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Wildcard Wednesday: My first online writing friend

03 Aug

When was the last time you had an unexpected, pleasant surprise? I got one yesterday when I received a package in the mail from Ava Bjork, a friend I made in my first online writing class.

I “met” her a couple of years ago right after I’d finished MOMR. It was a query and pitch writing class and she and I formed a trauma bond. The class was structured with an ongoing forum as well as a weekly conference call with the instructor. I think we started with five or six in the class. I’m pretty sure Ava and I were the only two who actually completed it.

I’ll state upfront I had no business trying to write a query before I’d edited, edited, edited, but at the time I didn’t know that. This class was my first experience getting feedback from someone other than friends or family and it was a like jumping into the deep end of the real world.

Our instructor was . . . how can I say this . . . brutally honest . . . which is what I wanted when I signed up for the class. But mercy me, couldn’t she have had at least some tact and diplomacy? We were all newbies and it seemed she went out of her way to crush our spirits.

On one of the conference calls, which were as blunt as the online critiques, something was said that caused Ava to e-mail me or vice versa. We hit it off and began exchanging chapters and critiquing each other’s stories. Remember I was sending her a first draft—this was so far before an alpha read I couldn’t begin to describe it—but she was kind and helpful with her feedback and won my devotion.

Though our exchanges, we turned our trauma bond into a legitimate friendship. We shared more than our books as we learned about each other’s life and family and hopes and dreams. We shared photos of our families and exchanged frequent e-mails. We talked on the phone. I think our connection came because we saw in the other the same strength and determination we each possess.

Hubby was scheduled to speak at a conference in Las Vegas and Ava and I decided it’d be fun to meet. She lives in southern California with her husband and small children so it wouldn’t have been a long trip for her to join us in Las Vegas. I was so excited and imagined we’d talk non-stop for two whole days. Tickets were purchased, hotel rooms booked.

Then Hubby had a small bowel obstruction, was rushed to emergency surgery and he and I spent ten scary days in the hospital. Yep. The Las Vegas trip was right smack in the middle of his hospitalization. I was so bummed I sat in his hospital room and cried. I was sleep deprived and tired and worried to death about my beloved, but I sincerely felt the loss of my adventure with Ava as well.

For whatever reason, it wasn’t the same after that. We’d exchanged most of our chapters by this time, but I never read the ending of her book.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I thought of her, wondered how she was, and recalled I’d never finished reading her novel. Then, in one of those serendipity moments that always amaze me, I received in the mail a package from her—a copy of her book, HOLDING HOUSE.

I’m so proud of her and excited I can finally discover what happened to the characters I got to know so many months ago. While I’m tempted to read the ending first, I’m going to resist. I want to start at the beginning, savor every word and bask in the triumph of my very first online writing friend. Way to go, Ava! Way to go!

~ Kay

By the way, Ava’s book is available on Amazon. To go straight there, click the Amazon button toward the bottom of the right sidebar.

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Friends, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Baseball’s not the only place for a good pitch

27 Jul

What would you do if you recognized an agent in an elevator?

A. Get off at the next floor

B. Faint

C. Pitch your novel

C, of course, is the correct answer.

In order to have an effective pitch, you must be prepared. So prepared, in fact, that it rolls off your tongue and the agent would never guess it was something you’d spent

In order to have an effective pitch, you have to be prepared. So prepared, in fact, that it rolls off your tongue and the agent would never guess it was something you’d spent hours days weeks months crafting.

One way to be prepared is to practice your pitch every time you are asked about your book. So, if the Walmart checkout lady asks what your book is about (yes, you told her you’re an author when you bought more summer reads than you could carry), practice your pitch. When you visit your mom and all of her friends ask about your book, practice your pitch. When the UPS guy delivers packages from Amazon, practice your pitch. When you’re walking around your house talking to yourself, practice your pitch. You get the picture.

As you know, I follow the blogs of several agents. Last week both Rachelle Gardner of Word Serve Literary Group and Stephanie Davis of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management had posts with tips on how to pitch a project. Rachelle did a series with Crafting your Elevator Pitch, Your Verbal Pitch, and Pitching your Novel where she invited readers to leave their pitches in her comments promising to critique some of them. (Fingers crossed.) Stephanie’s post was titled  The Pitch Session. For some great tips, check out these posts. Be sure to read the comments too. It always helps to know you aren’t alone trying to navigate the yellow brick road to finding an agent

Some authors write their pitches before they even begin their books. They say it helps them stay focused. Others wait until they’ve typed “The End” because they aren’t sure exactly how the plot will go until the book is finished. It won’t surprise you that mine is somewhere in between.

