Tag Archives: writing

FROM IDEA TO SELF-PUBLISHED NOVEL ~ STEP BY STEP!

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Step One (1) – The Idea

Okay, lots of people have ideas… I have about 50 at any given moment, but that doesn’t mean any of them are worth a dime. They might be, but if you don’t get them down on paper (or computer) then how will you ever know? YOU WON’T! That’s my point. So you have an idea? Great – Go home sit down at a desk, table, couch, bed, or just a comfy corner and put your thoughts on paper. I started with just a few disorganized sentences – they turned into what I am proud to call Awaken, the first book in the Blood Angel series I am writing.

What are you waiting for – go try. You’ll never know if you can until you try. Okay, wait don’t go yet… read the rest of this article first. 🙂

Step Two (2) – The Outline

Not everyone writes an outline before jumping into their novel. Is that smart? I really don’t know one way or the other. I can tell you this – I skip this step. I don’t do an outline. When I write my characters just kinda speak to me and tell me where they want the story to go. They lead it – not me.

Okay, that sounds a little crazy – I don’t mean that I actually hear voices or anything… I just… I follow my gut. That’s what I do, I follow my gut.

That doesn’t mean I don’t keep track of where my story is going. Basically I write an outline (Excel is my friend) as I go. I keep track of family trees and chapter details in an excel spreadsheet as I go. That way if I need to move things around I have a quick glance as what has already happened. I can move full chapters or just sections whenever needed.

Step Three (3) – Writing

Like I said – I skip step two or at least do it with step three. WRITING is the key. Don’t focus on getting everything perfect at first. Just focus on getting your thoughts down on paper. Don’t focus on word count – seriously I think there is entirely too much hype about “word count”. How is a 80K word novel any better than a novel with only 69K words? The answer is that it isn’t any better. Honestly, if the book is just full of fluff it isn’t going to be good no matter how many words it has. So, my point – just focus on writing – get all your thoughts out there and then weed through them in the editing process. Trust me a lot hits the editing room floor in the end.

Step Four (4) – Editing

The all hated EDITING process. I can honestly say I have a love hate relationship with the editor of my first book. I hated the day my manuscript arrived in my email completely red-lined and torn to shreds with “constructive” criticism. It took me about two weeks before I was mentally and emotionally able to read through all of her notes without taking them personally. You know what? THAT IS A GOOD THING! Your book is your baby – you should be emotional about it, especially when someone is pulling it apart one page at a time. However, you also have to be able to get past that emotion – step back and realize that this person has an outside eye and that he/she is trying to help you. It won’t be easy, but in the end the editing process is what helps you get your novel to become the best reflection of your “idea” your “dream” your “creation” that it can be. So, find the best editor you can. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg – it can be your husband, your wife, your best friend, even your mom. Just make sure whoever you pick is willing to tell you their true opinion. If they are just going to bullshit you and tell you, “it was great” “I loved it” “I wouldn’t change a thing” then they aren’t the right editor for you. GET SOMEONE ELSE.

Step Five (5) – Rewrites

Yes – rewrites come next. After the editing process you don’t just go back and fix a few small grammatical errors and BOOM you have a book. I wasn’t kidding when I said my manuscript came back from the editor completely red-lined. I will tell you there was literally only 3 or 4 pages that didn’t have notes covering the page. So, editing seriously led to rewrites that changed major story plots within my book. Don’t get scared – if you make it to this step then you have the drive it will take to make it through the rewrites. You’re already fully invested in the project – KEEP GOING!

Step Six (6) – ISBN

I’ve complained about this one already in another blog. When buying your ISBN number for your book keep in mind that you have to get an ISBN number for every format of the book. That means if you are going to have it printed and formated as an e-book then you need two ISBN numbers. In that case – you’ll need to buy the ten pack because its cheaper than just buying two individual ISBN numbers. This is CRAZY – What if all I plan to do is write one book? What do I do with the other ISBN numbers? Its like wasting if I don’t write more… Okay, sure I have two more books planned in the Blood Angel series, and I have a children’s series planned out, and another adult series… okay I’m gonna need more than ten, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs that many. Besides – I don’t need them right now – It’s going to take me years to use them all. Hello, I work full-time, I’m a mom, I’m a wife – I don’t have much time to write.

Step Seven (7) – Format and Cover Design

The cover really does sell the book. So, don’t go cheap here. find someone who designs book covers for a living and pay them to design your book and format the layout. A great book can sit on the book shelf untouched just because the cover isn’t eye catchy enough. In the same token a poorly written book can be gobbled up and sell out just because the sexy guy on the cover draws all the ladies eyes. You know what I mean! Make your cover POP!!!

