We have had two 5 star review and some purchases of the Kindle file to date, but wouldn't it be nice if we could start some kind of viral publicity for the story?
I'm putting my mind to this and will share the progress with readers as it happens.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Trending
Has everyone noticed the 'trend' for nouns to be morphed into verbs these days? eg. What's 'trending'? He is 'helming'. Interesting growth of the Anglo-Saxon tongue!
Reviews
Nice to see that 'Calandra's Spring' has two great reviews to date! Keep them coming, readers!
Proof as you go (to a point).
Quite the best way to proof-read is to read aloud with a friend. You will pick up a lot of faults in punctuation and simple structural problems. I learned that trick as my father worked as a reader while he was studying and would read me the books aloud (as a young kid, I heard things that astounded me!).
It is a good idea to proof as you go, though. Take the stress of that last read off to a high degree by checking every paragraph for small errors as you go.
And a word of caution about this: you can use this time as a way of breaking the 'hammer' effect of typing long passages, but DO remember to take your hands off the keyboard and mouse. Shake your hands thoroughly and check your seated posture. This way, you will avoid the writers' cramp that affects so many of my friends.
Of course, you will always pick up small errors. I have found a ton in the works of Mark Twain!! But do your best to avoid the ones that annoy the initial readers.
Happy writing!
It is a good idea to proof as you go, though. Take the stress of that last read off to a high degree by checking every paragraph for small errors as you go.
And a word of caution about this: you can use this time as a way of breaking the 'hammer' effect of typing long passages, but DO remember to take your hands off the keyboard and mouse. Shake your hands thoroughly and check your seated posture. This way, you will avoid the writers' cramp that affects so many of my friends.
Of course, you will always pick up small errors. I have found a ton in the works of Mark Twain!! But do your best to avoid the ones that annoy the initial readers.
Happy writing!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Calandra's Spring book.
Want to know the secret of Eternal Youth?
Read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007IX4NI2
Read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007IX4NI2
Friday, March 23, 2012
Writing for profit
There are still quite a few outlets for writers to follow in order to write as a job, rather than as a hobby. Here are a few I have done over the years:
1. Copywriting - if you are quick and smart with slogans and so on, consider writing copy for advertising.
2. Personal histories - you are a ghost writer in this case so don't expect any praise or credit! It takes a long time to write a personal history and you need to be good with the elderly whose memories may lead them down erroneous (and often revisionist!) tracks. But you will hear some excellent stories along the way.
3. Contributing stories to magazines. Hard to get this work these days as most are syndicated.
4. Contributing well-researched local journalism to local papers or websites.
5. Writing for TV and film - hard to get in but once you are there it is a treadmill with some great moments of satisfaction.
6. Writing comedy for stand-up - some comics are way too lazy to refresh their routine and will pay a little for you to add the current affairs buzz for them.
7. Company brochures.
8. Direct TV commercials - from what I see in the USA, there is no REAL writer in charge. Scripts are too often ungrammatical and dull. Canvas local businesses and tell them how you would do it!
9. Writing for blogs. Much of this is free but you can get a little pin money hammering out articles for established or new blogs on all kinds of topics. The owners, in most cases, don't pay any attention to proofing or verification and that's why there is so much rubbish on the web. The careful blogs, eg. mygreenaustralia.com to which I contribute from time to time, are few and far between. The actual financed and well-cashed up sites funded by media establishments often have a need for articles but you will find yourself working for an extremely low rate if you apply the rules of journalism. As writing practice, it is good though.
10. Grant writing and personal service writing (eg. résumé writing). This is a fun job and again, not fabulous money but you will learn a lot along the way.
The more you write, the easier it gets so keep at it!
1. Copywriting - if you are quick and smart with slogans and so on, consider writing copy for advertising.
2. Personal histories - you are a ghost writer in this case so don't expect any praise or credit! It takes a long time to write a personal history and you need to be good with the elderly whose memories may lead them down erroneous (and often revisionist!) tracks. But you will hear some excellent stories along the way.
3. Contributing stories to magazines. Hard to get this work these days as most are syndicated.
4. Contributing well-researched local journalism to local papers or websites.
5. Writing for TV and film - hard to get in but once you are there it is a treadmill with some great moments of satisfaction.
6. Writing comedy for stand-up - some comics are way too lazy to refresh their routine and will pay a little for you to add the current affairs buzz for them.
7. Company brochures.
8. Direct TV commercials - from what I see in the USA, there is no REAL writer in charge. Scripts are too often ungrammatical and dull. Canvas local businesses and tell them how you would do it!
9. Writing for blogs. Much of this is free but you can get a little pin money hammering out articles for established or new blogs on all kinds of topics. The owners, in most cases, don't pay any attention to proofing or verification and that's why there is so much rubbish on the web. The careful blogs, eg. mygreenaustralia.com to which I contribute from time to time, are few and far between. The actual financed and well-cashed up sites funded by media establishments often have a need for articles but you will find yourself working for an extremely low rate if you apply the rules of journalism. As writing practice, it is good though.
10. Grant writing and personal service writing (eg. résumé writing). This is a fun job and again, not fabulous money but you will learn a lot along the way.
The more you write, the easier it gets so keep at it!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Just spend an hour a day
As with craft work, an hour a day spent writing will end up as a ginormous tome eventually. All you need to do is stick with it and remember, the art of writing is really the art of RE-writing.
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