I was taught a pitch is a 30 to 60-second commercial that conveys in one sentence the plot of one’s book. Simple, huh? Yeah, right. Try condensing 80,000 words into seventy-five. I was also taught I didn’t need to name characters or even have the name of the book for that matter, but I chose to include the title.

I have a one-sentence pitch, but for the life of me I can’t make it sound natural and impromptu when reciting it aloud as I drive. (Thank goodness for Bluetooth technology—few people give me “the ‘are you crazy’ look” anymore.) I’d rather my pitch flow nicely than adhere to the one-sentence rule so here is my pitch:

MURDER ON MUSIC ROW is a cozy mystery about a thirty-something Nashville hairstylist who finds her famous ex-boyfriend bludgeoned to death with his own Grammy Award. She and her zany friends comb the Music City for clues to prove her innocence and find the killer.

Readers who enjoy light-hearted southern mysteries with lots of mayhem, in the style of Anne George, would also like this book. Does this sound like something that might interest you?

What do you think? Do you have suggestions to improve my pitch? Will you share YOUR pitch in my comments?

 

 

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: How to format a Novel

20 Jul

When writing my novel, I learned things had changed since I was in school. Who knew there was only one space after a period now, instead of two, for example?

I was told the Chicago Manual of Style was the end-all, be-all for writing questions. I bought the bright orange book and became more confused than ever. The printing was small. It frequently referenced other sections of the book. It was a pain in the . . . well, you get the idea.

Recently I came across a website with concise, to the point rules to format a novel. With the permission of Glen Strathy, the following is an excerpt from his website www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com.

 

So here, briefly, are the rules for using correct manuscript format for a novel:

* White paper. No coloured paper or electronic files with coloured backgrounds.

* Single-sided. (Obviously this applies to hard copies.) Editors don’t expect to look at the back of a page.

* Standard font: Courier, 12 point, is the standard font to use in manuscript format. This size is easy to read and makes all the letters take up the same amount of space on a line, so word counts are easy. Don’t change fonts or sizes anywhere.

* Double space your manuscript, but don’t put any extra space between paragraphs. Again, it’s easy to read and leaves room for editing marks.

* Only one space between words or sentences. (Traditionally, typists put an extra space after periods and colons, but this has been abandoned by publishers as a waste of space and paper.)

* 1-inch margins top, bottom, left, and right. This should give you 60 characters per line on average (10 words) and 25 lines per page.

* Ragged, not justified alignment. Word processors can do justified alignment, whereby all the lines end flush with the right-hand margin, but don’t do it. It changes the spacing between words in a way that is distracting.

* Include a header on every page except the title page. The header should put the page number in the upper right hand corner. This makes it easy to tell, when flipping through the manuscript, if a page has gone missing. Left of the page number, put your name and the title of your book, or a shortened version of each (for example “Dickens/Two Cities 25”). If a page gets separated from your manuscript and mixed up with other papers, this information will help someone put it back in place.

* Title page. The title page will have the book’s title centred, half-way down the page. Underneath that, also centred, put “By” followed by the author’s name. In either the top left or bottom right corner, provide your contact details: name, address, phone number, email address. On the opposite side of the page, put your estimated word count.

* No bold, italics, or any other font effects. You can underline foreign words, titles, and things you want to emphasize, just as you would if you were using a typewriter (publishers will convert underlining to italics). Black is the only acceptable font colour.

* Don’t add hypens to break up words at the end of a line. Most people wouldn’t think to do this unless they had trained as a typist. But just in case you did, don’t. The line divisions will change in the printed book, which means someone will have to go through the manuscript and remove many of the hyphens you add. So just leave them out.

* Start the first chapter 6 double-spaced lines down from the top of the next page. Centre the chapter title or use “Chapter 1” if you don’t want chapter titles. Then hit return twice to leave extra space before the story starts. Start every chapter on a new page, with a similar title.

* Put “End” at the bottom of the last page, so the editor knows for certain it’s the last page.