Step Eight (8) – Self-Publish

Sure, we all want some publisher to hear about us, call our number (who knows how they get it – but they do), and tell us we are the next big thing and they have a million dollar contract for us to sign. What are the chances of that happening? NOT LIKELY. Okay, sure it happens, but for it to happen to someone who hasn’t published anything yet, or proven they have a fan base already – it just isn’t likely. So, stop waiting for that call and DO IT YOURSELF! If you want to be published, if that is one of your life’s dreams – then make it happen. There are literally tuns of self-publishing vehicles online these days. Find one that works for you and just do it. If your writing for the fame and money then you’re really not writing for the right reasons. If you’re writing for the love of your story then you’ll find a way to get yourself published! Good luck.

Step Nine (9) – Marketing and Promotion

Yeah, I got nothing! No, seriously I have no clue how to do the marketing and promotion for my book. I am still on Step 7 – Formating and Cover Design. That doesn’t mean I haven’t already started Step 8 because I have. I am researching all the self-publishing sites to figure out which one is best for me. And, I have even done the basics for Step 9 – you know contacted all my friends and family to give them a heads up about the book coming out. Other than that – I am using my blog, Facebook, and twitter accounts to publicize my soon to be released novel Awaken a Blood Angel novel.

So, do you know how to market and promote a new release e-book – from an unknown author? If you have suggestions please leave a comment and share them. There are lots of great authors out there that just aren’t getting read because they don’t know how to get seen. Please share, not just for me, but for all of them.

Have a creative day 🙂

A Warm Welcome to 2012!

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A fond farewell to 2011 and a warm open armed welcome to 2012!

I know that it is already January 6, 2012 and some people may say that its to late to announce my New Year’s Resolutions, but I would say bah humbug to you. It’s never to late to put in print what you plan to do for the new year.

So, with no further stalling involved here is my list…

Drum Roll Please!

(1) Go Green! I can not say that I’ve ever really been the reduce, reuse, recycle kind of girl, but I want to be. I reuse, which is to say that after working in a private preschool for the last four years I don’t see empty paper towel rolls quiet the same. Now I look at them and see ‘potential’. I see binoculars, hand puppets, towers, Christmas tree ornaments, and oh so much more. So, yes I reuse (when an art project is looming on the horizon). I have in the past recycled. I grew up in a state where you got 10 cents back for every soda bottle or soda can you returned to the store. So, yes I always took them back, but now you don’t even get a penny let alone a dime. It has kinda discouraged me. Though I will not let that stop me in 2012. On New Year’s Eve I went to the store and got myself ‘hooked up’. I now have three 30 gallon trash cans in my kitchen (soon to move to the garage). One labeled ‘GLASS’, one labeled ‘PLASTIC’, and one labeled ‘METAL’. I was sad to discover that after only three days the ‘PLASTIC’ container is already full. So, now I know how important it really is, because a family of four produces A LOT of waste, and a large portion of it is recyclable.

(2) Exercise More! Now, I could say loose 10 pounds, drop a dress size, etc. like everyone else, but I’m not going to. I will say Exercise More. That might be walking more, lifting weights, doing aerobics, what ever my heart desires. The reason I’m not saying drop X number of pounds or drop a dress size is because I just don’t see those goals as being very realistic. If someone who doesn’t know me looked at me they might think I was in pretty good shape. I’m not over weight, nor am I underweight. In reality I do look pretty good, even if I do say so myself. But, I don’t feel good about myself. So, in order to feel better about myself, like the way I look in my skin, and for an all over healthier feeling I choose to exercise more. If the end result is that I drop 10 pounds or even get rid of my muffin top (even as small as it is) then that is just a bonus for me. Oh yeah, I started this one already too. I went out on New Year’s Eve and bought a pair or ankle weights and a pair of wrist weights. I wear the ankle weights every where I go. See, exercising already, even when I’m not doing anything that I wouldn’t already be doing. Gotta love it when just a slight change in life style can make such a big difference – the pain in my lower legs!

