Whew, what a rush! I'm taking a course to help me write my novel, where every 10 days I turn in 10,000 words to the instructor. She reviews the chapters and sends me feedback on what needs to be improved.
I just finished fixing up the first few chapters, though I am sure they still need a touch-up or two. The feedback was great; constructive but still positive. Best part of all? She likes the story! A person can be taught the mechanics of writing, but as someone once said - it is very difficult to teach the craft of writing.
Since I was basking in the glory of my review from the instructor, the news that neither of my short stories placed in the Wirter's Digest Annual Competition didn't hit me too hard.
On to session two and the next 10k!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Hard Work, Work
"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."
- Colin Powell
It sure has been a while! Things got a little crazy around here, but hey, that's life.
I decided to take a 15 week, advanced novel writing course to help me with my book. I write 10,000 words every 10 days, and it gets reviewed by Terri Valentine - a published author and screenwriter. It is an amazing opportunity, and I am so thankful I was able to participate in this course.
In the wee hours of the morning today, I turned in my first 10,000 and I am excited to get started on the next 10.
Also, I am anxiously awaiting the results of the Writer's Digest Annual competition, for which I submitted two short stories.
There is also a Sci-Fi/Fantasy contest that I am debating entering. I was thinking of doing a supernatural spin-off on my surrogacy experiences. It should be interesting!
- Colin Powell
It sure has been a while! Things got a little crazy around here, but hey, that's life.
I decided to take a 15 week, advanced novel writing course to help me with my book. I write 10,000 words every 10 days, and it gets reviewed by Terri Valentine - a published author and screenwriter. It is an amazing opportunity, and I am so thankful I was able to participate in this course.
In the wee hours of the morning today, I turned in my first 10,000 and I am excited to get started on the next 10.
Also, I am anxiously awaiting the results of the Writer's Digest Annual competition, for which I submitted two short stories.
There is also a Sci-Fi/Fantasy contest that I am debating entering. I was thinking of doing a supernatural spin-off on my surrogacy experiences. It should be interesting!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
The Pursuit of Perfection
"Don't let perfectionism stop you."
- Laurell K. Hamilton
That is the title of the blog post by one of my favorite authors, and I think it goes a long way to explain why many writers never get past, or even complete, their first draft. It is certainly a helpful piece of advice, and reminds writers that there will not be just one, two, or even seven drafts of a novel.
I would love to point out, "Oh, that is easy for someone who is already a successful published author," but honestly you hear the same advice on most blogs by authors. It may be taking a slightly different slant on the topic, such as the great swampy middle and Jim Butcher, but all in all the advice is the same. Put your head down and drive on.
So that is what I'm going to do. I'll still probably try to get it right the first time, but I'm sure it won't happen.
- Laurell K. Hamilton
That is the title of the blog post by one of my favorite authors, and I think it goes a long way to explain why many writers never get past, or even complete, their first draft. It is certainly a helpful piece of advice, and reminds writers that there will not be just one, two, or even seven drafts of a novel.
I would love to point out, "Oh, that is easy for someone who is already a successful published author," but honestly you hear the same advice on most blogs by authors. It may be taking a slightly different slant on the topic, such as the great swampy middle and Jim Butcher, but all in all the advice is the same. Put your head down and drive on.
So that is what I'm going to do. I'll still probably try to get it right the first time, but I'm sure it won't happen.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Grammar Fascists
"If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you
will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with
an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a
sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to
the foyer before we politely escort you from the building." - Kyle Wiens, "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why."
As some of you may know, I frequent a writing website known as Writer's Digest. It is a great place for information, articles, classes and so on for the writing world. When I hopped on over there today there was an article that caught my attention immediately. "Grammar Rules: CEO Stands Up For Grammar (& Why That’s Important)".
As far as grammar is concerned I'll admit to a bit of a teeth grinding, hair-pulling reaction to some of what I see on the internet. Let alone the mistakes I find in writing which has supposedly been through the hands of someone paid to catch said mistakes.
I am nowhere near perfect in the eyes of the Grammar Gods, and as such I rarely call people out on their mistakes. For one, people who make these mistakes probably do not care enough to fix it. I mean really, these are probably not people who lay awake at night fretting over the proper uses of there, they're, and their.
Secondly, the inevitable back and forth of, "I won't listen to what you have to say because your grammar is horrendous!" and "Oh yeah, well your just a grammar Nazi!", gets old after the millionth time. (Hah, see what I did there?)
Sure, it can be difficult to get past how people write in order to comprehend what they're writing about, or even enjoy the writing. *cough* Fifty Shades of Grey *cough*. Does this mean we should belittle and chastise the people who make these mistakes? Eh, I personally don't think it will make a difference. Does it make them stupid? Not necessarily. Will they come across as such? Probably.
On the other hand if they are complaining about people like the CEO above for not hiring them, I find I have little sympathy. People should understand there are certain expectations that come with certain jobs.
"If u tiep lik thys", or "Me to! I'll be their in a second", the person should not be surprised if a company passes them over during the hiring process. Spelling is a whole other animal, and it seems to be taking just as much of a beating as grammar these days.
