The Olympics have been contagious, infectious, feverish and glorius. I have spent the past seventeen days juggling work, writing, sleeping and the quest for the gold. Struck by tragedy before the opening ceremonies, I rode the wave of emotions of all viewers, the highs and the lows, more tragedy and more gold and then the almost gold by Team USA.
Inspired by the sheer determination of the participants I hurl myself into my go-for-gold challenge of writing my third novel. Plowing through the calendar towards completion by June thirtieth, I must admit I have fallen very short of words as February rolls into March.
Sleep deprived I nodded off at the keyboard once too many times this month and “lost” days of writing to cyberspace. I started backward, rereading, editing and researching again. I stumbled across a book written in the mid-nineties that has no similarity to mine except for the title. Changes. February was all about changes.
New title still a mystery I am, nevertheless, moving at a faster pace perhaps the bobsled competition has had its effect on me. I know that I am not alone on this writer’s slide to the finish line, sitting behind me are my characters, their voices loud inside my head, and they will guide me to “The End”.
My writer’s thought: Fictional characters have their own voices; sometimes they ride in your car, go food shopping and sit on your desk. Word of advice-keep them out of your bed…they snore.
Have the best day everyday.
Blog what you think, hear, and feel.
Linda
Sunday, February 28, 2010
How About Those Writing Rules?
Any writer who’s ever subscribed to Writer’s Digest or read a how-two book on writing knows that our profession, like most professions, is inundated with rules. But unlike other professions, breaking writing rules usually won’t result in a court appearance or the loss of life, which might be why so many of us happily break them. Or maybe it’s because some of the rules don’t really make sense to the type of piece we’re working on. Or maybe it’s simply that rules are made to be broken. Here’s just a small number of them from different authors. Which of them works for you?
From Elmore Leonard:
. never open a book with the weather
. avoid prologues, they’re annoying
. try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip
. avoid detailed descriptions of people, places, or things
From Roddy Doyle:
. do not place a photo of your favourite author on your desk, especially if he’s committed suicide
. write as fast as you can until page 50, then calm down and start worrying about the quality
. do not search amazon.co.uk for the book you haven’t written yet
From Helen Dunmore:
. finish the day’s writing when you still want to continue
. a problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself when you go for a long walk
I can vouch for that one. It really does work. There are many more, fun, quirky, and useful tips in a Guardian article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one Have a look and enjoy!
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n
Friday, February 26, 2010
If Scott Hamilton Were To Commentate On My Writing
What if, as you sat down at your desk to plot out your latest novel, skating champion and analyst Scott Hamilton gave a running commentary about your talents and foibles?
She's been doing great in her writing prompts all week, only stumbling over a few misplaced adverbs. Now, she takes to the keyboard after a nice high five with her dictionary. She'll lead off with her most difficult element first - a triple alliteration and... OH, THAT WAS TIGHT. The judges will have to look at that one again carefully to see if it was too corny.
She's really been struggling with her transitions in practice, trying to smooth them out in multiple drafts. But she's a tough competitor and....Okay, here comes the entry to the dialogue portion and... OH, SHE NAILS IT WITHOUT A SINGLE MODIFIER. THAT WAS HUGE!!
--
Now your turn: Give me your best Scott Hamilton commentary on YOUR own artistic work.
--
K. Harrington
author, Janeology
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Promote My Novel: What exactly is a message board?
http://www.GumboWriters.com is an online service that helps writers http://www.PromoteMyNovel.com
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Ebook Pricing Dilemma
A short while ago, MacMillan Books and Amazon declared war on each other when MacMillan informed Amazon that they wanted to price their ebooks at around $12.99 to $14.99 instead of the $9.99 price Amazon was listing. MacMillan maintained that pricing books below $10. devalued the books, however Amazon disagreed. The situation heated up to the point where MacMillan withdrew its titles from Amazon. Of course, Amazon felt that ebooks should be affordable, and said that it refused to continue carrying MacMillan’s titles. In the end, Amazon capitulated because MacMillan is simply too large a publishing house to ignore.
This dispute exemplifies the dilemma of how much to charge for an ebook. The heart of the matter for all publishers and authors producing electronic books is how high, or low, should an ebook be priced? And is there such a thing as too low? For some book buyers, the answer is yes.
I know a number of independently published, unknown authors who are struggling to compete for readers’ attention. Their view is that it’s better to get one’s book into the hands of potential readers than to collect royalties by selling books at a higher price. So, these authors price their books at 99 cents. Some have even gone as low as a penny for short periods, and yes, these low prices do result in many more sales. It seems that a significant percentage of ebooks, even from well known authors, are selling for five or six dollars.
