Going Through Copy Edits!

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My Copy Editor, Kristy Stewart of Looseleaf Tea returned my manuscript this past Wednesday!

As long-term readers and friends may suspect, I’ve been too keyed up to do much new writing (blogging/creative/ect).  But, I committed to post once a week on each of my blogs so let me offer some editing observations.  

1. I am over the moon with excitement.  Didn’t know it was humanly possible to be so energetically happy so long, figured it would burn something in my system out.  

2. It’s taking longer to approve/reject changes than I expected.  Mark up on a word document can be difficult to see if it’s a single comma (and I’m missing a lot of those).  It’s also tedious any time my editor makes a period a comma or a comma a period because I have to approve 3 changes individually (agree to delete the original punctuation, agree to accept the new punctuation and agree to capitalization or lower case of the following word).

3. There're fewer edits than I expected.  Not a knock on Kristy, her work is thorough.  I just mentally set my mind back into English paper mode.  I never scored well on those in school.

4. The recommended edits are a continuation of work I’ve already done.  She suggests a lot of verbs tense change, and I’ve changed a million verb tenses a million times already.  I still missed some or changed them incorrectly.  I would never get these tense right without outside eyes, so that alone is worth my money.

5. There are open-ended comments.  Like “this is confusing for X reason. Consider clarifying.”  

6. I don’t know how/when to hyphen words together.  When I’m done with these edits, I’m rereading those rules.  

7.  Even though she was copy editing, there are little gems that show what a strong grasp of character and plot Kristy has.  So far, she’s made two suggestions to add a line of dialogue here or there that should have been obvious fixes for me, but I needed someone to suggest.

8. She’s suggestion : and ; but I’m rejecting them still.  I’m aware of what grammar says about these things, but I have an ever expanding list of why these two kinds of punctuation do not belong in fictional prose (funny coming from someone who is using a colon in their book’s title). 

9. She’s adding some “that” back into my writing and she’s starting some of my sentences with And or But.  Both elements I culled due to massive overuse.  It’s nice when someone else sprinkles them in.

10.  In a few notable places where my writer’s group asked me to change something, and I held onto it for detailed reason X, Kristy asked for the same changes.  My writers’ group will be happy to know I capitulated.  

11. Even though I use breath and breathe all the time in my stories, I don’t know when to use which. 🙄

12. Toward vs Towards also comes up a lot.  Maybe reread rules with when to use an s?

Talk to me.  Where are you in your writing process?  What kind of feedback do you get from beta readers or writing groups? What kind of feedback do you get from your copy editor?  What’s your best experience with an editor?  What was your worst experience with an editor?

Looking for more posts about the writing and publishing process?  Check out more posts on my novel publication process: Going Through Copy Edits, 1st Daft vs 2nd Draft, Goal Planning: Getting Through the First Draft, My Character Looks Nothing Like My MC, Cover Art: Truth in Advertising, and Post Book Launch: Reflections.  

Want to know more about my novel?  Check out my childhood stories recapping themes in my life I hope prepared me to write this book: Remember the Magic of Santa?, Closet Monsters: Gone too Far?, and Garden Gnomes and other Evils.

OR check out my series where I find similarities between my novel and other popular media.  Hopefully it gives you a better idea whether there are elements in my book you may enjoy. Lost Girl Comparison, American Gods Comparison, and The O.A. Comparison.

MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON!!!  Please go look at "Follow Me: Tattered Veils" and see if it might be a story that interests you.

Reflections of a Writer: Softwares I've Used to Write a Novel

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I’ve written four and a half novels in my time.  None of them published, but that‘s not the point of today’s post.  Today I want to talk about the different softwares I wrote with.

The first book was one document in Microsoft Word.  I was on an old school Windows 3.1, outdated even then (but ran well and was a perfect distraction free writing tool), and I transferred the novel to our updated computer for printing with a floppy disc.  All my technology nostalgia comes from writing.  Kept a hard copy of my book in a binder and I was the proudest 16yr old you’d ever met.

Microsoft Word was not an ideal writing platform.  It was hard for me to go back to specific parts in my book to edit.  My dyslexia/visual tracking issues are the stars of this gripe.  Going line by line, chapter by chapter, trying to match the hard copy with where ever I am in the electronic document was torture.  Sometimes I think I hate editing because it was so hard to scroll through this massive document, and not because the process is otherwise arduous.

Worse, a massive Microsoft document made it hard for me to copy paste portions to forums, journals, and emails.  I was sharing this first novel because it was the first in a series.  Sharing the work was time consuming.

There are no places in the same Word document to write notes, an outline, or research. Unable to keep all the work together in a single format, I had a separate binder with research, notes, outlines, and journalling regarding my process.   It was yet another syncing issue I had between the enormous wall of text on the computer and the pages in my binder.