* Do not bind or staple your pages together, or include a cover. Editors want the pages to lie flat. They don’t want to hold the manuscript open. Just stack the pages in order and pack them into a box.

Of course, in addition to following the correct manuscript format you will need to check all your spelling, grammar, and punctuation before you submit your novel. Mistakes in these areas damage your credibility with an editor, as well as showing that your manuscript still needs much work.

Great list, huh? Be sure to check out Glen’s website for lots of other useful information. It is one of the best I’ve seen.

~ Kay

 
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Posted in All About Me, Guest Posts, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Guest post by Cat Woods

13 Jul

Hi everyone,

Hubby is having hip replacement surgery today so one of my critique partners, Cat Woods, graciously let me “borrow” a recent post from her blog. Cat is among my favorite online chums. She’s an excellent writer (has been published!) and is entertaining to boot. She ‘s married, has four children and a black lab that likes to eat socks and sometimes shoes. Her blog is Words from the Woods.

So without further ado….here’s Cat. Enjoy!

~Kay

 

What base is your novel on?

July 6, 2011 by catwoods

As many of you know, Middle Son loves baseball.  The first half of the season was a series of whiffs and misses at the plate.  Sometimes he’d simply watch the ball go by and not swing at all.  Enter the glasses a few weeks ago, and he’s been getting better.

I think it took him a little time to get acclimated to his new specks and relearn his depth perception.  After all, his eyes had lied to him before and he had to adjust to the land of the seeing.  Over the course of the second half, he’s gotten increasingly more skilled at timing the pitches.

Last night he was up three times in the batting order.  He had two beautiful hits and struck out once.  His second hit sailed through the gap between shortstop and third base and had to be chased down in left field.  By the time he slid into second base, three of his teammates had made it home, tying the game.

Oh, how a grand slam would have been awesome.  Ultimately, it would have won the game if he could have smashed one to the fence.  Yet, Middle Son is teeny for his age and he’s been relearning to use his eyes.  His hit was a victory in and of itself.

Writing is like that.

Not every novel has to be a grand slam.  Sometimes we write simply to learn.  We practice our mechanics and experiment with our voice and style.  We learn the nuances of the business and apply this knowledge to our writing.  Along the way, we see the results and position ourselves for a run.

CAT’S GUIDE TO LOADING THE BASES

  • Strike Out: those first 2,000 words that don’t go anywhere.  They are mere character sketches or inciting incidences written on the spur of the moment in response to events in our own lives.  While this feels like a miss, writing these snippets are essential to learning the craft.  They are practice for future projects.  And without practice, we would never learn to hit.  With luck, these characters or events work their way into other novels.
  • First Base: finishing a novel.  It’s easy to start a story.  It’s not easy to reach the end of one.  And while finally getting a hit feels like a victory, it’s just the beginning.  Not all books that make it to first base cross home plate.  In fact, many do not.  Instead, they end up back in the dugout, cheering the next batter on.  Hitting a single in writing will always advance a runner (our writing skills) and is well worth our time.
  • Second Base: editing said finished novel.  This is a process often over-looked by beginning writers.  Edits may be rudimentary.  Nothing more than typo checks.  Yet getting a novel polished is much more than that.  It takes time and skill and a whole lot of patience.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  Sometimes we stand on second base forever before getting the guts to steal third.  Other times, our beloved manuscripts fall victim to a third out and we find ourselves back in the dugout awaiting our next time at bat.
  • Third Base: querying/subbing.  I’m not talking about writing the query letter here.  I’m talking about sending it off.  Third base puts us in position to score a run.  It’s the one place in our journey that hurts the most.  We hover on third–debating whether our manuscript is ready–with home plate taunting us from mere yards away.  We can taste victory, but it’s not quite within our reach.  We’ve declared ourselves writers and put ourselves out there for others to accept or reject.  Once we get this far, we are largely at the mercy of agents, editors and the industry trends as a whole.  It is at this stage in the game that we often learn the maturity and grace of being a professional writer.
  • Home Plate: securing a publishing contract.  We’ve put in the time and run the bases.  Whether we got there with one pitch or a painful series of them, we finally slide into home and earn our place in the writing world.  Someone, somewhere loved our writing enough to take a chance on it.  We have tangible evidence of our hard work.  Yet our work is not done.  We still have to practice.  We still have to edit and write and write and edit.  We market and socialize and learn, all while waiting to win the game.
  • Grand Slam: published novel in hand.  There is no need to expound on this.  However, I feel compelled to remind myself that hitting a grand slam does not mean the game is over. At some point, authors will once again face the pitching mound with a new novel.

