Writing the first draft of your manuscript is tough. I think it’s easily the hardest part of the entire publishing process. Not only are you trying to create a plot with authentic characters in a believable setting, but you want it to sound good. There’s a constant pressure to write something worthwhile, for you and for your future readers.
However, there is one thing I constantly have to remind myself of before I get bogged down in perfecting my first draft: don’t sweat it so much.
This has been a pretty good week. I had started to review my book designer’s sample manuscript over the weekend, but didn’t get too far. Continue reading “Friday Publishing-Day: The Deep Breath”
My read-through of Manuscript: Charlie is complete. 134,502 words read and marked in one week.
I honestly was not sure I could complete it at all, but I did! And now I have the entire weekend to implement some edits. Continue reading “Friday Publishing-Day: Final Edits!”
My weeks have really been flying by, and I still can’t figure out why. The stress at work has eased off a bit, so that’s good. Reading through my manuscript has gone more slowly than I wanted, but I’ve made solid progress.
Now, I have just over a week before my book designer starts his work…! Continue reading “Friday Publishing-Day: Burning Daylight”
This week flew by pretty quickly, and I can’t quite pinpoint what has occupied my time and thoughts.
I’ve been productive overall, so that’s good news. Aaaand the novel beyond the manuscript is starting to take shape. Freakin’ awesome. Continue reading “Friday Publishing-Day: Taking Shape”
Welcome to a new edition of Friday… Day! As you might have heard earlier this week, I’m in need of a change-up. This series will officially focus on my publishing efforts, even though that’s essentially what I’ve been trying to do for weeks.
On to the updates! Continue reading “Friday Publish-Day: A New Deadline”
The last couple of weeks have not been my best, in life in general.
I’ve been staying up too late, sleeping in too much, not grinding enough towards my publishing goals, and generally wallowing in a thin but ever-present veil of anxiety and stress. It’s been coming from all sides.
Too real? Sorry. Allow me to explain. Continue reading “Changing My Writing Mindset… to A Publishing Mindset”
Do you remember being on long road trips as a kid? If you were like me, you probably didn’t sleep much in cars, so you’d stare out the window for hours on end, letting your mind wander.
And every now and then, you’d look at the clock and try to estimate how much longer you had to entertain yourself in the back row of a minivan. You’d be so anxious just to get there that by the time you actually arrived at your destination, brought your bags full of toys inside, and sat down to rest, you just… didn’t know what to do with yourself.
That’s kind of where I’m at right now. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: Anxious to Get… Somewhere!”
Imagine there’s a 500-word chunk of your story that you crafted, carefully shaping it to flow with the rest of the chapter and fit into your story’s themes. It may have taken you 15 or 20 minutes to write that section, read over it, make adjustments to wording or style, and move on to the next section.
But then something changes. Continue reading “3 Reasons You Have to Cut That Scene”
Writing took a bit of a halt this week, but not entirely for the wrong reasons. I spent a few days talking with one of my alpha readers and going through the next phase of my manuscript — phase 2. Continue reading “Friday Write-Day: When People Actually Support Your Writing”
Evening Satellite Publishing 