 I write my storiesout of order, but Microsoft Word made piece mailing the work together tricky.  At first, I tried using page breaks to section off the story flow from scenes I wrote that needed in between chapters to connect, but this was lengthy and confusing.  I couldn’t scroll to the bottom of the document to return to where I “left off” writing.  Instead, I had to creep through each page, searching for all the breaks.  Frustrated, I reverted to paper and pen.  Here, I’d write chapters or scenes by hand and hold on to them until I’d got to the part in my story where I could copy them into the master document.

Next time I wrote a novel, I wrote each chapter as a separate document and kept it in a book folder.  This improved almost everything and I recommend another using a standard editor keep all the chapters as separate documents under a book title folder.  The single issue I ran into was that the folder is default organized by title or by last updated or whatever, and I wanted my files organized with the first chapter on top and all the other chapters in descending order.  Took me a good year to realize I could force the alphabetical order to do this if I labeled “1 chapter” “2 chapter”.  The sort is by numerical order.  Some difficulties arose because I write out of order and I don’t know what chapter I’m writing all the time.

It was inconvenient when every time I wanted to read from one chapter to the next; I had to open another document.  For a time, I would keep each chapter separate and have a “master copy” with the whole work, but it was too hard to keep both sets of documents synced.  Inevitably I would add edits to the master copy, not copy paste over to the separate chapter file, and then read the separate chapter file and make major changes over there.  Too much going on.

Next, I went to Nimble.  This seemed to solve all problems.  A single document that let me skip to specific chapters.  And bonus, areas for notes and outlining!  I’d long since given up hope on that.  But, I had a new problem: no spelling or grammar check.  Now I had to paste each chapter from the original document into LangaugeTool online.  LangaugeTool should have connected into Nimble, but my tech savvy husband and I could never make that work.  After LangaugeTool, I pasted the work into Grammarly.  Then I had to take the chapter and bring it back to Nimble.  And when the whole novel completed, I bring it all one chapter at a time to Word. @_@. The software said it would transfer over to Word, but I never made that element of it work and had to give up and copy paste by hand.

  On one side, it was lovely to write distraction free.  On the other side, my typing needs extreme help.  During the revisions, I felt like I was reading the work of a third grader.  It made me question whether I could be a writer.  I’d never questioned whether I was good enough to write and publish before then.  It was a dark time in my career where I faced the extent of my difficulties with the technicalities of writing.

From here, I moved on to Novel Factory.  I LOVE the structure and use Novel Factory for even short stories.  The format of Novel Factory pleases me more than Scrivener did.  Novel Factory has a basic spellcheck that keeps me from being overwhelmed by all my terrible spelling all at once. I still have to bring all my chapters over to the web editor on ProWritingAid, but I’m less overwhelmed.

Like Nimble, Novel Factory has space for character profiles and places in my fictional work, but it goes further and allows me to write out an entire story arc and attach pictures to characters/places.  Novel Factory also has space for multiple drafts of the same work, and I can compare two very different edits for some time without losing either.  There‘s also a place to track submissions within the software.

My main gripe is that the italics in Novel Factory do not carry over to Word, ProWritingAid, or Google Docs.  I have to run back through every copy and look for what I meant to italic.  *sigh* Nothing is hassle free for a writer.  At least it‘s simpler to adapt than handwritten manuscripts?

Talk to me!  What software do you use to write your stories?  What do you like about the software?  Is there anything you’d like to change regarding your current technique?

#BeBold Behind Posting Metrics

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There are many “behind the scenes” style posts bloggers and content creators indulge in.  They include: posting their strategy for social media and creation, posting results of their efforts, publishing reviews in the genre they create in, publishing fiction and short stories to their blogs, and posting a creation process behind their creations.  This series seeks to explore the “pros” and “cons” of content.  Today‘s topic includes posting strategy and results.  In the interest of full disclosure, I’m in favor of all these style posts so these posts will take on a “just go for it” style tone.

The Concerns

-Someone might “steal” the technique and implement it better

-Someone might ridicule your performance or technique

-You may not achieve your goals and when you release a goal/schedule post, it allows others to see your failure/ accountability

-Some of these “metric disclosure” or “advice posts” are deceiving or skewed and creating your own might place you in a with a crowd less than honest or only trying to sell their online course/book on how to be awesome

-The “how to rock at x” post is very prevalent, if you don‘t have specific new information, it is hard to stand out or it may just feel you‘re looking for a massive following massive metrics bump while offering nothing substantial

-You might think you’re “too small," or “too new," to offer advice or to bother sharing your metrics.  In the beginning, it’s embarrassing to be excited blog X is getting 18 page views a week.  It becomes more embarrassing if you‘re trying all these things and don’t see more hits or more post interactions.  If you’re not a person with “massive success” in a sea of people offering their “huge results” sometimes you ask “what am I doing wrong?” or “How could I have anything worth sharing?”