A good idea, you say? Well, maybe and maybe not. MacMillan has a point about devaluing a book. I’ve been monitoring a couple of Kindle reader forums and while many people won’t pay above $4.00 for an ebook, other readers openly wonder about the quality of a newly released title from an unknown writer that sells for less than a dollar.
Now, here’s my dilemma. I have an ebook publisher who set the price for both Taxed to Death and Fatal Encryption at $6.99, which is substantially lower than the $19.95 print version for Fatal Encryption. However, when she listed the books on Amazon, they immediately reduced the price to $5.59. Fine, okay. But within a week of Kindles being available in Canada the price of my books jumped to $7.59. It seems that Amazon is arbitrarily changing the price of the books, which must drive my publisher a little batty.
To be honest, despite some great reviews recently, I haven’t generated a lot of sales probably because of the book’s price, so my publisher and I are rethinking things, and let me tell you, this does take some thought. Personally, I’ve worked too hard and too long to let my books go for under a buck until they become my backlist at some point in the future.
What I’ve learned, though, is that before you, or your publisher, set a price, you’d both be wise to take a good look at the market and listen to what readers are saying. And then do what you believe is right.
Fatal Encryption is available on Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/lchxrd
Taxed to Death’s Kindle version can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ld4pcf.
This dispute exemplifies the dilemma of how much to charge for an ebook. The heart of the matter for all publishers and authors producing electronic books is how high, or low, should an ebook be priced? And is there such a thing as too low? For some book buyers, the answer is yes.
I know a number of independently published, unknown authors who are struggling to compete for readers’ attention. Their view is that it’s better to get one’s book into the hands of potential readers than to collect royalties by selling books at a higher price. So, these authors price their books at 99 cents. Some have even gone as low as a penny for short periods, and yes, these low prices do result in many more sales. It seems that a significant percentage of ebooks, even from well known authors, are selling for five or six dollars.
A good idea, you say? Well, maybe and maybe not. MacMillan has a point about devaluing a book. I’ve been monitoring a couple of Kindle reader forums and while many people won’t pay above $4.00 for an ebook, other readers openly wonder about the quality of a newly released title from an unknown writer that sells for less than a dollar.
Now, here’s my dilemma. I have an ebook publisher who set the price for both Taxed to Death and Fatal Encryption at $6.99, which is substantially lower than the $19.95 print version for Fatal Encryption. However, when she listed the books on Amazon, they immediately reduced the price to $5.59. Fine, okay. But within a week of Kindles being available in Canada the price of my books jumped to $7.59. It seems that Amazon is arbitrarily changing the price of the books, which must drive my publisher a little batty.
To be honest, despite some great reviews recently, I haven’t generated a lot of sales probably because of the book’s price, so my publisher and I are rethinking things, and let me tell you, this does take some thought. Personally, I’ve worked too hard and too long to let my books go for under a buck until they become my backlist at some point in the future.
What I’ve learned, though, is that before you, or your publisher, set a price, you’d both be wise to take a good look at the market and listen to what readers are saying. And then do what you believe is right.
Fatal Encryption is available on Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/lchxrd
Taxed to Death’s Kindle version can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ld4pcf.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Blog Rewriite
I caught my self the other day, mid-sentence small talk, excused myself and stepped away like some obnoxious cell phone user. I dug into my bag for a pen and then for something to write on. My multi-tasking brain, that was feigning interest in a dull conversation, had just pumped out an amazing string of sentences that I had to instantly write down or forever forget. Forgive my pea brain.
My writer’s challenge is past the half way point of February’s goal. The numbers are thin; I am cursed by the compulsion to edit repeatedly. My last lengthy effort restructured the entire length of chapters, shorter, much shorter. I promise myself that I cannot be hung up in the count, except for the other night when all I could get through were two measly paragraphs. Reword-rehash-rewrite, and woe to my obsession or should I say, whoa?
My inspirational writer’s thought: Oh Gawd…I am writing on napkins again.
Have the best day everyday.
Linda
My writer’s challenge is past the half way point of February’s goal. The numbers are thin; I am cursed by the compulsion to edit repeatedly. My last lengthy effort restructured the entire length of chapters, shorter, much shorter. I promise myself that I cannot be hung up in the count, except for the other night when all I could get through were two measly paragraphs. Reword-rehash-rewrite, and woe to my obsession or should I say, whoa?
My inspirational writer’s thought: Oh Gawd…I am writing on napkins again.
Have the best day everyday.
Linda
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