I’m not afraid to step up to the plate.  Strike outs don’t scare me.  Standing forever on third base does.  And the only way I can control that is to just keep swinging.

How about you?  Where are you standing at this moment in time?  Are you just starting  out and hoping for a single, or do you have your eye on home plate?  How many manuscripts has it taken for you to get this far?

 

 
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Posted in BLOG POSTS, Guest Posts, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Sleep Deprevation

06 Jul

I slept eight hours last night, yet I feel I could sleep for eight more.

What’s wrong with me?

I know it’s not the heat of summer because we keep the thermostat at 67 pretty much year round.

I couldn’t be sick. I met my quota for the next five years of illnesses this past winter.

I tap danced a few hours on Monday, but that’s energizing, not tiring.

I haven’t eaten heavy in the past few days. Well, I did have some strawberry ice cream last night.

So what is this all about? I have a hypothesis.

When I’m in full-fledged novel writing mode, I’m up and down all night as my dreams give me ideas for the manuscript. I know from experience if I don’t record dreams immediately, they’ll be gone the next day.

When I’m in my writing zone, I lose track of time, often forgetting to eat or take bathroom breaks. (TMI!) I often write late into the night. Sometimes I’m still writing when Hubby gets up the next morning.

So here’s my theory: I’m in discovery mode right now for my next novel. I think my body knows I need to build up some surplus sleep hours for when I start writing.

I can barely hold my eyes open. I think I’ll go take a nap.

~Kay

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Grief

29 Jun

Hubby is 1/3 owner of a small business. He and his two business partners started the company about ten years ago and have grown it to a dozen or so employees. The recession hurt, but they managed to keep all of the employees in their jobs. They are like a  family.

The three owners are around the same age but they have vastly different personalities. Each has a distinctive role in the business and they compliment each other’s expertise. They are a good fit and work well as a team. They trust and respect (and dare I say love) each other, and they always have each other’s back.

Hubby and I met when the company was brand new and got married in a small ceremony almost nine years ago. Both of his partners and their lovely wives were there to celebrate with us. And when Hubby’s step-dad died in April the four of them were at the funeral. There have been many occasions where we’ve had the opportunity to support each other and all six of us have stepped up to the plate.  As I said earlier, it’s like a family.

Yesterday, the wife of one of the partners, who had been very ill for some time, crashed. They were at the hospital, and Hubby and the other partner joined them there. Hubby kept me posted by phone, but when they decided to do surgery, I headed to the hospital too. They opened her. They closed her. They told the family there was nothing they do. She died yesterday around 4:15 at the age of 52.

Losing some you love is painful. Grieving them brings even more pain. The emotional highs and lows in the weeks/months/years after a significant loss are sometimes hard to comprehend. I’ve learned through personal experience you can’t skip grief nor can you rush it.

Everyone grieves differently and I think it is presumptuous to tell someone you know how they feel. I learned this when my mom died 19 years ago. Well-intentioned friends would say, “I know how you feel,” but in reality, I wasn’t sure how I felt . . . how could they? For me, it was much more comforting to hear words of sympathy I could believe: “I’m sorry for your loss,” or “I can’t imagine how you are feeling,” for example.

When my mom died, I had a lot of other things going on in my life. I put my grief on the back burner and didn’t work through it. I thought I had handled it well. I thought I was fine. Then, a few years later, it came crashing down so vehemently, it almost paralyzed me. Later, when two very close friends died, I started grieving immediately. It still took over a year to fully grieve their deaths—and I still miss both of them and my mother too—but letting myself feel sad or angry or whatever I needed to feel in the moment made acceptance much easier.

As I get older, I realize I am going to see death among friends more frequently. I’ve accepted that. I don’t know if the more times you grieve the more efficient you’ll become at it. I just don’t know. I wish I had a way around the grief, but I believe it has to be felt to be released.  And loss hurts, damn it!

Have you experienced loss? How have you grieved? Does it get any easier???