-Your metrics may not be impressive.  While you might “trick” a viewer with a clean professionalism, strong writing, and spam comments that build up on blogs, showing them the hard numbers may tell the “true” story of how often folks visit a site.

-Your plan may change as you write and maybe continuing to either update an original post or create a post outlining these changes is draining.

-If you like linking to related content, and if you batch blog posts, going though and updating your posts with all the related links is VERY annoying

The Pros

-People love to see hard number results. Anyone can post “How to Have a Successful Blog” or “How to Gather a Social Media Presence” on their blog.  There‘s so much generic copy and paste style blogs we tire of hearing the same advice.  Show me the results!  Prove your technique works!

-People love to know their time is invested wisely.  So comparing the views I get off of Facebook vs Twitter is a wonderful way to show why investing in one site over another might be worthwhile.  Also noting side benefits attracts audiences.

-People like to “be there from the beginning” and they like updates that show their time is spent well.  The whole underdog story or starting with nothing to gain something is very appealing.  These metric posts and plans posts let people have insight and connection to that arc

-Creating these blogs means you are checking your results often and performing an analysis on your results.  This let‘s a person course correct as they go instead of giving up in frustration because they are “doing all the things” and seeing nothing from it. You can be more pro active in driving results

-Posting your intentions helps build personal accountability

-Posting and sticking to your schedule will help build discipline, consistency and a following

-Posting my metrics every week is a simple post that keeps my blog active.  The format and phrasing is the same week to week so I/readers can use easy side-by-side comparison of each week‘s results.  But this also means it takes precious little time to write.

The Outcome 

For me the pros outweigh the concerns.  I’ve never much cared what other people think of my progress.  If I cared, I would have stopped writing long ago and gone off to do something “successful”, whatever that is.  In Fairness, no one online has been mean or belittling over my progress or plans.  I think the fear of mocking/failure/disappointment is low.  When your numbers are low, there‘s no one to care and when they‘re high, they offer credibility and transparency.

  Personally, I love metric and “how to” posts.  Hard results give credibility and when I think “that sounds terrible” I can know what the overall “gain” would be.  And I’m wondering “when/how” do I monetize or “how does this get me published” or “how does this get more eyes on my story and/or blog?”  This metrics/plan style blog gives me new ideas to consider.

Talk to me!  Do you use metric or “how to" style posts in your blogging?  Do you like reading others’ blogs on this topic?  Do you have a good tip for me about writing, networking, or some other related topic?  Who is your favorite blogger and why?

Finding You Niche: Experiments in Blogging

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In my adult life, I’ve tried niche blogging often.  What’s a niche?  It’s an area of expertise, research or experience a person is passionate about.  Here, it’s a topic someone believes they can write with experience on.  For fun, I thought I’d review all the areas I tried to blog with authority on.  

  I have a now deleted beauty blog.  As I researched monetizing blogging, I realized “lifestyle” was the most profitable category.  For me I thought “Yeah I can post on the hottest lipstick/mascara/eyeliner colors this season.”  I was wrong.  While makeup is fun, it‘ not something I have an ongoing interest in.  The constant change in the industry is expensive and often left me wonder “why” instead of feeling excited.  

I have an old passion project blog called “Southern Pagan Muses”.  Here I explored my faith and how I thought a respectful multi faith society would look.  This blog does NOTHING right in blogging.  The posts are long and meandering, they lack graphics, and I didn’t bother to proofread them so they’re littered with grammar/spelling errors.  The worst sin: there is no market for a pagan blog.  I dreamed of having a large following and of making a splash in the pagan bloggers’ world, but most “successful” pagan bloggers make extreme statements and mine were like “let’s listen to each other and have open conversations about what might lead to unhealthy lifestyles.”  I think about reviving this blog at least once a month, even though I know nothing can come from it, I love my faith and I love hitting the latest topics from a religious experience.  


Next I created “Barista to Boss”, a now abandoned blog where I try to make my creative writing a career (spoiler alert, I failed).  Working on this blog taught me a lot about blogging and gaining metrics.  This blog was only active for three months, it has 18 posts, and I got 4,209 views total.  There were a few problems with the blog that led to its demise.  First, I think my topic was too broad.  I discussed both my current day job and generic writing (blogging, poetry, other forms of creative writing).  It was too much for one blog to handle, and I’m sure I alienated audiences with too broad a topic list.  Second, I posted too often.  Since I was following blogging advice, my goal was to post once each day.  Striving for this goal, created burnout   Third, the pictures, the links, and the socializing required to make the blog appealing where draining.  It was a case of too much too fast.  Last, I realized I wanted to write creatively and freelance blogging/blogging took away from my creative writing.  RIP “Barista to Boss” you taught me so much.

