Not being able to write is a sad fact of life for a writer. There’s laundry to do, there’s food to cook, there’s sleep to be had. Worse, I have this pesky illness that eats up a lot of my time. I toil day in and day out to keep it at bay and under control. Sometimes, it creeps into my evenings, just when I think I’ve escaped. Worse, the horror of it all often keeps me awake at night and the dread fills my dreams with terror and sadness.
Either a villain is fleeing from the forces of law-and-order or your hero is fleeing from overwhelming danger, but in either case you need a chase scene. Any form of transportation can be used and the overall structure of the narrative will be reasonably uniform although the specifics will change in each case.
If you’ve ever taken a writing course of any kind, you’ve probably heard that phrase.
If you haven’t, the meaning is pretty simple: don’t come out and tell your readers everything they need to know. Instead, show them examples and specific situations that support what you’re trying to say. Doing so often solidifies your points a little better than straight telling.
The truth is it is indeed downright terrifying when any author first looks at it. Yes, this includes traditionally published authors. They are still required to market their work. As a matter of fact, you have to do more than you think. However for the purpose of this article, we will focus on the indie and self-published aspect of marketing. What is book marketing? What is it not? What is a target audience and where can I find them? Is there a secret weapon to making it easier? These are just a few things you as the reader can expect to find.
The other week I attended the Romance Writers of America annual conference in San Antonio, TX.
This was not only my first time at the Romance Writers of America conference, but my first time at any writing conference ever. Attending a writers’ conference is something I’ve always had in my career plan. If there’s ever a time the motto “go big or go home” applies, I’d say it definitely applies to attending a conference for the first time, especially one of the largest national writing conferences in the country, and oh yeah, attending that conference in Texas.
Remember the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil? Ground and shaped to a fine tip, it was the only way to color in those little bubbles on placement tests. Its marks on the page were dark and clear, easy to read. Though I’m dating myself, I have a point (pun intended).
Each author has different tactics of writing. Some authors will work from sunup to sundown while others may have part-time jobs. Some may have a deep love for historical fiction while another has a deep love for romance. Of course, one specific set of writing methods isn’t the same among authors. However, there are some tips and habits that will be very useful to anyone who writes…
If you’re a writer—and especially if you’re a writer who isn’t bringing in a significant (or any) amount of income from your writing—then you probably struggle with feeling guilty a lot of the time. I know I do. Because you see, I’m not just a writer. I’m also a wife and a mother and a good friend to a few wonderful people. I work a day job and I have a side business that I pour my all into. Simply put: I wear a lot of hats. I have a lot of other people counting on me.
When you check your own manuscript for errors, you are probably looking for misspelled words, dodgy grammar, and the inevitable typos. Those are all things you need to correct—but you should also be aware of pesky consistency errors that are commonplace in poorly edited manuscripts.
