Hi
I have a few links you might find interesting today.
First off, The Writer Diaries, the awesome blog I am part of, is giving away a query + first 10 page crit. This is the chance to get several great pairs of eyes over your work, so go here and enter.
Secondly we are discussing the worst/best writing advice you've ever been given. Would love to hear your thoughts here. What intrigues me about this discussion is that I think it shows that not all advice fits everyone. What works for one doesn't work for another, you know? It's about finding your own path.
And third, Simon has written an incredibly useful post on UK vs. US cover letters here (which is the difference between a UK Cover and a US Query letter. If you are thinking of querying in both countries, read it. If you are UK based and all you find is US based advice, read it. I found it a very useful summary. Obviously, you have to check the instructions with the agent you are querying, but I think it's helpful.
Also, as a UK person, when I first saw all these online contests I did notice how it is often US style querying to enter, which as somebody writing UK cover letters threw me.
I hope you find those useful!
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Monday, 18 February 2013
Are you "A-Z" ing?
Who out there is joining in the A-Z challenge, or has in the past? I am considering joining in - am trying to work out if I can realistically post that much in April! So I am saving signing up until I figure that out.
I have an idea for a theme: what I have learned about writing from watching TV. I have seen similar posts covering this, but I thought an A-Z of it might be fun. Would anyone read that? Is it overdone? My other ? ideas are from books/movies but TV feels easier.
Are you joining in? Do you have a theme?
I have an idea for a theme: what I have learned about writing from watching TV. I have seen similar posts covering this, but I thought an A-Z of it might be fun. Would anyone read that? Is it overdone? My other ? ideas are from books/movies but TV feels easier.
Are you joining in? Do you have a theme?
Friday, 15 February 2013
Celebrate Small Things... 15 Feb
Hello!
Yes it is time to CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS. HURRAH!
Full info here but in short the rules are:
Sign up on the linky list (below), post the small things you are celebrating in your blog, and then hop around and say 'hurrah' to others and join their celebrations.
Please do try and visit at least a few other blogs and offer congratulations if you can.
My celebrations for this week are:
I have reached a few days off, and work has been busy so the rest will be welcome!
A yummy Mexican dinner. Hurrah for quesadilla!
The lovely flowers + chocs I got for V Day. Yes it's all a card company exercise in making money, but they were still v. nice to receive.
All of YOU.
What are you celebrating? Would anybody be into tweeting small celebratory things if I thought up a hashtag?
Yes it is time to CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS. HURRAH!
Full info here but in short the rules are:
Sign up on the linky list (below), post the small things you are celebrating in your blog, and then hop around and say 'hurrah' to others and join their celebrations.
Please do try and visit at least a few other blogs and offer congratulations if you can.
My celebrations for this week are:
I have reached a few days off, and work has been busy so the rest will be welcome!
A yummy Mexican dinner. Hurrah for quesadilla!
The lovely flowers + chocs I got for V Day. Yes it's all a card company exercise in making money, but they were still v. nice to receive.
All of YOU.
What are you celebrating? Would anybody be into tweeting small celebratory things if I thought up a hashtag?
Monday, 11 February 2013
Is there Blogging Etiquette?
Here's something I have been pondering lately: is there a 'blogging etiquette'?
I.e. do you think it is polite to behave a particular way while blogging and commenting. By that I do not mean the obvious 'don't be rude/insulting'. I mean issues like: do you reply to every comment you get? Do you expect people to reply to you if you comment? If new people comment, do you visit their blog in return? Only if they follow you? Do you auto-follow back?
Phew that's a lot of questions!
I see it this way: certainly if people comment, I reply. I do not, however, always expect people to respond to my comments, if I comment on their posts, which is funny. I don't always go back to see if they have, or sign up for comments, though I often do. Time just doesn't allow it.
