Monday, December 27, 2010

Seeing The Light Of Day

What all authors want is for their writing to see the light of the day! Starting January 2nd (New Year's Day IS a holiday, in my book!) I will be finishing the opus that I began for NaNoWriMo 2010, editing it, rewriting it, editing again, rewriting, editing, then sending it off to a professional editor. After which I will independently publish it.

Publishing will be the first step in the process of actually doing something with my work - getting it seen by someone other than a close friend. I do have books out there, but they are compendiums of reviews and interviews that I have done in the Tarot world. Getting to the actual published product requires feedback of some kind. One way to do this is to join a critique group. I have not taken that step yet, and don't intend to with this book. I will have my book professionally edited, and will act on the editors suggestions. I have an idea that my voice will become stronger and more focused with the help of a good editor!

What else can I do to get feed back? I have been thinking about entering different levels of contests in my genre (mystery), just to have my work out there. I had not even considered that I would be getting some good feedback for my efforts. I will definitely be doing this!

The other thing that I have to start doing is to pay attention to the "how" of other writers. How are they writing? How are their presenting their characters POV? What is currently popular in my genre? How is the writing world changing? My aim is to be able to change with it in a very smooth fashion.

The year 2011 will see many changes for me - not the least of which will be having my first book published. (In the field of Tarot.) May each of my writer friends embrace their new year with passion and intent!

(c) December 2010 Bonnie Cehovet

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my readers who celebrate Christmas, as I do. Happy Holidays to all of my readers that celebrate other holiday traditions. This post is my way of giving back to the writing world. I am gong to share some links here that I found of value, and that you may also. Waitng for Mercury retrograde to finish writing my NaNoWriMo book, and then to begin editing/rewriting it.

http://http//www.blogaid.net/resources This is a link to video tutorials for Word Press Text Editor, and for Working With Images On Web Resizer.

http://http://www.publaw.com/ This is a link to the Publishing Law Center.

http://http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp This is a link to a site on grammer and punctuation rules.

http://http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ This is a link to an excellent blog on writing.

http://http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/marketing-tip-library-love.html This is a linnk to an excellent article on marketing tips.

http://http://theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/how-to-write-the-first-draft-writing-tips-from-writers/ This is a link on how to write a first draft.

http://http://www.write-thing.com/2010/05/12/making-a-writing-bible-an-essential-tool-for-story-writers/ This is a link to writing a Bible for your book.

I hope that you enjoy these links, and fnd them as useful as I did. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and a Joyous Holiday Season!

(c) December 2010 Bonnie Cehovet

Long Chapters Or Short Chapters - What Is Your Preference?

Does it make a difference to a reader whether the chapters in a book are long or short? It does to me. I like shorter chapters, as they feed...