From First to Second Draft: The Journey Continues…

May 19, 2011

From my Newsletter, Spring 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A student who finished her first draft (yeah!) asked me, How should I approach doing the edit? If you’ve taken my and others’ advice and let yourself just write out the first draft to the end, there are a bunch of things you have to look at in the [...]

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Are Times Really So Bad?

May 5, 2011

From my Newsletter, February 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am being asked frequently, is this a bad time to look for an agent? Isn’t it a bad time to try to sell a book to a publisher? Or I’m being told with a knowing nod, that things are bad in publishing right now. Is this the truth? [...]

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Self-Publishing – What, Why, How – and Why Now?

April 21, 2011

From my Newsletter, January 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today I want to write about the question of self-publishing versus a commercial publisher. In the past this was an easier decision. Self-publishing required quite a bit of money, and many people didn’t have the wherewithal to do it. But now, with on-demand publishing, this choice has become a [...]

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New Year's Resolutions?

January 20, 2011

I hate new year’s resolutions. The new year is just an arbitrary date created by a linear calendar that happens to start in the dead of winter. And resolutions are usually just lists of things we think we “should” do but haven’t been able to. So a month, or even a few weeks, in you [...]

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Completing That Book: The Seven Stages

December 20, 2010

From my Newsletter, Winter 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A student sent me an email. She’d been working on her manuscript a long time, and I’d asked her if she’d gotten it done. She said she was surprised that it was almost done but there were more things than she thought involved in finishing. I told her, well [...]

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Managing Documents

December 13, 2010

From my Newsletter, Summer 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you first began to write your book, you probably just opened a new file in Word and started typing. You didn’t think about how to organize it, you were probably just grateful you got started. But now maybe you have 100 pages and you aren’t sure what you’ve [...]

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Finding Time to Write

December 6, 2010

From my Newsletter, Spring 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The issue I’ve been finding my clients struggling with lately is finding the time to write in the middle of your life. How can you make time for it? The key is, you have to make writing your top priority, and commit to your schedule no matter what it [...]

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A Space of One's Own: Where Writers Write

November 25, 2010

From my Newsletter, Late Autumn 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Where do you write? Do you have a space you are comfortable with? Long before Virginia Woolf wrote A Room of One’s Own, writers needed some space. I’m sure most of us would love to have the studio on the back of the property as Virginia Woolf did. [...]

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Editing 101: How Much, What Kind, and When?

November 11, 2010

From my Newsletter, Fall 2007. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A couple of clients have been asking me how you know what level of editing to do when. They were all non-fiction people, but I think these guidelines apply to both fiction and non-fiction. However, with fiction, you may not get to the putting it together part until you’ve [...]

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The Seven Basic Plots

October 28, 2010

From my Newsletter, May 2007. Last newsletter I promised a fuller description of my new favorite book, “The Seven Basic Plots” by Christopher Booker (no kidding, that’s his name!). It’s published by Continuum in paperback and it’s over 700 pages long. (See the link below if you are interested in purchasing it.) Whether you’re working [...]

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