A writer who writes this way, in my oh so humble opinion, is just lazy. Why say you are dedicated to a craft, but only learn how to do half of it? It would be like a carpenter learning how to cut, carve, whittle and what have you, with wood, but not learn how to put it together properly.
Boggles the mind, it does.
Any way enough of that. Are there grammar mistakes in this post? Yeah, probably. Like I said before, I am certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. That is one of the pitfalls of writing an article on grammar; people will inevitably try and find as many mistakes as they can and blast you for them.
Aside from people whose fields of interest or careers are specific to the proper crafting of grammar, I feel a certain leniency should be applied. It does not, however, mean all rules are out the window for everyone except them.
As some of you may know, I frequent a writing website known as Writer's Digest. It is a great place for information, articles, classes and so on for the writing world. When I hopped on over there today there was an article that caught my attention immediately. "Grammar Rules: CEO Stands Up For Grammar (& Why That’s Important)".
As far as grammar is concerned I'll admit to a bit of a teeth grinding, hair-pulling reaction to some of what I see on the internet. Let alone the mistakes I find in writing which has supposedly been through the hands of someone paid to catch said mistakes.
I am nowhere near perfect in the eyes of the Grammar Gods, and as such I rarely call people out on their mistakes. For one, people who make these mistakes probably do not care enough to fix it. I mean really, these are probably not people who lay awake at night fretting over the proper uses of there, they're, and their.
Secondly, the inevitable back and forth of, "I won't listen to what you have to say because your grammar is horrendous!" and "Oh yeah, well your just a grammar Nazi!", gets old after the millionth time. (Hah, see what I did there?)
Sure, it can be difficult to get past how people write in order to comprehend what they're writing about, or even enjoy the writing. *cough* Fifty Shades of Grey *cough*. Does this mean we should belittle and chastise the people who make these mistakes? Eh, I personally don't think it will make a difference. Does it make them stupid? Not necessarily. Will they come across as such? Probably.
On the other hand if they are complaining about people like the CEO above for not hiring them, I find I have little sympathy. People should understand there are certain expectations that come with certain jobs.
"If u tiep lik thys", or "Me to! I'll be their in a second", the person should not be surprised if a company passes them over during the hiring process. Spelling is a whole other animal, and it seems to be taking just as much of a beating as grammar these days.
A writer who writes this way, in my oh so humble opinion, is just lazy. Why say you are dedicated to a craft, but only learn how to do half of it? It would be like a carpenter learning how to cut, carve, whittle and what have you, with wood, but not learn how to put it together properly.
Boggles the mind, it does.
Any way enough of that. Are there grammar mistakes in this post? Yeah, probably. Like I said before, I am certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. That is one of the pitfalls of writing an article on grammar; people will inevitably try and find as many mistakes as they can and blast you for them.
Aside from people whose fields of interest or careers are specific to the proper crafting of grammar, I feel a certain leniency should be applied. It does not, however, mean all rules are out the window for everyone except them.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Go, baby, go!
"Dreams get you into the future, and add excitement to the present."
-Robert Conklin
The new revision was a hit with the literary agent, and she told me to send my manuscript her way once I have it completed!
Whoo!
I'm still excited about the class, and the new perspective it has brought to my writing. I found the missing link for some of the ideas about the story I thought would never come together, while others were sadly scrapped in the face of literary harmony.
It was an amazingly positive experience, and I'm looking forward to this next step.
-Robert Conklin
The new revision was a hit with the literary agent, and she told me to send my manuscript her way once I have it completed!
Whoo!
I'm still excited about the class, and the new perspective it has brought to my writing. I found the missing link for some of the ideas about the story I thought would never come together, while others were sadly scrapped in the face of literary harmony.
It was an amazingly positive experience, and I'm looking forward to this next step.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Revision and Heart Palpitations
When I sent in my, regrettably, late revision to the workshop teacher, I told her how sorry I was about the mix-up. Then, I saw her reply in my email inbox and I couldn't breathe....just to find out it was her letting me know it was okay, but no comments on my revision yet.
Now my heart is going insane, I'm anxious, and extremely nervous. Around one in ten to half the people in the workshop get asked to present more of their work, or get offered representation. While that would be amazing, I am already over the moon that an agent believes my writing is great. Of course, it doesn't stop me from crossing my fingers she'll want more.
I might be more nervous than the day I got married. At least I knew that was a sure thing, all this waiting is like proposing to someone and they haven't given you an answer yet.
GAH!
Now my heart is going insane, I'm anxious, and extremely nervous. Around one in ten to half the people in the workshop get asked to present more of their work, or get offered representation. While that would be amazing, I am already over the moon that an agent believes my writing is great. Of course, it doesn't stop me from crossing my fingers she'll want more.
I might be more nervous than the day I got married. At least I knew that was a sure thing, all this waiting is like proposing to someone and they haven't given you an answer yet.
GAH!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Time Zone Fail
I had a major headdesk moment today; I forgot the workshop runs on Eastern time and not Pacific time. This means I turned in my revision three hours late for the biggest FML moment of the year.
I'm going to go cry in a corner now.
I'm going to go cry in a corner now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)