(3) Write More! As you know I am trying to write a book… a series of books actually. I have finished the first book in a three to four book series, and two days after I submitted it to my editor she backed out on me. My first reaction was to cry. But then I thought, ‘No I am better than that!!!’ So, I picked my self up off the floor, wiped the snot and tears from my face, and told myself that there has to be a reason… Everything happens for a reason, and maybe this is just telling me that particular editor wasn’t the right person for this job. So, now that I am half way through re-writing book two I am going to finish book two and then start a new search for an editor. Sending a little silent prayer up to the Big Man in charge, ‘Please send me an editor that wants to work with me, is going to put his/her heart and soul into this project, and isn’t going to break my bank!’ So, yes… write more, and finish the re-writes to book two, as well as the first draft of book three.

Only three, but to me they are important. My family (husband and children) come first in my life, and they always will. But, this year I need to also think about me hence the finding time to write more, and the exercising. The recycling, well that is me trying to do my part (even as small as it is) to make a difference in this world. I hope to instil that in my children, and make it not something only I do, but have it be a life style change for my husband and children as well.

There you have it… it’s in writing… Lets see how I do come December 2012!

 

Hello, my name is Nina and I’m a Workaholic!

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I wasn’t always like this. At one time, I’m sure I was just your normal average run of the mill kid. I liked to play with my friends, go to the park, have sleep-overs, and all kinds of great things. Then when I took that first job… FoodLand grocery bagger it all changed. I went to school and worked. I liked making money, and actually being able to put gas in my car and buy the things I wanted.

When I started college I went to school full-time (which was like a job), worked on campus part-time, and worked off campus part-time. Not to mention I was in the theatre department and was constantly involved with a show which took up most if not all of my evenings.

After graduating college (in exactly 4 years) I decided to continue to work on campus full-time, and take a few more classes (just for fun) while working part-time at the local high school teaching tech theater and tool safety! Oh yeah, and I was still constantly involved with a show, but instead of it being on campus I was producing, directing, and acting in shows off campus with a theatre troop I helped found.

When I finally moved out to California to try to make it BIG (insert laugh here) I took on a full-time job along with daily auditions and twice weekly acting classes. But, I kept on trucking…

I left Hollywood, and started a family with my amazing husband! Okay, so just because being a mom doesn’t pay – doesn’t make it any less a job. I happen to love being a mom, and it’s a job I wouldn’t trade for the world, but it can be tiring and hard and stressful just like any other job, and you don’t get off after 8 hours of work its a 24 hour a day job for the rest of your life! So, I do that… and a full-time job, and a part-time job, and of course I am trying… when I have time… to be a writer.

Okay, so my progress in the writing field can’t really be seen over these last few months, but it is still a dream.

I have recently sent my latest version of book 1 to my editor Jamie Aitchison (haven’t heard back yet). I am working on book 2 rewrites… I plan to pick it back up in the second week of January. My goal is to have book 2 rewrites done by the end of February. Then I will start back in on book 3. I’ve already written about 10 chapters, but due to all the edits in the first 2 books, I think I’ll pretty much be starting from scratch, oh well.

So, you see… I’m a workaholic! Wish I wasn’t, but there just isn’t enough time in the day to do everything I need to do.

If anyone out there can think of a way to add two more hours to my day, let me know.

My Latest Endeavor

National Novel Writing Month

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Okay, so I’ve recently discovered that November is National Novel Writing Month! People all around the world will be powering up their computers, sharpening their pencils, pounding the keys, and thinking out of the box to put their creative thoughts on paper or the screen with the single goal of completing a 50,000 word (or more) novel.

Alas, I am no different. I love a challenge as much as the next person.

Over the last several weeks… Months… I stepped away from my story, and having taken time away I now feel prepared to start fresh with my previous outline as a guide.

My plan of action…
Rest, finish the play I am currently in, and then starting November 1st I will open a new clean fresh word document, type ‘Chapter One’ and the rest will be history!

Okay, maybe I’m just hoping that if I announce my goal online for all the world to read, or just my two subscribers, maybe I will be pushed to follow through. It isn’t that I don’t follow through on things it’s just that as busy as I am I rarely find time to enjoy a quiet moment alone let alone hours a day to type. However, this November shall be different! That is my end of year, new years resolution!!! Considering my birthday is on the horizon calling it a new years resolution kinda makes sense.

BTW – it is not easy to type a blog post on my phone! LOL

Editor’s Letter – 7 Stages of Grief

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They say that when you suffer a loss or tragedy in your life you go through the seven stages of grief. I would say that these stages are not all that different from what a writer goes through after receiving notes/edits from their editor. Although, maybe the process from one stage to the next is a little quicker, than say for someone who just lost a loved one.

