Time Management

Hello and good morning!

Check out my It's Real Life blog this month. On Tuesdays and Thursday's I'll be posting Time Management tips! As writers and moms and wives and workers and...well, all the other "people" we are, it's hard to find the time to do it all.

Today is an awesome perspective by Rene Gutteridge. So pop on over!

35 Things you need to know about writing...

Check out 1-6 here, and 7-9 here and 10-14 here
and 15 -19 here and 20-23 here anad 24-26 here!

#27: Have a clearly definable conflict in your story—not a negative one either. Not a passive one—resisting change. A negative goal makes it difficult to keep your characters together. Not—they don't want to be together because he reminds her of something bad. But— she must convince him to admit his paternity to his daughter before it's too late for the child to have the needed surgery.
linda ford

#28: Put the reader in the action. Seriously. Let the reader experience the emotions and the journey. It's another way of saying show, don't tell.

linda ford

#29: Walking, talking, coffee drinking are boring. Don't bore the reader. Dramatic events would be nice. No, not just nice. They are essential. Always think events--real time, real space, real action.
linda ford

#30: Never let the tension drop! Tension and excitement on every page is more than a nice bonus. It's essential. A person shouldn't be able to skip even one page, let alone 4 or 5 or heaven forbid, skim through the book looking for something that moves the story forward.

linda ford

#31: Research is good but only if it somehow impacts the characters or adds colorful detail.

linda ford

My Prayer for You

May is almost over. How does that make you feel? Maybe you got a lot accomplished ... but perhaps you look back at the month with disappointment. After all, there is so much more you wanted to achieve. Either way, here is a prayer I'm praying for YOU.

Dear Lord, right now I pray that You will touch the heart of my writer-friend through Your Word and Spirit to guide and encourage. I pray, as it says in Colossians 3:15 that the peace of Christ will rule in this writer's heart.

I also thank you, Lord, that You care for the little sparrows. And ... that You care for this writer's concerns far, far more than that. I pray for the projects, the ideas, the goals ... they all seem so pressing, Lord, but You know what this writer desires to accomplish, and I pray that You will answer the numerous prayer requests in unexpected ways.

Also, Lord, I pray all the focus of this writer's work will stay centered on You. As it says in Colossians 3:23, I pray this work will be for the Lord rather than people. It is there, centered on You, that discernment and wisdom will be found.

I praise you, Lord, as it says in Mark 8:35 when we desire to give up our lives for Your sake, and for the sake of the Good News, that we will find true life.

In all these things may You, Jesus, be glorified. Amen.

P.S. Don't forget over the coming days and weeks to WATCH for how God will answer this prayer. Then, I want you to let me know the amazing ways God answers ... because I have confidence He will!

Christian Writers

The world does not need more Christian writers. It needs more good writers who are Christians.

-- C. S. Lewis

Thursday Tip...Wanna write non-fiction?

My number one suggestion for non-fiction is to start with articles. Most publishers won’t consider your books until they seen that you are consistently getting your message out there in articles. (Plus, you reach thousands of people!)

Check out Sally Stuart's Christian Writer’s Market. There are THOUSANDS of mags looking for articles. Then, when you get the sample magazines (which you MUST do) tailor your article to their style. It works every time~

Tricia

I can't write...

This quote was sent to me by James R. Coggins

Max Braithwaite (The Night We Stole the Mountie’s Car, McClelland & Stewart, pb, 1969, 1975, 1990, p. 79) told of trying to write a novel for a year. He said: “I learned two things about myself: first, I was a writer, and second, I couldn’t write.”

What he meant was that he had not mastered all of the technical skills but that he was a born writer. He continued: “A writer is a certain type of person. He’s been described as ‘a watcher and a listener.’

Bernard Shaw said something about a writer seeing the world through different eyes. A writer is a person who pays attention, who ponders, who considers, who assesses. Nothing really escapes his notice.

He wonders why.

Why is that woman doing that? How did she get that way anyway? What would happen if she were to do this instead? A person is born with this faculty. It is part of his nature.”

To Answer your question...

Every Tuesday will be dedicated to answering some of the GREAT questions you all have asked!

Today's question is: What is your opinion on hiring a professional editor to edit my manuscript before sending it in to a publisher?


And today's answer will be given by Nikki Arana! Take it away Nikki...

The biggest reason that new writers receive rejections is because they send out their ms (manuscript) before it is ready. So many unpubbed writers think when they finish their first ms, they've finished a book. In almost all cases, they've finished a first draft. If it has been written with the guidance of a critique group of other unpublished authors, it's probably a good first draft, if it was written without any mentoring, it's probably a detailed outline. That's what the first draft of my first book was . . . the agent I sent it to is the one who told me. (grimaces)

The first step toward publication is to learn how to write a book. This takes time unless you hire a professional. There are professional editors, Sometimes called developmental editors, who can do that. But it is VERY expensive, around $75 an hour. They work with you step by step as you write. Like going to college and you're the only one in class. You end up with a book that only needs polishing. You always think of improvements after the first time through. But by then you are knowledgeable enough to make informed decisions on your own.You only get one chance to make a first impression with an editor or agent.

The concern about somehow the writing is not your own if you use an editor I find no basis for. I've never had any editor change a word of my writing that changed my voice. The concern that you can't deliver that quality of writing after you get the contract isn't true either. I'm writing my fifth book and still use the same professional structure editor I did on my first book. I still occasionally have payoffs without setups, have the hero do unheroic things, and have something in the story that doesn't make it to the page. But now, those things seldom happen, so it takes the editor less time and has become much more affordable. I consider the money I spend as my college tuition. Most editors accept payments.

After you know as much as your unpublished critique partners, professional editing is the next step toward publication. Yes, there are always those stories of a newbie sending out an ms and selling it. But out of the hundreds, even thousands of writers who submit mss, that happens very rarely. It is getting harder and harder to break into print. If difficult finances prevent you from using an editor, then try and find a pubbed author to guide you. They can be just as valuable, but often can't give the time needed. There are also conferences, workshops, and classes. It will just take a little longer going that route.

Pray with all your heart and work with all your might. Give your God-given call and God-given talent every opportunity to prosper.

Nikki Arana
www.NikkiArana.com

2007 Excellence in Media Silver Angel AwardAmerican Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year - Women's FictionWinner of The Beacon Award
Jessie Cameron Alison Writer of the Year Award
Conference Speaker - Workshops

ON MAKING A LIVING AS A WRITER...

"What the young writer of today should contemplate is a dual profession, and incidentally, it would be the best thing in the world for his tortured creativeness to be forced to touch some nonliterary world, forced to remember what saner folk are daily up to. Let the young Balzac or Byron not only wear his elbows shiny at his desk, but let him with equal assiduity learn another and slightly more lucrative calling. But I would like him to keep out of advertising, journalism and the teaching of literature, if possible, because they are too much akin to writing. No let him become a doctor or a grocer, a mail-flying aviator, a farmer or a bacteriologist, a priest or a communist agitator, and the two professions together, he may make a living."

~~ SINCLAIR LEWIS, From The Writer, September 1936

Writer vs. Author...

Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head, then you are a writer.

But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.

~~Colette, writer (1873-1954)