One thing I have noticed once or twice is, say, 10 people will have commented and the blogger has replied to 6 of them. Okay, if the other 4 only said 'Great post!' then perhaps there's not a lot to reply to that. But I have been one of the 4 with a chatty comment and wondered why I wasn't replied to. Not that I mind - blogger's prerogative - but it set me wondering.
I hope I follow back most of the people who follow me - I have certainly tried to, let me know if I haven't. I feel like I have been getting used to blogging and how it all works, so certainly I may not always have visited commenters back or followed back as I would like. Sometimes time and life runs away with me, and I can't reply to comments etc. as quick as I'd like.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
I won't be here Wed with a post, but will return Fri to celebrate small things.
I.e. do you think it is polite to behave a particular way while blogging and commenting. By that I do not mean the obvious 'don't be rude/insulting'. I mean issues like: do you reply to every comment you get? Do you expect people to reply to you if you comment? If new people comment, do you visit their blog in return? Only if they follow you? Do you auto-follow back?
Phew that's a lot of questions!
I see it this way: certainly if people comment, I reply. I do not, however, always expect people to respond to my comments, if I comment on their posts, which is funny. I don't always go back to see if they have, or sign up for comments, though I often do. Time just doesn't allow it.
One thing I have noticed once or twice is, say, 10 people will have commented and the blogger has replied to 6 of them. Okay, if the other 4 only said 'Great post!' then perhaps there's not a lot to reply to that. But I have been one of the 4 with a chatty comment and wondered why I wasn't replied to. Not that I mind - blogger's prerogative - but it set me wondering.
I hope I follow back most of the people who follow me - I have certainly tried to, let me know if I haven't. I feel like I have been getting used to blogging and how it all works, so certainly I may not always have visited commenters back or followed back as I would like. Sometimes time and life runs away with me, and I can't reply to comments etc. as quick as I'd like.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
I won't be here Wed with a post, but will return Fri to celebrate small things.
Friday, 8 February 2013
Celebrate the Small Things - 8/Feb
It's that time again, yes time to CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS.
The instructions are simple. Full info here but in short:
Sign up on the linky list (below), post what small things you are celebrating in your blog, and hop around and say 'YAY' 'WOO' to others and join their celebrations.
Please do try and visit at least a few other blogs and offer congratulations if you can.
My celebrations for this week are:
What are you celebrating this week?!?! Please visit peeps on the linky. *HUGS YOU ALL.
The instructions are simple. Full info here but in short:
Sign up on the linky list (below), post what small things you are celebrating in your blog, and hop around and say 'YAY' 'WOO' to others and join their celebrations.
Please do try and visit at least a few other blogs and offer congratulations if you can.
My celebrations for this week are:
- Dinner out with friends - yummy Thai :)
- Made it through a few more chapters of line edits!
- I got the blow up bed back in its box after the boyf's bro stayed over. THIS IS TO CELEBRATE. They never squish back down the same!
What are you celebrating this week?!?! Please visit peeps on the linky. *HUGS YOU ALL.
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
IWSG: February
It is February and time for an edition of the Insecure Writers Support Group. Check out the link for the other writers taking part and sharing their insecurities.
This month I have been thinking about blogging and tweeting. I am involved in the excellent Writer Diaries and am posting there, and more here, and have been trying to tweet more too.
I say trying because my time (due to work, life, chores, etc) is limited, and I can't spend as much time on twitter or blogging as I would like.
What I do find hard is how to use twitter. There are a lot of people who use it to publicise - links to their books on sale, links to their blog posts, what have you. There's only a certain amount I take these in when I am scanning my list in the short amount of time I have to read my twitter, and so I am wary about the amount I post these. I could probably link to my blog posts more.
However there is also a form of self publicity which takes the form of positive blog posts and tweets about oneself. I don't mean these coming from a 'big-headed' point of view. I don't believe self confidence or self belief has to be from an arrogant or big-headed POV and I think it's easy to pick out when posts/tweets are meant that way.
