The following is a guest post by Brenda Errichiello.
For an indie author, the editing process can be wholly overwhelming. Do you need a content editor? A line editor? A copy editor? What do these things even mean? How many times should someone look at your book? How do you know the person you’re working with is good?Continue Reading
We have a special guest post today from one of our Indie Ninjas, Wren Deloro. She’s participating in NaNoWriMo this year (as is Shannon!). If you’re taking the 50,000 word, 30 day challenge let us know on Facebook!
Whether you are in the midst of a project or planning to take on NaNoWriMo, writer’s block is a dreaded possibility for any author.
Don’t let normal snags and stops hold back the completion of your project.
Try a few of the following techniques, and get back on track.
Do something completely unrelated.
This break could be a treat for all your hard work, or some good ol’ mundane activity. Think about it: how many ah ha moments have come to you while driving, washing the dishes, or in the shower?
Earn bonus points by completing household chores you have to do anyway. Make frozen food for your next intense write in.
Then, when you are done, sit your butt back in the chair!Continue Reading
The following is a guest post by Amanda DeSilvio.
Many first time authors begin writing in addition to having a full-time job. It can be tough to make ends meet, so dropping everything to pursue your dreams of becoming a published author isn’t always a realistic choice.
However, any published author will tell you that finally publishing your work is a full-time job, even if you don’t get paid during the process.
The whole idea then seems like a catch 22, leaving many authors asking that inevitable question: How do you know when it’s time to making writing your full-time job?Continue Reading
Being an adult has its perks.
We don’t have to go to school, eat all our vegetables or do what anybody says just because they say so. We can buy all the sugary cereals we want (so says the giant box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in my pantry), stay up way past our bedtime and watch R-rated movies.
But being an adult also has its downfalls.
All the things we dreamed of as children — careers, houses, cars, etc. — come with hefty price tags.
As a kid I had this board game called “Payday” that I absolutely loved. Players moved their pieces through a calendar month, trying to make money with risky investments while also paying for bills, groceries, and other incidentals depending on what spaces you landed on during the course of the game.
The goal was to get to the end of the month without going broke so you could get your “Payday” and start the month all over again.
I couldn’t figure out why my parents hated playing that game with me until a few years ago when my pal Toni hunted down a copy for my birthday so we could relive our glory days.
Five minutes in, I realized some sick individual had made a game out of every adult’s struggles to earn money while covering our financial responsibilities. That’s not a game, that’s just called being a responsible grown-up and it blows.
What weirdo would make that into a fun activity for kids?
Are you working nine to five (what a way to make a living), at a full-time job outside of writing? A lot of us author folks have no choice but to work at a real job so we can find a way to pay for the roofs over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on our tables.
But what if things were different?
What if we could all achieve that golden dream of actually doing what we love for a living?Continue Reading
The following is a guest post from Ryan Casey.
Writers can be a solitary breed.
We sit, hunched over our keyboards in the darkness of the early hours, fretting over seemingly important matters. “Times New Roman size 11 or size 12?!” we ask ourselves, before switching to Calibri.
We live in a world of SEO-jargon, and WordPress updates. Witnessing our PageRank tumble from 18 to 19 is enough to put us in a grim mood for the rest of the day.
This isn’t healthy. Before you know it, your eyes will be frazzled, and your mind won’t be at its best.
See that cat? That’s my nan’s cat, Fluff. You don’t want to be this cat. Be better than the cat. You need to be at your mental peak when taking on a task as momentous and lofty as writing a novel.
Fortunately, through minor lifestyle changes, you can climb out of this rut and come out feeling fresher, and more confident. I believe that confidence is the key to good writing, so it’d be unwise to underestimate its importance. Here are some easy-to-follow tips for keeping your writing mind fresh.Continue Reading
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