What Not to Do Wednesday on Fixin’ It (and The Rule of Three)

Here’s my Libra horoscope for the day (not that I’m a huge believer in such but there are the occasional moments when I wonder…)

“You don’t seek knowledge just so you’ll be smarter than the next guy. You learn because it’s fun and often quite profitable for you to do so. Your education will reflect your lightness of heart.”

Honestly, grasshopper, that made me feel a little tingly when I read it this morning. I mean, it could’ve been the first cup of caffeine jolting through my system, but I’m going to go with the cosmic coincidence. Because today, I was planning to discuss my Rule of Three of critique.

You see, I’m working on some revisions right now with a manuscript. Which sounds very civilized and simple. Perhaps I should have written it like this: I’m working on some %^&^%$%^^revisions RIGHT NOW with a %^&^%manuscript. 

Ahem. I received some excellent critique from a writer friend and now, I have some serious fixin’ to do, starting with the opening and ending with, well, the ending. That’s A LOT of revision, grasshopper. And oh, how I have resisted it. But the Rule of Three came into play, and so now I must get ‘er done.

So I should probably explain the Rule of Three when it comes to critique. If I get the same critique, three times, from three different writers, I undig my heels and make the changes. Sometimes, I only need one critique to make a change, especially if it’s one of those problems that another writer points out and I slap my head and say, “(whack) How did I miss that?” But if it’s a part of the story that I really, really love, I mean the kind of words that make me pat myself on the back and say, “(Pat, pat) You really are brilliant, aren’t you?” I do NOT want to mess with ‘em.

The Rule of  Three kicks me in the metaphorical butt and says, “Why ask for help if you’re not going to learn from it?” So, dear grasshopper, don’t just nod your head and say, “(Smile) Thanks” when you keep getting the same critique. Take it from someone who’s resisted with every fiber of her being until finally, squashed and wore out, she fixes it.

Because ultimately, I want to be a profitable writer as well as a good one. That fun part of learning, and lightness of heart? Maybe that comes eventually. I’ll let you know.

Tags: critique, What Not To Do Wednesday

Building a Dream Board, Baby

You’ve heard of a dream board, right? A bulletin board or wall or whatever space you choose to slap up words and/or images representational of your dream. And you’ve heard of Oprah, right? She had a talk show for many years where she…okay, I’m not sure what all went on during those shows. I’ve never actually watched an Oprah show. But that’s a story for another day.

Today we’re discussing dream boards and Oprah and oh! Julie Hedlund, too (where I read this post about the dream board).

Honestly, I’m not much of a dream board person. I have bulletin boards with extremely important notes on them. Like “Twitter Password” (where I forgot to write the Twitter password). Or “What are you trying to say, Cathy???” (You’d be surprised how often I lose track of what I’m trying to say–or maybe not.) And I even have a picture or two pinned up as well. There are the Junior Halls and a Pearls Before Swine comic strip (SO hilarious! The strip, I mean, although the Junior Halls are pretty hilarious, too.) But not really what you’d classify as a dream board.

So this whole dream board idea was new to me. But I’m a sucker for making lovely things on the Internets, so I clicked over to the Oprah website and WOW. That Oprah’s everywhere! I mean, that website’s a veritable smorgasbord of self-help. However, in order to avoid getting sucked into the Oprah vortex, you might want to just skip straight to the dream board building.

I designed my very first dream board, and I exported it to my computer so I could add it here (Look! It’s over there, on the right, in the sidebar, too!) and talk about it. But um, I think I’ve gone on quite enough for now. So we’ll look at the stuff on my dream board another day.

In the meantime, you can build your own dream board! And yes, you’ll have to sign up for Oprah.com, but it’s free. You’ll just need a username and a password. (I’ve sorta lost my password already. But it’s probably on my bulletin board, right?)

 

Tags: Dream board, Oprah

Friday’s Fun Find: Walken and YA

Okay. I admit it. I have this Christopher Walken thing. It’s kinda weird, but probably nowhere near as weird as Walken. Anyway, when Elizabeth Dulemba shared this peek of him telling the story of The Three Little Pigs, I had to watch. You don’t have to watch unless you, too, have a thing for Christopher Walken. Or The Three Little Pigs.

So here’s my other fun find for today: Pugaliscious Press is looking for YA  for an anthology!

Here’s a chance for you writers who are all about the short stories. Say around 3,000 to 7500 words. Oh! And your story has to fit the historical romance genre. And even if you’re like me and your story is around 2,000 words, you have till March 30th to spiff up that YA.

Which is a very good thing. Because I have a few Christopher Walken clips to watch before I get down to writing.

Tags: anthology call out, Christopher Walken, Pugalicious Press, Short Stories, submission opportunity, YA

So You Want a Signed E-book…

You may be in luck! Thanks to my in-the-know writer friend, Suzanne Lilly (who coincidentally blogs as TeacherWriter) I found out about Kindlegraph.

Kindlegraph “lets authors send personalized inscriptions and signatures (‘kindlegraphs’) directly to the electronic reading devices of their fans.” A smart fellow by the name of Evan Jacobs came up with the idea, and it’s an application that’s growing every day. There are other applications out there, too. Autography is a service that allows ebook signing as well as photographs with authors.

Ebook signings will never take the place of that moment when you (or Cathy-on-a-Stick) gets to meet a real live author, gush about his or her book, and mug for a photo. But it can provide one more way to connect with readers. And I think that may be a good thing.

Tags: autographing books, autography, E-books, kindlegraph

What a (Digital Book) Deal!

So after I got my Nook Tablet, it seemed like a good idea to download a couple of e-books onto it (so that the Beneficent Mr. Hall wouldn’t accuse me of just getting a Nook so I could play all those nifty game apps. ) Trouble is, I’m…oh, what’s the word?

Cheap. Yeah, that about sums up my spending habits when it comes to books. Which is not to say I don’t buy books. I most assuredly do. I buy my author friends’ books ALL THE TIME. And quite honestly, I need to quit making so many author friends. Anyway, the point is, I decided to look for e-books that were free.

And here’s what I found: a veritable treasure trove of sample books! What a brilliant idea! Publishers produce an e-book that includes 5 to 6 of their authors who’ve recently released books. Let’s see…there was Get Your Book On (Simon and Schuster Younger Readers), and Coolest Chapter Books for Kids and  Awesome Adventures for Kids ( Harper Collins Publishers), Hunger for Dystopian (also Harper Collins), and The Penguin Holiday Sampler (Penguin Publishing), and the list goes on and on.

These sample books are perfect for keeping up with what’s being written in your genre. And all that wonderful writing craft will sink in, and you’ll be a better writer! Or you could just read ‘em for the pure joy of reading.

Of course, there’s always the risk that you’ll love what you’re reading and absolutely have to read the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say) right that minute. Digital books make that possible–and if you’re a publisher, that’s exactly the point. Giving away fiction samples may hook a reader who loves what he/she has tasted.

Which brings me to one of my favorite books that just happens to have one of my essays in it: Flashlight Memories (Silver Boomer Books). Starting at midnight January 16th till midnight of January 17th, the Kindle book will be free! So for 24 hours, you can get the whole book, FREE!

Now, don’t worry if you don’t have a Kindle. You can download the Kindle app (also free) for your computer. And then you can read “A Pickle for a Nickle”  in Flashlight Memories. Plus, you’ll find lots of other wonderful essays about the joy of reading in your free e-book.

And if you happen to spread the word to friends–and they decide to buy Flashlight Memories, well, that would be great. And so much better than wasting money on game apps. Ahem.

Tags: E-books, Flashlight Memories, Sample e-books