Today I received an email from my editor. The email was four printed pages long, single spaced, and rather small font. As soon as I opened it I was SHOCKED (stage one) that all of these notes could possibly be about my book DENIAL (stage one continued)! Then I realized that not only were the notes on these four printed pages, but when I opened the attachment, my manuscript, I realized that there was not a single page, or even paragraph, that didn’t have deletions/additions/notes, etc.

OH MY GOD!!! PAIN (stage two) struck through my gutt and heart like a knife sliding into butter. I quickly shut the attachment, not wanting to see all the red mark-ups. I decided that reading the email first would be best. However, that only led to the impending GUILT (stage two continued) that I felt for having put this woman through reading, my obviously horrible manuscript. Why on earth would I have tortured her in that why?

Then I got to thinking. Why hadn’t any of the previous six people who read my manuscript told me how awful it really was? Why did they lead me to believe that it was good? ANGER (stage three). I began BARGAINING (stage three continued) with myself, telling myself that the story isn’t really that bad and maybe it just wasn’t her cup of tea, yadda yadda yadda.

Finally, I started really looking deeper into my editor’s notes. I read the email at least five or six times, and slowly I began to doubt myself, my ability to complete this project. Not only did I feel completely alone, because no one else was going to do it for me, but I felt like maybe I wasn’t going to be able to do it either. DEPRESSION (stage four) struck after reading the letter for the seventh time, but that didn’t last long! I’m not one to wallow. I put the letter down, woke up my children up, and got them ready for school. After seeing their smiling faced I decided that feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

I am always telling my children they can do anything and be anything they want in life. If I was going to set that example then I couldn’t allow myself to just give up so easily. I changed my attitude and read the editor’s letter again, and this time I looked at it not as a personal attack, but as constructive criticism, and I took an UPWARD TURN (stage five) toward a better attitude.

I called my editor and left a message, thanking her for all of her hard work and the great feedback she provided. I knew that reading the notes she sent me wasn’t going to be easy, and that I have a hard road ahead of me to get my book to its finished product, but that if I just WORK THROUGH (stage six) it with an open mind then I would be able to get it done.

So, now I am at that point of ACCEPTANCE (stage seven). I understand the task I am left with and I know that there is a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I am okay with that. I am willing to accept that challenge, and not back down. On top of all of that I have a new sense of HOPE (stage seven continued) that this challenge will bring with it a whole new set of experiences, and that I will learn so much from this process.

Don’t get me wrong, I know it isn’t going to be easy, and I am sure that in about a week or so I will be back on her crying, bitching, moaning, and complaining about all the work, and the fact that it is to hard, impossible, etc. However, for today, I am optimistic.

I’d like to say thank you! Thank you Jamie Aitchison, for taking the last two months to put so much hard work into my manuscript. It has been a huge project for me, and it means a lot to me that you would be so brutally honest with me. I know that sometimes it’s easier to say the nice thing, trying to avoid hurting someones feelings, but thank you for taking the harder road and telling me the hard to hear truth. With your notes and a lot of hard work I am confident that I can get this book to be as great as I know it can be.

One Step at a Time…

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Have you ever had one of those days, where every inch of your body and soul wants to be creative, but the world around you is just fighting you every step of the way?! Yeah, well that’s where I am today…

I have been sitting in front of my computer; with a story line, a plot, and a goal, for the last hour. Yet every two minutes one of my kids bursts into the room yanking me out of my concentration and forcing me to listen to their whining and complaining.

I thought that taking them for a mile and a half hike through the cold caverns would wear them down and make them lethargic enough to sit on the couch and rest for a while, but no such luck! Apparently exercise only invigorates my children’s sense of adventure and energizes them to make it through the rest of their day.

Thus, meeting my goal of making it through chapter eleven of my book seemed to quickly be slipping away. That was until I discovered the power of Pepperidge Farm cookies. That’s right, Pepperidge Farm cookies happen to be a lot like crack to children. They love them, and will do just about anything for them, to include sitting quietly while watching a movie so that mommy could get some quiet time. Ah, the power the cookie.

I hammered my way through chapter eleven, and quickly moved on to chapter twelve. Who knows if any of it is any good… I certainly don’t, but I’m enjoying the process, and to me that is the goal! At least for now. When I’m done the goal will be to publish, but for now I’m taking it one step at a time…

WRITE… Write… write…

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Okay… let me start by saying, I miss my husband! He recently started classes toward his masters program, and he attends classes every Tuesday and Thursday evening. I know what you’re thinking, “Tuesday and Thursday? Is that all?” and you’re right. It’s only two days a week, not bad at all. Yet, still… I miss him when he isn’t home with me and the kids. Although above even that I am incredibly proud of him! Going back for his masters isn’t going to be an easy road, by any stretch of the imagination, and the fact that he is doing it with a full-time job, two kids, and a sometimes needy wife, I commend him!

