Get into the FLOW of writing

Seriously, look at this! Doesn't this look divine? Heavenly?
Let me tell you, IT IS!

This week I'm lucky enough to be able to pry myself away from my group of guys (3 teenage boys, hubby, and two four-legged fury friends) at home and go to this exact cabin, in the woods, with two of my writer buddies (Heather Webber/Blake and Wendy Lyn Watson).

We are all on deadline for our next novels.

Heather is traditionally and indie-published with a book due to her editor at NAL (Penguin  Group) on October 1st, and a deadline for her seventh book in her Nina Quinn series, that she's self-publishing, somewhere close to December.

Wendy is traditionally published, and her deadline to her NAL editor is September 1st.

I'm self-published and my deadline is August 15th.

Each of us are at different stages of the writing process, but we are ALL on deadline. Since our deadlines are so close, we thought it was a great idea to have a writer's retreat where we only sit and write all day. (THANK GOD someone's internet is not secure b/c the cabin does not have wifi. )

Anyways, one thing was for sure, no matter what, I had to get into my writing mojo. And by mojo, I mean flow. In order to justify leaving my husband at one of our families busiest time (all three teenagers are heavily into sports and AAU sports, and this weekend two of them have tournaments), I promised him that I would get at least 20,000 words written from the time the rented Chevy rolled up to the cabin, until the rented Chevy drove away from the cabin. (Four days)

This meant that I had a lot of preparation to make to get into the FLOW of writing. I came up with some easy tips to help (which also work on a daily basis, not just a very cool cabin treat with some great writer friends)

1) Set a goal.
I know some of you aren't goal oriented. But when you are on deadline, or wanting to get the next book out,  and whether you make a tangible goal or not, you have made a goal. You got that book completed and ready for publication.

My goal at this retreat is to write 20k words. (blog post NOT included) Plus I know a little bit about where I need my story to go. I'm a panster, but about 100 pages into my novels I have a pretty good sense where the story needs to go until the end. That is when I make a list of scenes that I know have to go into the book.
And you don't have to write those scenes in order! This is a great way to get the flow going. If you are more motivated about the murder scene or one of your conflict scenes, write it. You can stick it in the story later, or go back and beef it up during your edits. This will also get your flow going and lead to more writing.

When you set a goal, it puts a concrete idea in your head and forces your brain to wrap around the idea that you have to get this done. So why not go ahead and set a concrete goal.

2) Keep a journal handy.
Don't roll your eyes! We all know that I'm old school and love to write long hand. When you sit down to write, try to write a few sentences long hand to get your brain warmed up.

3) Set a timer for ten minutes.
Sit down and write, ten minutes straight. Get up and walk around, and then set the timer again. Most times than not, you have begun your flow. You hit the timer just to write one more sentence or finish the scene, and before you know it ten more minutes or thirty minutes have gone by and you are in the writing flow.

4) Create a writing work space.
Here at the retreat, we each have our own bedroom if we want to go in there and just be alone with our laptops. We also have a nice deck outside with a few tables and chairs to plant ourselves and get the muse of nature on our side. Or we have the amazing section, comfy, big pillow couch where we have decided that is where we want to spend our time writing.

The TV is OFF, the batteries are out of the ticking clocks (because I'm crazy and the tick makes me crazier) and the coffee is brewed in the pot.

The three of us are here to write and keep us accountable. We aren't going to lounge around and flip on the TV (okay, I did last night for Big Brother and Project Runway), but we are setting our environment to get into the writing flow and get some words on the page.

Now....go get in the mood to write! Let the words FLOW!

Do you have any tips for our writer friends on how to help them GET INTO THE FLOW OF WRITING?

PAINLESS EDITING!

As I'm sitting on the beach this week....YES! I'm at the beach!

But I'm in my most least favorite part of the publishing book process. . . EDITING! It's the second book in A Magical Cure Series, A Charming Cure. And if you don't write mystery, you should know that I write my mystery novels backwards.


And my editor would be more happy to tell you that she has to go over my work at least twice!

I have come up with some great tips to help me and YOU get us through the editing process with a little more with ease.

1) Take your time.

I know that we have our muse and want to start writing on the next project, but if you don't slow down and take your time, your novel will suffer by not becoming the best novel it can be.

An easy way to do this, and what I have done while I'm at the beach, is to break my finished novel into four parts. Literally, I take the page count and divide it by four.

This helps me work on one section at a time and not temp myself to work ahead. I'm a tad bit lazy in this editing department and anything I can do to get through it I do. Breaking it up doesn't seem so daunting.

2) Don't worry with the meat of the bones on your first round of edits. Make sure that you have the story down. Make sure the story is going exactly where you wanted it to go. Don't worry about the dialogue tags, or the description at this point. I'm sure you have most of that in there, but we are just looking at the story structure of the novel.

3) If you are further into your editing process, change the font on your computer. We have a tendency to know our novel so well that we can skip through it as if you were skipping through a meadow of flowers on the most perfect day. Nothing jumps out. BUT if you edit in a different font than you are use to, things have a tendency to stick out a little more.

4) When you are in your final draft of editing, send it to one of your readers! I have two GREAT readers that I trust with my novels. I have met only one of them in person and the other I have not. I trust them completely with my genre. They are avid readers. When they tell me something is off, or a character hasn't developed enough for them, I listen.

Do you have any editing tips that will help us like the process a little more?

From An Editor to An Author

Please welcome editor Judy Beatty!!

Tonya asked me to write a blog on editing, and I’ve been mulling around what I want to tell you over and over in my mind for days now.   I have finally zeroed in on some things that I feel are important to the editor, and for the author.