Most of the ones I see, and ones I mean, are people posting 'ooh just read my WIP and it's actually EXCELLENT' or whatever and that's absolutely cool. Good for you for saying so. If you don't who else will. Part of being a writer, whatever way you publish, will be to promote yourself.
Why am I not happy making similar tweets or posts? Why do these make me insecure? Like everyone would see right through to my secret rubbish-ness or think I was boasting or ...something stops me.
Sometimes I wonder if this is a British self-deprecating thing. We don't say we're good at things. We say we're a bit pants (aka rubbish, not the things you put on your legs) and we wait for someone to correct us. Though I hugely stereotype here (plenty of Brits who self promote!), it's true in my case, anyway.
What do you think? Am I worrying too much? Is it just straddling a line in *how* you self promote and be positive about yourself? Interested to know your thoughts!
This month I have been thinking about blogging and tweeting. I am involved in the excellent Writer Diaries and am posting there, and more here, and have been trying to tweet more too.
What I do find hard is how to use twitter. There are a lot of people who use it to publicise - links to their books on sale, links to their blog posts, what have you. There's only a certain amount I take these in when I am scanning my list in the short amount of time I have to read my twitter, and so I am wary about the amount I post these. I could probably link to my blog posts more.
However there is also a form of self publicity which takes the form of positive blog posts and tweets about oneself. I don't mean these coming from a 'big-headed' point of view. I don't believe self confidence or self belief has to be from an arrogant or big-headed POV and I think it's easy to pick out when posts/tweets are meant that way.
Most of the ones I see, and ones I mean, are people posting 'ooh just read my WIP and it's actually EXCELLENT' or whatever and that's absolutely cool. Good for you for saying so. If you don't who else will. Part of being a writer, whatever way you publish, will be to promote yourself.
Why am I not happy making similar tweets or posts? Why do these make me insecure? Like everyone would see right through to my secret rubbish-ness or think I was boasting or ...something stops me.
Sometimes I wonder if this is a British self-deprecating thing. We don't say we're good at things. We say we're a bit pants (aka rubbish, not the things you put on your legs) and we wait for someone to correct us. Though I hugely stereotype here (plenty of Brits who self promote!), it's true in my case, anyway.
What do you think? Am I worrying too much? Is it just straddling a line in *how* you self promote and be positive about yourself? Interested to know your thoughts!
Monday, 4 February 2013
First Drafts or Revisions?
Dear readers, I am currently in the throes of line edits for my WIP.
As I edit, I've been thinking about the different parts of the writing process, and what I enjoy about them.
Each part gives me satisfaction in a different way. The first draft streams out of me. I think about it in the shower or when I should be sleeping. I can't wait to get it out and down on paper. I enjoy spending time with characters and a story just becoming new to me.
Big picture revisions are fun too. I can see the building blocks falling into place. I feel like 'real work' is being done in getting the story to work.
Line edits are satisfying in a different way. I can see the prose tighten and improve in front of me. I feel the style and quality of my writing truly gets better at this point.
There is a point, during both sets of revisions, where my motivation becomes more about completing the act and getting to the end, than about the drive to edit.
How about you? What do you enjoy about different stages in the writing process? Do you have a stage you like best?
As I edit, I've been thinking about the different parts of the writing process, and what I enjoy about them.
Each part gives me satisfaction in a different way. The first draft streams out of me. I think about it in the shower or when I should be sleeping. I can't wait to get it out and down on paper. I enjoy spending time with characters and a story just becoming new to me.
Big picture revisions are fun too. I can see the building blocks falling into place. I feel like 'real work' is being done in getting the story to work.
Line edits are satisfying in a different way. I can see the prose tighten and improve in front of me. I feel the style and quality of my writing truly gets better at this point.
There is a point, during both sets of revisions, where my motivation becomes more about completing the act and getting to the end, than about the drive to edit.
How about you? What do you enjoy about different stages in the writing process? Do you have a stage you like best?
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