NaNoWriMo

Oh it's that time of year again! National Novel Writing Month!

Writers come together spilling their words, ideas, and race to finish a novel. 30 days, 50,000 words Are you game?

I've never entered this contest before. Most of my other writing friends have and say it's a boat load of fun. Have any of you participated in NaNoWriMo? Well here's your chance: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ So gear up, get that brain a spinning and lets write a novel this November.

Happy writing

MADNESS

So now begins the painful thing I like to call waiting. AGGGGGH!

Kidding. No, really I mean it. Don't wait, use this time to write. Clean. Do whatever. 

Did I always do this? Um, no. Past me, old me had no patience. This didn't mean I bugged or emailed each agent/publisher that had my work a million times a day. Nope, I just did things to make myself a little batty, like checked my email. Refreshed the page a thousand times. Played the Oh god, did they get it? Wonder if they got it? Shit I probably sent it wrong. Oh man, did I send it wrong? 

So, how the heck did I stop myself from going completely wacko? Easy, I got busy. I outlined. Wrote. Cleaned. Organized. Seriously, those days when you say, "I can't find shit in this place!" this is your time to make it more accessible. 

So how do you keep your waiting madness at bay?

Page 295

I am on page 295 of my reading...my MS is 320 pages. Soooo close to being done. Phew.

Final read is coming out well. Yay.

Enough about my edits though let's talk about something else. I'd like to talk about Stonewalling.

No one, I mean no one should start stonewalling.

Some of us will eventually do this though. There will come a time you'll believe you know everything. You'll refuse to listen to the advice given to you. Why? Because this person either sounds crazy, is an unagented writer, or has no publishing experience whatsoever. Now, granted I'm not saying follow everyone's advice. I'm saying listen, then judge.

A stonewaller will stop listening and pull a deaf ear on anything that isn't what they want to hear. What's this person know anyways? Well, this person might not have a good writing career for themselves just yet, but they are still thirsty for knowledge. They read lots and lots of books. They know what's working and what isn't. Point is, you can't stonewall, if you do you're hurting yourself in the end.

Happy writing

New look

Did you notice? Oh yes, I went all crazy and changed the blog. I've been posting not as much as usual because I've been busy revising my novel called Spoken. I've gotten two partial requests and they turned into fulls YAY!

A common mistake for writers when they finally get requests for materials is this: They send it as soon as they can. Don't rush. They've already requested it, which means they haven't forgotten about you. Take your time and reread your MS. Once you did this, go ahead and get all the material they've asked for together. Double, even triple check all the items before you send anything out.

Happy Writing

Change...it's an ok thing

Writing changes you. Not only do you see the world differently, but you notice things. Weather... Now you can describe it in a bone chilling, vivid way where everyone can get it. People... the description is detailed to the point anyone can find this person. 

Our writing styles change too. We learn not to double space after a period. We learn the correct way you use quotations. 

"I hate that 'said' bastard!" and He give me the "Shut up, please!" look. 

So what have you learned lately?

Winner!!!

Okay to the Winner for Sheri's contest, I mailed out your prize today. You got some extra goodies, because I'm nice and that's how I roll. Weee. So huge congrats to Jennifer Coffill Peters in winning my prize!


In other news, I'm re-reading the rest of Spoken and making sure it's completely flawless, why? Well, besides the face I want my MS to be in the best Shape possible, but I also started resubmitting my work again. It is being sent to the Subs panel at one of my writing sites I belong to: YALITCHAT.ORG and I'm freaking out wit excitement of course. 

So as I re-read I'm going to be looking for the obvious things, grammar, correct punc, correct spelling or use of words along with plot holes and voices. And since I'm in such a giving mood here is some knowledge for you.

Commas, commas...Blah how you are my enemy. Can you tell I hate commas?

Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet). A comma splice is when two separate sentences are joined by a comma without a conjunction. A comma splice is incorrect. Another way to correct the comma splice is to use a semicolon to connect the two clauses without using a conjunction. 

Examples that are all correct:

This manuscript is excellent, but it still needs to be edited. 

Our first title releases soon, and I am so excited.

Our first title releases soon; I am so excited.

Our first title releases soon. I am so excited.

Serial Comma - Use commas to separate words and groups of words with a series of three or more.

Examples:

This book has awesome dialogue, plot, and characterization.

This next one is a big one that we need to pay close attention to. Use a comma to separate two or more coordinate adjectives that describe the same noun. Be careful not to add a comma before the final adjective and the noun or between non-coordinate adjectives. Here's a helpful hint: if the word and can be inserted between the two adjectives, use a comma. If you can swap the adjectives around and they still make sense, use a comma. A coordinate adjective separately modifies the noun that follows it. Cumulative adjectives do not modify the noun that directly follows it. 

Examples:

This is a strong, funny manuscript.

He wrapped me in an amazing power hug. - You do not use a comma here because they are non-coordinate, and you can't say, "He wrapped me in an amazing and power hug."

Comma to separate essential phrases and clauses:

An essential phrase or clause is used to modify the noun. It also adds critical information to the sentence. We do not set essential phrases or clauses off with commas. 

Example:

The people who work for Month9Books are awesome.

A nonessential phrase or clause adds extra information to the sentence. The phrase or clause can be eliminated without changing the meaning of the sentence. We always set nonessential phrases or clauses off with commas.

Example:

Month9Books, an awesome press, has several titles coming out next year. - Month9Books is named, so the description is nonessential.