 “Aquagarden: Diary in Small Scale Aquapoinics” followed “Barista to Boss”.  This blog was a TON of fun because it was like recording a science experiment for the 3 months I worked on it.  It was perfect for me because: 1. The content had a limited scope.  I expanded in the series to discuss other gardening projects and transforming grocery scraps into a second harvest but overall the focus was on the fish tank. 2. I created a picture centric blog.  Every day I’d snap some shots, edit, post, and write a few lines caption.  Much faster than planning out content for previous blogs. The results of my Aquapoinic experiment interested others without social media presence.  It has 2,800 lifetime views.  What happened to this blog?  Work picked up and I couldn‘t keep recording the tank, I was too tired.  Napoleon, my betta fish, passed in Dec and I‘ve retired the tank.  While I thought of starting the experiment again, the research I did raised questions whether a 3 gallon tank is a large enough container to ethically keep a betta fish, not to mention to whole betta procurement market seems cruel.  I’d like to run a 5-10 gallon tank with guppies one day, but I can’t finance or house such a large experiment right now.

I created this blog in 2016 when I finished my first draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  I was sooooo excited, and I wanted to share that along with a few blogging insights I had.  It didn‘t last long as I didn’t have the right level of insight or motivation to keep working.  I’ve revived this blog instead of creating a new one.  The focus still surrounds my personal progress and personal insights (as these reflections on niches shows).  

There were three start up and deleted blogs in between this.  One was a book review blog, another was a book group blog, and the last was a blog about me picking back up my French Horn and re-learning how to play.  All three would be fun if I was a more known blogger, but as it stands, I don‘t have the brand to expect conversation out of a blog which was the goals in these three blogs.  If I gain a more interactive audience: I’d love to host a read along blog, comment below if there's interest and tell me what our first book should be.

I recorded a “let’s play” of both “Stardew Valley” and “No Man’s Sky”.  I never posted the videos online and long since purged from my computer. My “Stardew Valley” let’s play was a “no farming” challenge with in the game, and later I did a “pure luck challenge” where I could only plant whatever seeds I found or could buy from the traveling merchant.  I love “No Man’s Sky” but I have a ton of self-imposed rules I play by to keep things interesting.  I can say the same for my Pokemon runs.  While not traditional “blogging” the daily updates that come with “let’s play” series along with the conversational tone most take on, speak in the same way.  Plus the metrics/promotion technique the same.  


I somehow encouraged my Writers’ group to create a blog with me. The NAWG blog is active. It’s “niche” is in creative writing with a focus on novels and short stories in the scifi, fantasy, and horror sub genres.  My group and I offer our experiences, what we enjoy about the writing process, and our experiences as a writers’ group.  We‘re a team blog because I thought we’d have a better time keeping a consistent schedule as a group than as individuals.  This experiment drives home how hard it is to “lead” writers or to pin anyone down for a solid commitment. 

In June I considered launching a Ketogenic/Paleo/Vegetarian nutrition based blog.  I‘ve read and follow a lot of healthy lifestyle information, love discussing diet and nutrition, and feel like this is a topic that can help others.  I didn‘t end up creating the blog because I think health and nutrition are personalized and I only want to give one-on-one advice to people once I get to know their lifestyle and current eating habits.  

And those are my preferred niches: religions, nutrition/healthy/green living, gaming, reading, and writing.  What niches would you like to write in/ have you written in?  Were you ever surprised by the level of interest in your writing?  Were you disappointed by the response?  How many blogs have you abandoned?  How many do you currently run?  Do these blogs provide income and if so how?  Do these blogs link back to your creative writing?  Talk to me!

Betting On Myself

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The Problem

Things are crazy in my professional life right now.  My “day job” is in shambles (from my perspective to them everything is the best it’s ever been or at least that’s the party line they are sticking too) and since that’s forty hours of my work week my emotional/mental life is shredded.  I feel like half a person, and that person is always on the attack, hunting for weaknesses in others to pounce on.  There’s no turning the snarky, angry, lashing aspect of myself off.  Something people don’t get: if you are a compassionate intuitive soul, you can take that knowledge and use it to be vicious.

In the middle of what for me is the worst three going on four months I’ve experienced in the last five years, I have to step back and ask myself “What can I do?”  I can’t change the policies happening at my work.  I can’t control how they are implemented.  I can’t force peers, superiors, or team members below me to be the right people to enact this cultural shift within the company.  But if you know me, there is no way in hell, I will sit back and let them wreck me without pushing back.

