikes! I was going to add one more subject to this blog, but I’ve run way over the amount of time I gave myself to get this written. I’ve got to get back to editing book 3 in the CRYSTAL DOORS series, Sky Realm. I’ve got a looming deadline and a paycheck to earn. . . .
ciao,*
Rebecca
*This multipurpose Italian salutation is used in an advised, tongue-in-cheek manner and in no way implies a corresponding chicness, shallowness, or worldliness on the part of the author. (Additional pejoratives may apply. Void where prohibited by law. Ask your physician if Ciao is right for you.)
