Tag: Editing

The First Draft Blues

I have discovered something about myself in the last year of writing. I suffer from The First Draft Blues.

Symptoms include:

– Thinking your story concept is complete rubbish and no one will like your characters

– Believing your writing rivals that of a six year old’s.

– Questioning every turn your story is taking.

– Wondering why you are bothering when it’s the worst thing you’ve ever written and everybody will hate it.

– Laughing at yourself for thinking you could ever make it as an author.

I had a very bad case of it with Betwixt and I am suffering an even worse case of it with my current work-in-progress. So how do I medicate myself against this rampant disease that threatens to destroy my dreams? Continue reading “The First Draft Blues”

How to Use Track Changes in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word LogoDo you use “Track Changes” in Microsoft Word? Okay, the system can look intimidating at first with all the comment boxes and stuff. But once you get going, it’s a lot easier and a lot more fun than, say, doing your own taxes or changing your oil. And it’s a very handy way to work with editors, proofreaders, and collaborators.

Whether you’re marking up a document or reviewing one that has been marked up, go to the “Review” tab at the top ribbon of the page. I’m using Word for Mac 2011, but I’m fairly certain the PC versions use the same structure.

In that tab, there should be some method of turning “Track Changes” on and off. In my version, it looks like this: Continue reading “How to Use Track Changes in Microsoft Word”

Writing is a Business

Guest post
by JM Leitch

First of all, I must tell you up front that this article doesn’t contain strategies about how writers can market their books. It literally means writing – the actual words on the page – and I’m hoping it will serve as a reminder of something important that I, and many other writers, often forget!

Every now and then throughout my life, a tiny, nagging voice coming from some remote and forgotten recess in my brain used to tell me that I should write a book. On three occasions I nearly gave in (I’ve started two novels over the years and one self-help book back in the day when there weren’t so many on the shelves and may have stood a chance of getting noticed!). But after I moved to the beautiful Island of the Gods and writers’ sanctuary that is Bali, with no ‘proper’ job, a daughter in school all day, a husband working away from home over half the year and an idea, I ran out of excuses to give this pesky, persistent little voice.

It was ‘now or never’… and I had never wanted it to be ‘never’… so ‘now’ it was. It was time, in the immortal words of the brand giant Nike, to ‘just do it’. Continue reading “Writing is a Business”

Paying it Forward Into the New Year

This time last year I was flailing around, trying everything I could think of to find readers for my newly self-published novel. I did the usual Facebook events and .99 cent sales and joined every online group I could find. I was active in Amazon Author Discussion boards, Kindleboards, Yahoo groups, and anywhere else I thought readers might be. The reviews I was receiving on the book were really positive but I couldn’t reach that next level in terms of finding more readers. My background is sales and marketing and I know my way around the internet, but even with all my efforts I couldn’t hit the big numbers that other Indie authors were achieving. In the first six weeks I sold about two hundred books but I knew many of those were friends and family, and other authors who were kind enough to buy it and support me. I was happy to get my work out there but I wanted to find random readers who didn’t know me, and when I checked the Kindleboard monthly listings and saw there were Indie authors selling thousands of ebooks a month I knew that either I had a book that wasn’t going to sell or I was doing something wrong. So, I contacted Robert Bidinotto, and that’s when I learned about “paying it forward”. Continue reading “Paying it Forward Into the New Year”