Now, as I sit here and sulk… I can do one of two things. I can literally eat the pan of brownies in the kitchen and watch television until he gets home – not a bad idea, or I can pull out my computer and get to work! I am choosing the second option. I am always struggling to find time to write, and now with him going back to school I have been given two evenings a week, after the kids are in bed of course, to do just that. So, take advantage of it I will.

My goal is to see significant progress by the end of this coming weekend… which is to say that I will finally get through chapter eleven!

I think that my creativity has maybe taken a brief vacation, and left me in somewhat of a stump or creative block. I shall hammer through it this week though, and come out victorious! lol… That actually sounded confident. This just may work. If not, I might just cry… I figure if I don’t get to work soon, then when I receive my editor’s notes next weekend I really will cry. I am expecting them to be detailed and extensive, because that is what everyone had told me editors like to do. I have mentally prepared, but who knows how much that will really help. Although, I do look forward to the suggestions. I am excited to get book one in the Blood Angel series ready for the publisher, and an editor is just one of the many steps so… BRING IT ON!!!

Finding the time…

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It seems as time goes by my days get shorter and shorter, and I am having less and less time to write. It makes me sad to think I have spent less than an hour writing over the last two weeks! How am I supposed to get through this project if an hour or two a month is all I have to devote to it?!

It’s no ones fault but my own! No pointing fingers here, it just is what it is. I have a family and at the end of a long work day it’s hard to want to do anything but spend time with them. How do you tell your kids, “No sweetie mommy still has to work, I can’t cuddle or draw right now.” I can’t do it. They give me those puppy dog eyes and I just melt!

So, now I have fallen behind, WAY BEHIND on my self-set goal of having book three in the Blood Angel series complete by the end of August. I’m only on Chapter Eleven… with so much story left to tell.

Please send me out good creative thoughts to help me get through the rest by my newly set goal of November 26th MY BIRTHDAY!!! Because what better birthday gift could I give myself than finishing the book?!

Stay tuned for more updates in this on going adventure…

Behind Locked Doors – Eternity…

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At the youthful age of 15 she was already a lady in the eyes of society. When her grandparents made the decision to move her to the new world she was frightened yet excited by this new adventure. The Titanic was a grand ship more beautiful than anything she had ever seen both inside and out. The moment she stepped aboard her life was changed forever.

Her heart skipped a beat as his cold hand gently brushed across hers and his piercing eyes seemed to reach into her soul stealing her love forever. He appeared to be her age, but something in his eyes gave away a wisdom far beyond her years. They were inseparable from the start. To her it felt like he was the piece of her heart she had always been missing.

As fear struck the hearts of everyone around them and the ship began to sink Eric offered her life after death. With just one kiss they would be together for all eternity. In her gutt she knew it was more than that, and still she didn’t care. Like a dagger his teeth slid into her throat, and she was out. She woke up laying in his arms, surrounded by nothing but sand and ocean.

Eternity was going to be a very long time…

(c) Copyright Soden, Nina 2011

Behind Locked Doors – Lying in wait!

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They found her there, lying in the large dark oak bed, black silk sheets flowing around her, her golden curls wet with passionate sweat, not a piece of clothing covering an inch of her milky smooth skin. She looked to be dead, no pulse, cold flesh, and not a breath to escape her open lips.

There was talk of bite marks, drained blood, tenth girl this week… The conversation went on. Little did they know this beauty was like no other. For she was merely lying in wait, under a spell, in a seductive trance, waiting for the right moment to…

For she gains her powers from those she feeds on, and giving them her blood gives her more pleasure than pain you see. Once she has been bitten she’s ready to fight, and at the right moment she leaps from the bed and in seconds is upon them. Four men down with just a turn of their necks on the last one she’ll feed for his bloods is clearly the most intoxicating. She could smell it the second he stepped into the room.

Warm and fresh she takes it all in, drops his lifeless body to the ground and turns to leave. As she walks out the door she grabs her long silk robe, and wrapping it around her body… it clings to her curves as she disappears into the night.

(c) Copyright Soden, Nina 2011