 

RIP PATTY

~Kay

 

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Family, Friends, Relationships, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Progress not Perfection

22 Jun

I was born right smack in the middle of the baby boomer generation. This means, of course, I grew up without personal computers—even in college. Therefore, when it comes to computer projects, I’m sometimes leery.

I was tickled with myself when, over a year ago, I obtained a domain name and picked an online web hosting company without help. I even set up a website—sort of. I got as far as my front page before the fear set in. I put an “under construction” sign on it and moved on to my blog.

As I got more comfortable handling my blog, I wanted to tie it to the website and build more pages. I’d already built a blog page and a welcome page on my blog site, but then I had this other site linked to my domain name, which only directed the reader to the blog. I don’t think it was even a link, because I didn’t know how to do links when I set it up.

Over dinner with friends, one a computer expert—and almost my age, by the way; what’s up with that? —I bemoaned that I didn’t know how to link my web site with my web-hosting company to my blog site and asked him to help me the next time they visited our home. He readily agreed, but told me all I had to do was go to my web host and link them. Yeah, easy for him to say—he teaches this stuff.

But I’m an adventurous sort (LOL) so I opened my Blue Host site—which always makes me think of a blue (or black) hole—and although I was intimidated, I found the place to link them. It was easy, but the Blue Host front page still overwhelmed me so I got off before I did something to mess up everything.

See, that’s the problem. I’m savvy enough to learn how to use software. I’m quite proficient with the Microsoft suite and can surf the web like a beach boy, but when it comes to data, I’m still afraid I am going to wipe out something. I took enough computer programming classes (before PC’s) to know for every action there is a reaction and sometimes it’s not the reaction desired. Although there are safeguards, I’m afraid I might destroy my data, blow up my computer, or somehow annihilate databases for miles around. I do know how to back up my data (I think)—let’s just hope my neighbors back up theirs. No, we’re not on a neighborhood network, but that doesn’t mean in my imagination I can’t destroy their home computers. Irrational, I know but still a fear on some level.

Yesterday, I finally got my “under construction” Blue Hole website linked to my blog (yea) so now when someone goes to my domain name, my blog magically appears. I was aware I could do pages on my blog—I’d already done a “welcome” page—so I decided to add some more pages and make it look more like a legitimate website.

I added a query page and posted my well-crafted query, in case some agent with nothing better to do stumbled across my website. Of course I’m aware an agent with that kind of time might not be my best choice, but you never know. I’ve met one best selling author who found her agent by posting her query on her page in Publisher’s Marketplace. He’s from a top-notch agency and he contacted her! This is a little different I realize—hold on while I add my query to my PM account—thanks, I’m back—but it’s worth a shot. More likely, I’ll get feedback about what does and doesn’t work about the query—not that I haven’t already asked for and gotten opinions from about a gazillion people—one reader’s comment might be the one that makes my query leap to the top of the slush pile.

I decided to create two more pages. The first one is “Blog I Follow.” I thought about naming it “Bitchin’ Blogs” but my mother-in-law pops in occasionally and, yes, I’m a 56-year-old woman who still cares what her MIL thinks. In theory, setting up the Blog page would be easy because all I had to do was copy my Google Reader over to the site, but, as it turned out, this process was quite laborious. I’m sure there was an easier way, but I did a lot of cutting and pasting as well as link building.

I divided the blog page it into sections: Agents, Editors and Publishers, and Writers. I thought about adding another section for “Readers,” but if they write a blog, doesn’t that make them a writer? The jury is still out on that one. I’ll update this page as I add new blogs to my Google Reader.

The other new page is websites to help other writers. These are websites I’ve found in my quest to navigate the writing and publishing worlds. Maybe another writer can benefit from the hours days weeks of research I’ve done. If you have other wonderful writing websites (oh, the alliteration), please leave them in the comments section and I’ll add them to my list.

The pages are pretty much built, though I know they’ll be a work in progress for a while. Check them out using the buttons at the top. Next, I’m going to try to figure out how to tie my domain name directly to my welcome page, which means I’ll have to add a “blog” button to the top. (I’m sure it isn’t as simple as that–or maybe it is.) I’d also like to jazz the pages up a bit, but that’s gravy. Having a barebones website is progress.