In editing a manuscript, there can be a tendency to “want” to forget that the author has his or her own voice, and change sentences into how we as editors would say it if we had written it.  This is where we can make or break trust in the person we are editing for.  It’s common to try and change sentences around to our liking, but once the author’s voice is revealed, we must edit in their way of thinking, and not ours.  I had one lovely author recently tell me that she sees my grammatically correct sentences and says “Grammatically correct? What’s that?”  Also, I edited a book for an author that had characters speaking the worst English I have ever heard, but that is the way he wanted it, and that is the way I had to learn to edit his book.  Now I am highly aware and try to find the pattern and rhythm  in each authors writing, and once I do that, I can easily edit without changing their voice.

Punctuation tends to be an issue in every manuscript I edit.   Commas are by far the most overused punctuation on the planet.  Quotation marks inside or outside of the period/exclamation point/comma are another issue.  I find this rule handy: If in Britain, put the quotes outside of the punctuation, and if in America, put them inside.  Since most of us are in America, writing to Americans, then I try to keep what our readers are used to seeing prevalent.  If any of you are writing to a British audience, please tell your editor so they can edit accordingly (I say with tongue in cheek).

It helps, also, to have a wonderful daughter who teaches high-school English for a living.  AHEM…YES, I do write her occasionally when I get stumped and ask for her opinion, and thank God, she is so quick to help me.

I love working with already published writers, but am sad to say that so many manuscripts are getting edited (even [especially] by major publishing companies) and leaving so much to be desired; and you, the author, have probably paid through-the-nose to have them edited, but they are still so full of errors and have been published that way.  Since I do a lot of re-editing for authors who are already published, I feel deeply sorry for them and want to do everything in my power to make their manuscripts as clean as possible. When I read a book for fun, and it is full of errors, I tend to cringe and put it down.  Actually, that is how I got started in editing.  I read a series by a well-known author, and found so many mistakes that I wrote her and asked if she would like for me to fix them.  She sent me her manuscripts and I was on my way with a new career.

New writers are fun to edit, and a bit more time-consuming, because they are just finding their voice and a good editor can help them find it if he or she is willing to take the time to discuss issues with the writer.  It’s great fun to watch new writers evolve, and see each new book come to life with more of “them” in it.

My final thought is, no matter if you are an already published author, or if you are just starting out –edits will need to be done; sometimes over and over again, until the manuscript is so squeaky clean you can see your face in it.  I do look forward to working with many of you, and will continue to enjoy reading your works, and editing to my heart’s content.  

Until then, “Happy Writing”.

Judy is giving away a one time free editorial service to one lucky comment today!!!!

Tips to Edit Your Own Work

We all live in edit hell! Even if you claim you love it, you know you don't (shaking finger at you)! Unfortunately, editing skills separates a mediocre writer from a great writer in the self-publishing world. (Little secret: even traditionally published writers have to have extensive editing from their editors. NO ONE turns in a perfect book.)

I have never claimed to be a perfect writer. FAR FROM IT!! Over the past few years I have learned a few tips that help me self edit my books before I get them to my editor. I have to have an editor. It's only good business practice, but here are some ideas to help you along the way.

1. Just write!

Don't edit while you are writing. Get the words on the page and let your creative juices flow. If you worry about editing, you are going to get stumped and not get in your word count or ideas down.

If there is a blatant typo, yes change it. Don't go back and fix grammar, punctuation, etc....

2. Step away.

After you finish your novel, it's a good idea to step away for a couple days and let your mind have some down time.  Use this time to read. Writers should read, read, read, and this would be a great time for that. Let your mind escape from your characters.

After a couple days go back and read your novel. You will be able to look at it with fresh eyes and catch some of those simple mistakes. Plus stepping away will give you fresh ideas and see plot holes. This is a good time to help layer your story-line.

3. Kindle it!

I use the word Kindle as the universal reader but I also mean any ereading device, this includes your phone or your PC. I always send my novel to the ereader before I send it to my editor and before I publish it, I send it to my ereader.

It's easier to spot mistakes on a different device. Plus I want to see exactly what it will look like when my readers will buy my book. More times than not I catch too short/long paragraphs for an ereader or formatting mistakes that need to be fix.

4. Cut Unnecessary words!

I use a lot of but, exclamation points, and goofy words on my blog. It's a place for me to just write and help authors. I really should take the time to write the blog, edit it and take my own advice. BUT this is where I get my words out and let my creative juices flow and I don't cut out the unnecessary words.

Don't do this with your manuscript! Cut out the repeating words, phrases, unnecessary adjectives (Lisa spoke loudly....Lisa screamed).

5. Use spell check!!

Spell check doesn't always catch the true editing issues, but it doesn't hurt to run it a couple times before you send it to your editor or before you publish. It's another set of eyes to get you to look at some issues that you might not have caught before hand. Missing words and homophones are not found using spell check, but it will help with the general, easy mistakes that easy for your eyes to miss.

6. Read your story out loud.

Reading out loud will help your trained ear hear the missing words or world flow. This is one of the strongest editing tips you can do to catch those missing words. Read each word carefully, slowly. We know our manuscripts so well that sometimes we can skip over the words, so take your time and truly read it like a readers!

7. Send it off!

Enough is enough. Once you think you have edited until your eyes and fingers have had enough, you've had enough and so has your manuscript. It's time to send it to the editor or publish it. Let it fly on its own!


Side note: It's taken me years and over three editors to find a perfect fit for me. If you go look at any of my reviews, you will find several reviews that claim my books have editorial issues. AND THEY DO....luckily, I just had all of them re-edited by my fabulous editor, Judy Beatty!! She is doing a guest post on Monday!! AND giving away a free edit! Be sure to stop by!

Do you have any tips for our writing community about editing?

BTW....If you get a chance pop over to Book Tour Radio! I'm being featured today! FUN!!