Hi guys!
First and foremost, I would like to apologize to anyone that does read this for my lack of updates. When I hit the post button, blogger apparently chose to "eat" my previous entry rather than posting it. I am pledging myself to pay closer attention in an attempt to catch these accidents from this point forward.
Have you ever begun a project only to discover there is no way to mold it into what it was intended to be, or pursued something that will ultimately be more like a teenager's journal entry than a solid piece of writing?
Monday, August 19, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Importance of Doing Your Homework and Correcting Errors
Hi again.
I just noticed when I posted yesterday, the one thought I had on writing was incomplete in my entry. Allow me to offer my deepest of apologies. I tend to think faster than I type. Sadly, editing has never been one of my strong points. Since this blog was created to talk about writing, I promise to be more careful while writing this and all future entries.
Catching that error got me to thinking about how important editing your work really is. For instance, I know what I was saying when I wrote the final paragraph of yesterday's entry. However, unless any of my readers know exactly what I was thinking when I composed it, there is no way you could have understood the point I was trying to get across.
Every how-to book gave out varying points of information, but they all stressed the importance of closely editing your manuscript before you consider mailing or emailing it to a publisher.
There is always a chance minor spelling and grammatical errors can slide by unnoticed. For example, I once read a book where someone spelled the name Todd with two S's. Most people probably never noticed this silly mistake because the sentence itself was complete and you knew exactly what he and the other character involved were doing. The same will not hold true for errors like the one I made in my blog yesterday. Publishers will not take you seriously if you submit a manuscript containing a mistake in every other paragraph.
Even a decently put together manuscript may as well line a birdcage unless you know what you're doing. Depending on your age, stories of your youth may have painted the unrealistic picture that the world is all sunshine and roses. Every manuscript contains a conflict of some type, but in books from the "cave" days, the subject matters of plot and conflicts alike were very different. For example Young Adult novels containing plots involving after school jobs are likely to talk about sexual harassment from someone working with the MC.
Not every publisher is looking for that kind of plot, though. It is a smart idea to research publishers often. Someone that wanted a children's book last year may be more interested in publishing YA novels this year.
I close this entry with one final thought. For years, both of my parents smoked. However, they continuously told me not to do so. As I grew older, I called Mom on the carpet and told her I felt telling me not to smoke as she was lighting up was hypocritical. She responded by telling me I was right. When I asked what the point was, she told me to do what she told me to rather than follow her example.
The same holds true with all the advice I just offered you. There are many times I give myself excuses, valid or not, to avoid putting my nose to the grindstone. I am sure this applies to many writers. The thing to remember is only you can make yourself do those things.
I just noticed when I posted yesterday, the one thought I had on writing was incomplete in my entry. Allow me to offer my deepest of apologies. I tend to think faster than I type. Sadly, editing has never been one of my strong points. Since this blog was created to talk about writing, I promise to be more careful while writing this and all future entries.
Catching that error got me to thinking about how important editing your work really is. For instance, I know what I was saying when I wrote the final paragraph of yesterday's entry. However, unless any of my readers know exactly what I was thinking when I composed it, there is no way you could have understood the point I was trying to get across.
Every how-to book gave out varying points of information, but they all stressed the importance of closely editing your manuscript before you consider mailing or emailing it to a publisher.
There is always a chance minor spelling and grammatical errors can slide by unnoticed. For example, I once read a book where someone spelled the name Todd with two S's. Most people probably never noticed this silly mistake because the sentence itself was complete and you knew exactly what he and the other character involved were doing. The same will not hold true for errors like the one I made in my blog yesterday. Publishers will not take you seriously if you submit a manuscript containing a mistake in every other paragraph.
Even a decently put together manuscript may as well line a birdcage unless you know what you're doing. Depending on your age, stories of your youth may have painted the unrealistic picture that the world is all sunshine and roses. Every manuscript contains a conflict of some type, but in books from the "cave" days, the subject matters of plot and conflicts alike were very different. For example Young Adult novels containing plots involving after school jobs are likely to talk about sexual harassment from someone working with the MC.
Not every publisher is looking for that kind of plot, though. It is a smart idea to research publishers often. Someone that wanted a children's book last year may be more interested in publishing YA novels this year.
I close this entry with one final thought. For years, both of my parents smoked. However, they continuously told me not to do so. As I grew older, I called Mom on the carpet and told her I felt telling me not to smoke as she was lighting up was hypocritical. She responded by telling me I was right. When I asked what the point was, she told me to do what she told me to rather than follow her example.
The same holds true with all the advice I just offered you. There are many times I give myself excuses, valid or not, to avoid putting my nose to the grindstone. I am sure this applies to many writers. The thing to remember is only you can make yourself do those things.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
My Introductory Post
Hello everyone. As most of my readers do not know me, I thought I would use my first entry to tell you a little bit about myself. Fair warning, I tend to do a lot of rambling.
I am a twenty-nine year old female residing in northern Georgia with my parents and our two dogs. The reason for this is I was born with a medical condition known as hydrocephalus. In English, that means there was fluid trapped on my brain. The severity of the damage done to my brain led to me developing seizure disorder. That is not to say I am unable to function among regular people. The only thing I really can't do is drive. My journal isn't about this, so I will not go into a lot of detail. However, if you have any questions, I am more than welcome to answer them.
The reason I created this blog was to gain a deeper insight to the ins and outs of the writing world. Don't get me wrong. I am not jumping into this field completely blind. Throughout my teenage years, I wrote a number of children's books. Shortly after graduating from high school, I managed to get one of them published.
Over the years, I have read several how-to books on the subject of writing for children and young adults. Just as the seasons do, what publishers are willing to accept from author's changes constantly. I beg to differ, Shouldn't we, as writers, concentrate on reading more descriptive material and use information gained from reading such stories to enrich the mines of youngsters? I look forward to gaining and sharing opinions with writers on this and many other topics related the challenging and competitive field of writing.
I am a twenty-nine year old female residing in northern Georgia with my parents and our two dogs. The reason for this is I was born with a medical condition known as hydrocephalus. In English, that means there was fluid trapped on my brain. The severity of the damage done to my brain led to me developing seizure disorder. That is not to say I am unable to function among regular people. The only thing I really can't do is drive. My journal isn't about this, so I will not go into a lot of detail. However, if you have any questions, I am more than welcome to answer them.
The reason I created this blog was to gain a deeper insight to the ins and outs of the writing world. Don't get me wrong. I am not jumping into this field completely blind. Throughout my teenage years, I wrote a number of children's books. Shortly after graduating from high school, I managed to get one of them published.
Over the years, I have read several how-to books on the subject of writing for children and young adults. Just as the seasons do, what publishers are willing to accept from author's changes constantly. I beg to differ, Shouldn't we, as writers, concentrate on reading more descriptive material and use information gained from reading such stories to enrich the mines of youngsters? I look forward to gaining and sharing opinions with writers on this and many other topics related the challenging and competitive field of writing.
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