The good news is nothing exploded or was erased (to my knowledge). My neighborhood is still intact. Whew! At least I’m less squeamish than my dad who is afraid turning his computer on might break it. Oh, poor Dad.

Until Friday . . .

~Kay

 

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Laptop addiction

15 Jun

I learned to type in the tenth grade, and ever since I’ve preferred a keyboard—first a typewriter, then a computer.

I got a MacBook Pro for my birthday and the nice people at the Apple store offered to transfer the data from my PC to the new Mac for free. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. The problem was finding a two or three day window of time to let them do it.

I transferred most of my documents, but I wanted someone who knew more than me to move my photos, e-mails and contacts. I was changing e-mail platforms and wasn’t sure I could switch from Outlook to Apple’s programs without messing something up. Saturday I paid all of my online bills, wrote Monday’s post and scheduled it in advance, and backed everything up. Then, two months after the purchase, I bit the bullet and dropped both computers at the MAC store.

I have both an I-Phone and an I-Pad so it’s not like I wasn’t “connected.” It’s just when my laptop is away from home, I feel a bit discombobulated. Perhaps it’s time to go to a therapist for laptop addiction.

I got MAC back late yesterday and spent the evening bonding. How about you? Is your laptop connected at your hip or do your other mobile devices suffice?  Is there anyone out there with a similar detachment disorder? I’d love to know. Maybe we could form a support group.

See you Friday.

~Kay

 

 
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Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Emma, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday: Fear

08 Jun

Monday I put my tap shoes back on after an almost five-month hiatus due to that horrible fatigue-causing crud I had all winter. I danced 3 ½ hours and could barely walk yesterday. But I’m going back for more today. Last Friday and Saturday nights were the annual dance recital. I had the costumes for all four of the dances my group preformed and knew two of them from before I got sick; I simply had not had the energy to rehearse. There’s always next year.

I thought seeing my over-fifty dance troupe perform without me would make me sad, but instead I was proud of them for doing such a great job. What did make me sad, however, was seeing the little ones—the four, five and six-year-old dancers (and I use that world loosely). Of course I laughed until I cried because they were so adorable, but it also reminded me of when I started dance at that age fifty years ago. I was so full of optimism and unafraid to try almost anything. I’d yet to learn the stumbling blocks that have tripped me up as I’ve gotten older: perfectionism, fear of rejection, fear of the unknown . . . you get the idea. What if I’d kept that six-year-old trust of the universe, just assuming everything would work out? How would I be different today?

These are hypothetical questions, of course, so I don’t know the answers. I do know it took getting over my need to be perfect, my fear of rejection, my fear of the unknown, etc. to start this journey of sharing what I write with others.

At first (before I knew how to check my statistics) I judged my posts on how many comments they garnered.  Because it wasn’t so many, I started writing for myself, sort-of like a journal I’d leave out for others to pick up and read if they chose. Then I read a post by ProBlogger that said only one-in-a-hundred readers leaves a comment. Gulp! I learned to check my statistics and amazingly found my readership had grown each and every month. The first time I met someone I didn’t know who said, “Oh, you’re the blogger,” I was pleased (of course) but then insecurity set back in. I found myself thinking about my readers and what they would “think” as I wrote, which caused me to lose my voice. To be authentic as a blogger, I have to be myself. To be authentic as an author, I have to be true to my characters. I can’t worry about what others will think—I just tell the story.

If I thought writing a blog was putting myself out there, it’s nothing like sharing my novel with others. At first, I shared chapters as I went along with close friends. I quickly learned that was a bad idea because a) these chapters sucked and b) they were unrecognizable after revisions and editing. Friends who read the early chapters and then the finished book, didn’t recognize them as the same story. I think I’m happy about that.

It scared me to death when I joined a critique group, but as I got to know them, it became much easier. I quickly learned when they (kindly) told me something sucked, they weren’t saying I sucked, just said portion of the book. Funny thing is, for the most part, I already knew that section was a trouble spot. In a relatively short period of time, I’ve learned to trust the other seven members of my critique group–some agented and published and some unagented and not yet published.

