Stolen Exercise

Thanks to The Piedmont Writer and E. Elle, I am hosting an "IN THEIR OWN WORDS" series for my second novel, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU. This will give you a chance to hopefully better understand the characters I've created, but mainly has helped me dive deeper into them. Starting Wednesday, you'll be able to meet Christian Wren (my antagonist), Friday will be Marcus Grant (protagonist) and next week, I'll be introducing you to both sides of Adelaide Banvard (protagonist).

If there are any writer's out there having trouble understanding, writing for or just expressing their characters, this is a great exercise and one I will continue to work on with each novel I create.

Mmmm...Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I'm still grateful that you are a part of my journey and hope you have a wonderful day!

I'm getting a lot of work done on the current revisions and hope to send out another round of queries beginning in December. On a side note - I read a post (sorry, I can't remember where) that explained most agents and agencies shut down queries for the holidays. Is December not a good time for querying?

Rules to Write By

Good Monday morning, friends! It' Monday and I'm not at work! Yay :) Sorry for those who are. You'll get your day off soon. Anywho, I wanted to stop by in the middle of my revisions/research paper to let everyone know I've started a new website.

This website was an assignment for my grammar class. Yes, I'm taking a grammar class and it is as boring as you can imagine, but this assignment turned out to be a good thing.

Rules to Write By is a resource for writers of any level to find some answers to grammar questions. Right now, it's really small. Only 5 topics (that was my assignment), but hopefully over the next couple years I can make it into something grand and an actual resource for those of us who struggle with or never learned grammar.

I'm really interested in making this a team effort so we can get as much information out there as possible for writers. Contact me if you're interested in adding your own topic or to give some general feedback about content on the site.

Sloooooooooow

There is not enough time in the day. My revisions are suffering! Chapter 8. That's where I am. Last week I was in Chapter 7. Of course, I didn't expect to have to rewrite so many scenes. A LOT of my content was from other character's POV that aren't my main characters. I'm rewriting them and it's taking a long time! I just have to remember it's for the best.

This weekend Hubby and I are jetting off to Utah for the holiday. I'm praying I can get a chunk of rewrites done and read, and snowboard, and relax, and...oh you get the idea...

What are you doing for the holidays?

Format Me

There are many resources for writers out there. Whether it be a book, discussions with authors, or support from your awesome following, all craft advice is welcome to novice writers such as myself, but can be confusing.

Formatting is one of those confusing subjects.

Seems like every website, book and author page has a different standard. I simply have to remember that it's different for everyone. So I've included a couple shots of what agents are looking for in formatting and would like to hear what your style is.

Taken from Harlequin's website.

Taken from Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript - awesome book

Another great resource for writers is Carolyn Jewel's Writing Advice page on her website. Click here to see how an author formats her MS.

Are these similar to yours or do you have a different way of doing things?

Hell

 

This is round 3 of revisions on ALL BECAUSE OF YOU and I've never been so frustrated. The shark above is an accurate description for me, but I thought it was funny when revisions were referred to as "Revision Hell". I'm quickly learning that this is true! I've always been able to shoot through revisions without problems, and that's probably why I'm not published yet. I started this round about 2 weeks ago and I'm only in the middle of Chapter 7! I can honestly say the MS is getting better, but so far I've removed over 70 PAGES of filler. 70 pages. That's a lot of words. This is a suspense. I'm not sure what the general word count is, but I started with 87,000. Hopefully a lot of work can be done this weekend.

What do you consider Hell?

Query Crit Contest!

Lynette Label over at Chatterbox Chitchat is giving away a professional query critique! Click here for details on how to enter! 4 lucky winners will get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as long as you enter before November 12!

Giveaway!

Jessica over at Alliterative Allomorph is having a giveaway over at her blog for celebrating 400 followers! Woot! I can only dream of finding that many new friends :)

Her giveaway:

1st place: $40 Amazon Giftcard 

2nd place: $20 Amazon Giftcard
3rd place: $10 Amazon Giftcard
Runner up: Surprise! Something Greek!

And if she reaches 500 followers...

1st place: $80 Amazon Giftcard
2nd place: $40 Amazon Giftcard
3rd place: $20 Amazon Giftcard
Runner up: Surprise! Something Greek!

You need to go enter!

Keeping It Cool

Revisions are grueling and I know many of you can relate. I feel as if I'm rewriting the entire thing, but I can definitely tell you that my MS is getting better and better!

Since this MS, I've written two others and all writers know, the more you write, the better your craft. I've learned a lot since finishing ALL BECAUSE YOU and am happy to incorporate that new knowledge into the revised MS. A short list of items include using backstory through dialogue and cutting down POV's (I had a problem with this, having over six points of view in this MS - now down to just protagonists and antagonist). I've also spiffied (not a word) up my first page and the first chapter to hopefully catch the reader's attention. No major plot revisions so far. Thank heavens. But I have a feeling they're coming!

What is your best advice/knowledge you would like to pass on to novice writers?