The Solution 

So first of the all, I’ve rejected the incompetent management and have turned around to challenge every move they make, using their own guide against them.  If I have to follow these rules, everyone will get on page now.  I will not struggle while everyone else tells me that “this is different”, and it’s “just this once”.


How I'm Choosing Me First

It’s time to come back to what I love.  What makes me passionate is writing.  I’m turning inward, back to words, and I’m turning all that frantic energy into creating space for my creative work to stand.

I’m unhappy, but part of me sees this work drama is the best thing that could have happened.  Nothing short of working at a huge corporate place that’s just shitting all over itself would have made me say: “If this is a thing, then I’m rejecting you and going back to my base.”

I’ve done a lot and continue to do a lot since I’ve turned back to reading and writing.  I’m reading more now than I ever have in my adult life, and I love that part of my life (check out my Goodreads reviews and stats here and see my "Best of Kindle Unlimited Series").  I’m writing (though mostly blogs and tweets) about 10,000 words a week.  My blog(s) pre-scheduled posts are insane.

I tried something new with the Writers’ Group where we each share a Halloween based flash fiction this month.  Chris Palmer finished and scheduled his story first.  Can I say, I appreciate how my fellow writers are stepping in and joining me on this new adventure?  I can’t express how grateful

I’ve noticed this conversation game trend on Twitter and I want in on that.  Right now I play with #theMerryWriter and #authorconfession but I’d like to play in some other Hashtag parties/conversations and I would LOVE to host a Hashtag game through NAWG.

I have more ideas and more planning than ever in my creative writing life.  I’m working in a class (the class itself isn’t going great, I’m waiting to give a full review), trying to get beta reading for the second draft of my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  While discussing the book with my friend Ashley Sanders, I had a major break through.  Now I know what I need to do to pull the work together that I am beyond excited to dig in and execute.

Ashley and I are also experimenting with running our own writing class.  We’re talking structure and what value we could add to other writers along with all the inspiration they may bring us.  I can’t wait to work with her.  We have a very similar process and goals for our novels, and I’d love to help other people work through what their goals are.

I have an outline for a co-writing novel gig called “Familiar” with a friend in the North Alabama Writers’ Group and I’m thrilled to bits about working more with the wonderful Zach Standfield to create something cool together.

I have never chased so many avenues at once and it’s occurred to me that my job and my lack joy in my professional life brought me to a place where I had to roll the dice on my projects I'm passion about that I would normally keep as quiet background gigs.  My story telling, my ideas, my ability to network.  Stuff I’m “good” at that I figured would never amount to anything.  It feels powerful to see how things I love could bring me an ounce of professional success.  All my life, people have told me my writing would “never amount to anything” and that I “should focus on something that will make me financially stable.”  Here I am, at the worst point in my professional career, with nothing to draw on.  In desperation, I‘ve opened myself up to this blogging, social media, creative writing thing, and it seems like these “useless“ skill set has breathed new life in me.

The path to monetization is opening and new opportunities rise on the horizon.  They are taking time and persistence, but I’m seeing incremental steps towards my long-term goals. It feels like I’m proving all those people who told me my skills and me through association were “nothing special” and “not valuable” wrong.

Have you ever been in a terrible situation at your job or life where you needed to get out?  What did you do?  Are there other angles I’m not exploring?  Did you ever follow your passion regardless of the money or the risk?  What was the outcome?  Do you have advice/regrets/victory stories?  Talk to me.

Real World Obsessions that Make it Into my Writing: Faith and Religion

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Confession time!  I am a religious zealot.  I mean all in, no turning back, if we ever speak about my beliefs, it is full in your face I am right.  And I have crazy rules/beliefs (all religions do).  My zealotry rarely comes up in conversation because part of my faith is that I believe proselytizing is one of the most heinous and immoral acts a person can perform.  It falls under an act of mental and spiritual violence and is an anathema.

My passion for faith structures and a more open religious community is more seen in my writing than in my conversations.  In my short stories.  Magic/divinity works in direct and obvious ways on my fictional worlds.

In “The Undertaking”, I have my main character, Nimgauna, go on a spirit quest to find her personal power.  This short story is a metaphor for what I think belief should be about: finding your personal truth.  Religion should be a personal journey based on your experiences that informs how your view the world and how you respond to challenges.  Ideally, you have a great guide advisor who has your best interests at heart.  They suggest, they don’t make demands on the outcome of the journey.

“The Undertaking” explores other religious elements.  It asks if the ends justify the means, and what kinds of ways can people be the change they want to see in the world.

