Archive | January, 2014

When Is It Time To Have A Craft Partner Review Your Manuscript?

By on January 22, 2014 in Alena Tauriainen, Beth Vogt, Brainstorming Strategies and Tips, Edie Melson, Editing Basics, Next Step on the Writing Journey

I’m so thankful for friends like Beth Vogt and Edie Melson who took the time to answer my “newbie writer” questions on craft/critique partners.

Here’s the first question for this segment.

(AAT) Now we’ve got this fast draft and we have a craft partner. We have an established relationship with a craft partner. When is a good time for someone to look at your work-in-progress?

(BKV) When I fast draft I usually like to set it aside for a couple of weeks. I’m usually worn out and it’s good to give distance for a couple of weeks. Then when I get together with my craft partner, I usually let them know what I’m looking for.

As far as I’m concerned there’s two ways to critique a book.

You can be looking for big picture edits. You just want to know; Is this scene working or are you feeling the emotions? Or you can be looking at fine-line edits, where you are really trying to polish a scene. You have to let your critique partner know what you are looking for. There have been times where I’ve gone into a critique group and said, “Your welcome to read this scene. I want you to know I’ve had a rough week, and I really don’t want feedback from you all.” I have been that honest with them, because I couldn’t even handle them telling me a word was misspelled. It was just that bad of a week. I think that in a really good critique group you can be that honest with them. They’ve gone ahead and read it and said, “Loved every word of it Beth.” They just left me alone for that week.

(EM) I like to be able to brainstorm before I start a book and get things laid out. I generally have an idea and it sparks my creativity to do that. When I’m in a midst of a first draft, its not a time I want craft partners chiming in. I have to have a big picture of the whole book before I start listening to other people’s suggestion, even good suggestions. I need to get my arms around it first. I do what Beth does and let it sit for a couple of weeks before I go back in. Yes, there have been times where I’ve said. “Look guys, if you can’t say something nice don’t anything at all.

(AAT) Do you think you should have two partners, one person to help brainstorm your plot and someone else to help with critiquing? What does your process look like?

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One Thing Marketing: A different sort of marketing post

By on January 21, 2014 in Melissa Tagg, One Thing Marketing, Platform-building, Writing Life

Usually this bi-weekly One Thing Marketing “column” is meant to give small, practical tips for marketing you and your writing. But I’ve kept having the same niggling marketing thoughts in the back of my head for a couple weeks now and I decided I’d finally let them out. Next time we’ll go back to the usual content as I begin a series on the components of a marketing plan. But for today, like I said, a little something different…

So, there’s something I’m realizing more and more when it comes to marketing: If you talk about it long enough, some wrong mentality can creep in pretty easily. And that wrong mentality basically boils down to thinking we control our book sales. And it usually brings along with it a pesky dose of stress about how the book is doing and worry that we aren’t doing enough marketing work on our end.

Which is kind of funny, really, because you’ll always hear the stat that 80% of book sales still happen due to word of mouth. So unless we’re actually consistently putting words in other people’s mouths (and then hey, while we’re at it, pulling out their wallets and guiding them through the process of buying our books), we simply can’t control what happens on the buyer’s end.

And it’s these thoughts that have had me pondering lately how, really, the most important piece of any marketing plan isn’t social media wizadry or that awesome idea no one else has thought up or the best-looking newsletter on the block or a slew of book-signings. No. It’s this:

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What is an Extreme Book Makeover?

By on January 20, 2014 in 1. Discover your story, 2. Create Your Story, 3. Publish your Story, Author Mistakes, Extreme Book Makeover

I remember the first time I got feedback on a story I’d written.

“Overwriting.” “Flat characters.” “Unbelievable plot.” “Doesn’t draw me in.”

I stared at the rejection letter, baffled. (While wiping my tears). I hadn’t a clue how to decipher the words on the page – let alone fix my story.

But, if I wanted to be published, I had to figure it out. So, I “unpacked the criticism” as my friend literary agent Chip MacGregor would say and learned how to give my writing – and my books – an extreme book makeover.

I love Extreme Home Makeover. I know it’s off the air now, but I used to be glued to it, curious how these professionals would tear down and rebuild a home to suit a family’s needs. They assessed each problem, got a vision for the project and worked in their skill area to create an Aha! Effect.

This is the task facing every aspiring (and published!) author. We must learn to step back from our stories, look at them with a critical eye, figure out what a good manuscript looks like, and then use our unique voice to make that happen.

But how does an author look at their book objectively and give it a makeover?

This year on the Monday MBT blog, we’ll be covering the 5-Step process of an Extreme Book Makeover.

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Getting Past Stuck

By on January 18, 2014 in 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, Encourage Me!, Life Coaching, Nurturing Creativity, Nurturing the Soul, Reba Hoffman, Writer's life, Writing Life, Writing Life Coaching

Ever seen one of those mouse traps with the sticky stuff on it? Rather than a spring-loaded steel bar that whacks the rodent in the head, it glues them to the trap. They smell the cheese, walk onto the trap and are instantly attached to it.

Don’t you feel like that sometimes? I mean, you’re tempted by the luster of being a published author. You inch closer, perhaps a bit cautiously at first. Ahhhh, but the lure of the cheese propels you forward.

Finally, when your prize gets within an arm’s length, you suddenly become trapped. Try as you may, you can’t budge from where you are. And, wouldn’t you know, where you landed in the trap places you just out of reach of the cheese. It’s so close you can smell it but you just can’t partake of it.

The writing journey is like that sometimes. It doesn’t matter where you are on your journey, you’ll eventually end up in the trap. And, regardless of the degree of success you’ve already achieved, stuck is stuck.

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