Then came beta readers. Except for a cousin who is a lawyer (and there are lawyers in the story) and an aunt who did a fabulous line-edit, my beta readers were either in the profession of one of my characters and/or people I’ve met online. I’ve gotten almost all of the beta reads back, and it’s been fun seeing the different opinions. I was taught if one person has a problem with a scene, as the writer I should look at the scene as objectively as possible and decide if it needs to be “fixed.” If two people have a problem with the same scene, then there’s a problem with that scene.  I’ve applied this concept to my book, and it makes it a stronger story.

Next comes the search for an agent via the query process. Agents will be reading my words. Really, really  scary.  Yet, I wanted to put  on a costume and dance before a full house of 1800 people. Perhaps my fear factor needs a tune-up.

What are your fears? How do you overcome them?

 

Until Friday,

~Kay

 

 
4 Comments

Posted in All About Me, BLOG POSTS, Wednesday Posts, Wildcard Wednesday, Writing

 

Wildcard Wednesday–All about beta readers

01 Jun

Jenni Merritt, one of my classmates from the Revisions class, had a great post recently on Beta Readers. It was particularly interesting to me as I am in this process right now with MURDER ON MUSIC ROW.

I especially liked how she broke out the roles of the beta reader and the author. Handy information to have.  Enjoy.

The World of Beta Readers

by Jenni Merritt

This last week I have been focusing on finishing my beta reading ofKimmel‘s book.  I got behind on it, what with editing my own WIP, so as soon as I finished my round I dove into her book.  Because of that, I have been thinking a lot about beta readers.

Do you know what a beta reader is?
I found out just last year, honestly.  I had heard the term thrown around, but never thought much about it.  Now, if you know me and my hubby, we do like our video games.  We have even played the beta versions of certain games before.  So I figured it was something like that.  Getting the “finished” product… playing (reading) it… then pointing out all the flaws and gaps and moments that it freezes/randomly shuts down.

And guess what.  That was it.  Minus the freezing/shutting down.

A beta reader reads the MS with “a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public.” (Thank youWikipedia for speaking for me.)

Since then, I have had the chance to beta read for a couple different friends.  It is a great experience.  And a scary one.  What is even scarier?  Sending my WIP to my beta readers.  Even though I personally know each person I had as my beta reader, I still felt the ants in my pants and the jitters.  Major jitters.  Here this book is.  You have been slaving away on it for who knows how long, only mentioning the most awesome parts to the ears that will listen.  Then you edit a bit.  Make it even more awesome.  Now… here comes the test run.  It’s scary!

So, today I thought I would post a few thoughts on what both the writer, and the beta, should keep in mind when beta reading away.

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Author:

- Make sure you do at least one, if not two, strong edit rounds before you pass it to the betas. While their advice is needed on all levels, you want to give them something closer to the finished product, other than the rough one.  They need the magic!

- Choose your betas carefully. These are people who will be reading your baby.  Critiquing your baby.  You need to know that you can trust their opinions and thoughts.  And that they will give opinions and thoughts.  (I’m sorry.  But  “It’s good” just isn’t good enough.  But I will get to that one later.)

- Give clear instructions. Do you want an in depth, catch all grammar issues review.  Or are you mostly just looking for the gaps and the loved spots?  Make sure to explain to your betas what exactly you are needing.  Tell them to write their notes in a different color than the text.  I have found that adding something such as  “EDIT2″ after each note/correction makes it easier to find them all later.  Whatever you chose, make sure to clearly tell the betas.

- While family is awesome, they may not always make the best beta readers. It’s tense enough asking friends to do this job.  Family is a whole ‘nother story.  While they are usually your biggest fans and strongest rooters, they also can have a harder time being critical.  Yes, you want and need the love/adoration.  But unless you know for a fact that your family member can put aside that connection and read honestly, I would recommend to wait on their praise.

- Be open minded. Yes, this is your baby.  Yes, you created every sentence, every page.  And I am pretty sure you think it is amazing.  (I hope you do!)  Now you have to listen to your beta readers.  As writers, we understand our entire story, even the parts not written, because it was born from our own minds.  The beta readers don’t.  They will tell you where the plot gaps are.  Where they got confused, lost.  What sentences made no sense and what sections felt unneeded.  Remember: You asked them to do this.  Don’t argue or get butt hurt if the entire MS doesn’t return glowing with praise.  They are trying to help you, to make this the most amazing thing ever.  So, take a deep breath and try to listen.