Another short story I wrote, “Blood Moon”, introduces readers to what a real and working coven of witches might look like.  The people I introduce in this minority faith run the gambit.  Some of them are elderly, others work professional day jobs, and at least one of them struggles with their mental health/ability to function in a normal society.  The story descends into a horror/fantasy.  Someday, I’d like to write a follow up about all the different ways we as a society should have intervened so the conclusion of “Blood Moon” could have been cheery instead of dark and angry.

“Blood Moon” speaks to the frustration minority faiths have in a Christian-dominated society.  Pushed to fringes, questioned, always playing an ambassador of their faith, and forced to find fellowship in the “other”, even if it’s an imperfect union.


My novel, “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” has the most religious elements of all my stories.  If “Pagan Fiction” were a genre like “Christian Fiction”, that’s how I would describe the work.  It explores so many modern interpretations of paganism, follows a practicing pagan, and has the ‘fantasy’ element of a fae stalking and trying to capture Roxi.  Fantasy is in quotes because I am mirroring a lot of classic mythology in the book.

Supernaturalbeings at work in our universe fascinates me.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” offers one look at what life might be like if these beings were more interactive with humanity.  It’s thrilling and terrifying.

Collectively, I spent months in researching folklore and different pagan beliefs.  I created a personalized religion for my main character, Roxi.  Devotion is her defining characteristic, and it forces Roxi to stand apart from everyone else in her world.  What does a person do when the beliefs they hold most dear isolate them from others?  Is her religion hurting or helping her?  I hope readers are asking these questions about Roxi and themselves.

So how do I sell a “Pagan Fiction” book to a Christian market?  Will the religious questing and pursuit come across to readers?  And even if people get it, will the minority faith structures be compelling?  Is it too liturgical?  I was eager to get into beta readers and learn what landed.  It felt like a big risk for me to write this “urban fantasy” where so little of the elements were fantastic.  The rituals and spells are all real and I portray the results so one might experience them in the real world (i.e. is that underwhelming to the typical fantasy reader).  The Gods and fae I portray are “real” in the sense that I extended their mythology.  I didn‘t give them new powers or different personalities/motives.  Every herb, gesture, and symbol has a wealth of history behind its choice.

It relieved me when the feedback came in.  My beta readers said “this is a deeply religious and theological book.” In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been concerned.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” wasn’t too narrow for readers to relate, and I could use my book to have conversations with other people I’d never dreamed of expressing.  It was magical.

Were their issues in the first draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”, you bet.  Pacing, pacing, pacing.  A lot of setup in the front and all rollercoaster drops in the back.  It also turns out people want a little more exposition, or they want it in different places than I’ve dumped it.  The whole front third needs to be re-written and the most liturgical part of the book, a pagan meet up where many practicing pagans share opposing views, needs to transform because it’s not doing what it needs to do and it introduces too much that doesn’t matter in my book.

Can you read this book and never think about religion?  Absolutely!  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” is currently 76,000 word book and explores a lot of themes where religion is just one, but you can read it as straight fantasy about a woman being stalked, abducted, and attempting to escape the clutches of a creepy obsessive fae creature.  What’s cool about Roxi being pagan: she’s an informed combatant.  She knows fae folklore, so she knows where to be wary and she has ideas of what’s waiting for her on the other side of the veil.

Talk to me.  What parts of your personality show in your writing?  Do you embrace those elements or try to downplay them?  Do readers notice themes and elements in your story, or is it a secret author Easter Egg?

"Making of A Wannabe Writer Pt 3

image from open clipart.org by Arvin61r58

The Writing Cooperative have a great post "Making of a Wannabe Writer". I recommend anyone undertaking a large writing project read their article and answer the questions they present.

Today, I am sharing my responses to their tips and tricks. It should provide readers better insight into what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and whether I'm meeting those goals.  

A formatting note: The number points from the article are in bold and some editing may occur in the expansion of the main point so I can emphasize the parts that resonate with me.  I will provide my responses in italic purple for clarity.

Some Essential Daily Hacks

...make it a point you write everyday. It may be rubbish, not readable at all. But it will help you get into the habit of writing first of all. It will make you disciplined.

Doing that.  Next please.

Make sure your writing is effective. Once written, read it to yourself and try to evaluate if it’s lame or really compact piece.

This is a struggle for me.  What is effective?  Are general impressions posts "effective" are those millions of tips posts that seem to copy and paste each other "effective", is sharing my experience and coming to some conclusions "effective"?  I don't know.  

For me, I'm looking to approach problems in innovative ways and I want the blog to connect to other's individual struggles.

In my creative writing, everything is in review all the time.  It's frustrating to think a few months ago I was "done" with a piece I've since unwound and stitched together another way.  At some point there has to be an end to tinkering.

While you are into writing, Minimize all distractions- that includes your phone! It is probably the greatest killer of discipline!

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My phone isn't my problem, the internet is.  It's hard to not pop in and see how Twitter is going or to pause one blog post and check in on my other blog, or to freeze mid research and writing an impromptu something or other.  

By the time I'm ready to write, my alarm is going off, letting me know it's time to go to work.  

Another work in progress for me it seems.

Don’t procrastinate or worry about being a great blogger/ writer; just write your heart out.

Check.  I have no illusions that I'm a great blogger.  I'd like to be a consistent one, and one that's accidentally helpful.  

In the best of worlds, I'd like to be a blogger who finds her audience for her creative writing and has the opportunity to help other writers find their audience.

During the initial days, it’s better if you just forget about earning. Focus on followers. Bring out quality articles and keep the followers growing steadily.

No problem there, earning isn't even a twinkle in my eye.  No Adsense turned on.  No call to subscribe.  No books, pamphelets, shirts, bags, or mugs for sale.  I take the audience finding and building phase seriously.  There will be no considerations to monetize until I'm getting at least a couple thousand views (a number chosen for how impossible it seems right now) and even then, I think a good indicator for when to sell something is when the audience asks for it.  Like if someone wanted me to curate and publish certain blog posts.  Or if I managed to create a good catch phrase.  Or if I had an anthology published.  

Know well what you write. Have an in depth knowledge and if possible, some personal experience too.

Agreed.  I'm very careful to only post and publish things I have personal experience with.  It's why the blog has to be about my plans, efforts, and results.  I can only speak about what I know works.  

On my Twitter, it keeps me from recommending random books in my feed or posting all those generic "Get Good Quick" posts.  I'm reading them, thinking on them, and even trying some parts, but I am skeptical of them until I see results and worse, I'm bored with them.

"Making of a Wannabe Writer" My Response pt1

from open clipart.org by Eypros

The Writing Cooperative have a great post "Making of a Wannabe Writer". I recommend anyone undertaking a large writing project read their article and answer the questions they present.

Today, I am sharing my responses to these questions. It should provide readers better insight into what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and whether I'm meeting those goals.  

A formatting note: The main questions from the articles are in bold and a chaser question is in normal font.  I will provide my responses in italic purple for clarity.

• 
  

Why do you wish to write? Is it for self satiation, fame or money?

Writing is a compulsion for me.  I feel like I have hundreds of stories bubbling up in me I want to share.  Crafting them and making something larger than myself  is fulfilling 

As far as blogging goes, I have observations during my writing process.  Most often I prefer to share them with my husband or with my writing group, but sometimes they are so repetitive, I feel the need to get them down in print.  That's how the blog arises.  

I don't have the success where I feel I could offer advice.  Still, there are areas of my personal journey that thrive.  I like to record what I'm doing and what results I've seen as a guide for others and a reference for myself.

Who is your target? Talk to yourself about the genre and the suitable target audience. What will be their volume?

My creative writing has several genres.  Fantasy, Urban Fantasy that sometimes borders on Magical Realism, Scifi, supernatural, paranormal, and genre fiction (very little genre).  My writing is character driven, emotion based, and revolves around explore themes instead of plots.  It leans towards a more academic crowd and most people believe it's more female centered (though I still don't know why, but I'll embrace the label).

My creative writing has a smaller but fervent niche and I'm looking for my people.  

My blogging is more large scale.  Where I am in process leans me towards an audience of fellow writers and social media engineers.  Authors because their experience and mine resonates.  Social media engineers may be interested because I'm publishing plans to cultivate a following/sell a produce and I'm also publishing real time results.  This is the kind of things marketing media companies should live for even if I'm only working on a smaller scale.

  I believe as my process evolves it will expand out to publishers, agents, and editors.  As editing is a weakness of mine, I'm most dubious that I'll have something to offer them, but I haven't snuffed all hope of expanding in that direction.

Why should people read this? Can they relate it to their life? Will it be helpful for them? Will it entertain them?

People should read my creative writing because it's a fun ride.  The stories are well constructed and flow with purpose.  The characters realism grounds a story off set by fantastic surroundings.

  People may also enjoy my stories because many of them explore issues I see in the real world and transform them into fictional stories where we can hold a less charged conversation about observation or issue of the day.

It is my goal for this blog to provide insight into how a writer may balance the many tasks required to be a known writer.  This includes making time for creative writing, maintaining a blog, creating and curating a social media presence, submitting to publishers, finding an audience, and supporting other creatives.  I hope to do this by sharing my plans along with progress or setbacks I find along the way.