- On that note: You don’t have to do everything that every single beta suggests. That is just what their thoughts are.  Suggestions.  While I do not advise totally disregarding all of their words, you can pick and choose.  Listen to their advice, take it to heart… then do as you the author knows best.  It is your baby.  They are the community helping it grow.

- Send it to more beta readers than you want feedback from. From personal experience, and finding out from other writing friends, not every beta will end up finishing and sending their feedback to you.  That’s ok.  It doesn’t mean they hated it.  Life happens, and there really isn’t much we can do about it.  So, if you are hoping for at least three solid feedbacks, send out at least six.

-Thank them. These beta readers did a lot for you.  They read your MS.  They shared their thoughts.  They worked hard.  So make sure to say a huge thank you, potentially with chocolate.

Beta Readers:

- Follow the instructions. I am sure the author will send what format, feedback, etc they are wanting from you.  Do that.  Don’t change it up because you feel your ideas for feedback are better.  The author has taken faith in you, and they know what they are needing back.  So, do that.

- If you commit to beta reading, do it. While we all know that life happens, the author is depending on you.  Try to do it.  Aim to do it.  And if something comes up where you realize the job won’t happen, be kind and tell the author.  Leaving them dangling in the dark until the last second isn’t very kind.

- Be critical. Many times you may just feel the urge to say “It’s good” or “I love it.”  While both of those are awesome to hear, they don’t help much in the grand scheme of it all.  If you love a part, explain why.  Authors love praise, they really do.  And they will need it… because if you do not get a part, if you couldn’t understand it or just felt strange about it… you need to tell them that too.  Being critical means living on both sides of the spectrum.  While you may love the story, it will never shine and be its best if the weaker parts don’t get polished.  You, as the beta reader, are out there to find those parts.  Don’t worry.  The author is trying to be open minded.  So be honest.

- On that note: Don’t be brutal. Honestly, if you just can’t stand the entire piece and felt like it was a huge waste of your time… find a slightly nicer way to word it.  Even if you do like the piece, don’t make the entire MS bleed.  I know we all want perfection.  But remember how hard the author has been working on this.  They are about to be smashed in the publicity world.  Break it to them nicely.  If you feel the MS needs much more work than what you see before you, email the author and speak to them directly.  Do not just tear them apart.  While you do need to point out the weak spots, make sure to also compliment on the parts that worked.

- You are their first step into the world of reviews, remember that. The author has sent you their work.  They are now at home, nawing on their nails and pacing the floor.  They are nervous and excited.  Your thoughts mean more to them than you may know, and they need to hear them.  The book world is brutal.  They are bound to be in line for some not-so-awesome reviews in the future (Hey, every book has them!) and you are now the first.

- Stick to the time line. The author will more than likely tell you when they would like your feedback returned by.  Respect that.  If you find you are lagging behind, tell them. Communication is key.  The author is likely on some sort of deadline, and they can’t wait months for you to finally do what you agreed to.

- Respect their privacy. Being a beta reader is awesome.  You have been let into the author’s inner circle and entrusted with their prized possession.  Don’t abuse that.  You must remember that it is still a WIP, and still being worked and tweaked until it is ready to shine.  Don’t disrespect the author by bad talking the book to others.  Handing it out to others to read.  Telling people everything that happens within the pages.  Copying it and selling it as your own.  All of those are huge no-nos.  You have earned their respect.  Don’t lose it.

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Beta reading is a great way to advance your book to the next level.  Not every writer out there has an amazing agent loaded with talented editors and a-waiting publishers.  With beta readers, we working a bit more independently have the chance to grow.  Take that chance.

I know from personal experience that the feedback and insight given to me from my beloved beta readers was invaluable.  I don’t think my WIP could have gotten to where it is now without their time and love.  My Betas, I know I say this often, but… Thank you.  I love you.

Whether you are the author sending your book out to the betas.  Or the the beta reader now ready to devour the pages in front of you, I wish you luck in this adventure.  And remember: Bring lots of chocolate.

Thanks again, Jenni for sharing. This was of particular interest to me because I’m in the beta reading stage of MURDER ON MUSIC ROW. Actually I have most of my Betas back and need to get to editing that thing one more time. To all of MY beta readers I’ll once more give you my heartfelt thanks. There isn’t enough chocolate in the world to adequately express my gratitude.

 
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