Identified your genre? Be wise to chose the correct publication for maximum impact and response. This can do wonders to launch you!

This is a loaded question for me.  As someone who sees connections rather than divisions, I'm torn on what "genre" my work falls into.  For simplicity I tell others it's "Urban Fantasy", but I hold personal doubts.  While the settings of my work are modern and magic exists in these worlds, I lack other elements like humor or a romance that most Urban Fantasies experiment with.  I've read "gritty" or "hard boiled" Urban Fantasy but the main leads are men and my leads are women.

  My stories are character driven, the "stuff" happening to them is secondary to how the characters react, where most Urban Fantasies portray all the cool magic stuff with character reactions taking a back seat.  

If someone told me I was writing women's fiction, I wouldn't disagree, except I've read women's fiction and while we are bonded spiritually by themes, the fantasy elements depart from most women's fiction.

My blogging style is far easier to describe.  It's for personal revelation and insight,  A public baring of the soul so we might all learn together.  Upbeat, supportive, and highly female in its presentation.  

My journey is too early to provide "expert" advice but I see myself growing into being a writing coach.  Someone who helps others organize and prioritize their time and efforts.  I also see myself as a publishing scout.  I'm always checking out writing markets and I have a good sense of when others are ready to publish and where to submit.  Just ask my writing group.

Is it impulsive or a passion? Discover if you are passionate about your work. If no, you won’t last long. Try writing about what interests you the most. Blogging doesn’t work on temporary impulses. Persistence is the key!

A little of both.  I've been writing stories since I was six, and I've never gone long without writing. I don't think I could stop writing at this point and I very much want to share my creative work.  

Blogging likewise, is something I've played with since it was a thing. I have an old Livejournal and Insanejournal account that are embarrassing   I'd delete them if I could, but I've lost the email and passwords in long ago.  

Here on blogger, I've played with several formats.  Anytime I wanted to try something journalling became a natural extension of that exploration.  

I have a plan, and I intend to commit, but I've said before.  The only way to be honest is to come back in thirty days and see if I had a habit moment.  

Editing: The Gnat of Writing

image from open clipart.org by Firkin

Recently, I've been writing more quick articles and reviews.  In the past I posted them with no grammar check because I'm not married to any of these little blurbs and editing is exhausting.  If I have to spend hours checking every little thing, I'll never get content out.  All bloggers, writers, and curators know lack of content is a death knell for our livelihoods.  I can't be relevant without constant production.

During this revival, I've realized that having sound content may be as important as having consistent content.  My "personal brand" can't be littered with typos.  What sane editor wants to deal with that?

My blog may be the only time someone sees my writing.  If they don't like the tone and structure in a small informational blog: how will I get them to read a short story or a novel?

To combat my slipshod internal voice, I'm using ProWritingAid on all my blog posts, book reviews, and stories.  This wasn't an easy decision for me because I'm resistant to editing.  It takes longer to edit than it does to write.  It's draining, and it makes me question my ability to be a published writer.  Who would put up with all my little mistakes when there are so many authors who must have a more sophisticated grasp of proper grammar?

Surprise, I don't hate running everything through a grammar check as much as I'd imagined.  There are points that hearten me even.

1. The editing process takes less time the more often I do it.

2. I think my grammar is better.  I'm catching myself more before I hit the editor.

3. I have basic serious mistakes that are crippling my work.

-Example one, I can't keep capitalization consistent for shit.  Don't know why I can't decide if I'm creating a title or if something is a proper noun, but my capitalization consistency is terrible.  It takes a stupid amount of time for me to do a consistency.  No wonder an editor doesn't want to pick me up.  What a flipping nightmare.

-Example two: I can't stick to writing numbers out or typing the word down.  Thankfully, this won't riddle my creative writing but it's all over the blog and I wonder if it exhausts readers.

-Example three: I use two or more adjectives that mean the same thing.  At one point in time, I thought using so many adjectives controlled the tone and drove the reader to my conclusion.  Now I see I'm holding too tight to the reins.

-Example four: I have too many sentence fragments.  This one is the most difficult.  My storytelling style borders on the poetic.  Fragments belong in my work.  But, I may rely too on flow to instill story.

-Example five: I don't use article a or the half as much as ProWritingAid believes I should.  This one I'm still fighting the good fight.  A and the are unnecessary and take away from the tone I want to achieve.  Who knows, maybe the repetitive nature of the feedback will change my mind?

Now that editing takes less time, and I can catch mistakes before I use a check, I resent the process less.  Part of me looks forward to editing because it means I'm one step closer to submitting.

What about you?  Is editing less daunting over time?  Do you have common foils you need to overcome in your writing?  Speak up ^_^