Processing Process

(Admin suggested I put this up as a blog post.  This was originally posted on my personal blog, blogyinyang.com, on April 22, 2015.)

Everything we do has a process. How you get ready for work. How you cook a meal. How you get dressed. Your process may not be like mine, or anyone else’s. In “All in the Family” Archie debated with Michael sock, sock, shoe, shoe, while Michael preferred sock, shoe, sock, shoe. We all have a process. For me it is sock, sock, pants, shoe, shoe. That way I don’t have to roll up my pants to put on my socks and shoes, and then roll down my pant legs, possibly rolling down my socks.

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Is the Indie world headed for a literary Armaddeon?

There are titans vying for control and Indie authors are like the David's of our time. The titans don't go by the names of HarperCollins or Penguin Random House. Those folks are still in shock that we dared to, with the help of Amazon and Smashwords, come forth like a dark horse and break every fence that exists with the e-book phenomena, but they may have the last laugh. Anything that builds too fast can have weak legs and the sheer weight may bring it tumbling down.

Thousands of writers have been walking in the desert for years with no home for their novels. Finally, they had a mechanism to share their hard work that had been shunned by the old guard. Even insightful authors who wrote for big houses saw the opportunity. They took their backlists and tried again in the new frontier. Their fans followed. No more waiting two years for a book to be presented into the hands of their readers, and the authors earned most of the marbles.

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Investigating the Crime Scene

OK. You've started your thriller. Murdered off a character. The police are on their way. Now what?

 

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My First NaNoWriMo!!

I am excited to announce that I am participating in NanoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time! I am a bit nervous, because the idea of Nano is to write a novel in one month. The month they have chosen is November. The only worse month they could possibly pick would be December. I have put Nano off for the last two years, as I was busy with other projects. This year, I was certain until October 15th that I would not be doing Nano this year either. Then I unexpectedly finished edits early for The Hunters. Even though I have several other projects that need editing and a lot of other work: a friend was telling me how she participated in Nano last year, and this year she got to post her book that was published this year as a Nano book. Sales tripled. Hard to say no to free marketing like that! But, I have also had this Infection story eating at my brain (no pun intended ;) ) for the last two years. I decided that if I simply took a month off to write it, then moved it to the back of my to be edited pile, then it would give me motivation to get through my other two projects, AND this one before November next year! That would be awesome!!! At the very least, the story can get out of my head and stop distracting me from all my other projects! So, I will be laying pretty low as I have calculated that I need to write 5,000 words a day to keep to my goal! Have fun in November and be good!

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Proof reading

I remember when I first started writing and I decided to take the plunge and expose myself on the internet. I would post articles and essays I had written on several different websites. My first love at that time was politics, so naturally, I decided to write about that topic,—it was my only area of expertise. Readers scorned my politics--as anyone would expect (at least those who disagreed); however, the worst tongue lashings I received were for my grammar, spelling, and general syntax. The biggest reason for this was that I never proof read anything before I pushed the “publish” button. Yes, there I was, an unfound literary master, one who was so good that my work should be published pure, as it was first written—blah, blah, blah—(sighing loudly) the ego of a writer can be quit ugly in its raw form. I have to give myself some credit for being so brave. My wife Lori would cringe as she sat and listened to some of the comments readers wrote about my work. One guy told me that I was an affront to the Liberal Arts (laughing). Lori, my dear wife, began to meekly suggest that allow her to read my work for a second opinion, you know (she said) a second pair of eyes. I begrudgingly agreed; however, this was also an interesting display of ego. She would point out areas that needed editing only to hear me growl at here like a dog that guards his bone. Over time, I was verbally beat into submission by readers who saw themselves as the guardians of syntax. Then, it happened, I mustered enough courage to take an honest look at my readers, their comments, and for that matter, my overall traffic. It told the real “tale of the tape.” I sucked. No one was reading my work—not really. I came to the horrid reality that I needed to work on my skills as a writer, that I wasn`t the natural born, unfound, literary master that I thought I was. I was just another garden variety writer who needed to study the craft and practice more. And more importantly I needed to PROOF READ!One of the top ten books that I ever read about the craft of writing (and there are so many) was a book called “Write good or die” by Scott Nicholson. This book is a compilation of shared advice and experience from published authors. It’s free for download and well worth a read. This book revealed to me some harsh truths about my craft from real writers who knew what it was like and what it takes to make it. One author in particular spoke to the issue of proof reading. He said that he would proof read no less than five times. Each time working to make his sentences more concise, looking for awkward sentences and poor grammar, and making sure the final product was truly his best. As indie authors and freelance writers, we are often times our own editors. We don`t have the luxury of an editor that we pay, like perhaps Steven King or some other best-selling author. We will make mistakes and typos; however, we must try our best to drop the ego and realize our first writing is not as good as the third or fourth. God bless--WP

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Working on rewriting and republishing Blood Drain Series 1st book

I had published this first book in the Blood Drain Series. Blood Drain Angel's Story but was lied to and they messed up the book and said it was my fault and would not redo it. so i am working on rewriting it and adding more of the book . to make it better. So i will be looking for a new publisher. and will republish it again and then i will market and push the book. this one is still live so far until i republish then i will put that one . so only ones will have the first edition with the mistake they did and stuff will be the ones that buys it before i republish. i will have the cover some what different then this one i have not had that one made yet. so until i get it done. i will be writing up a storm.

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First Drafts

I was talking to a dear friend of mine tonight who is tackling the task of writing her first novel. She is an avid reader and she is also very artistic in many other ways but has never written anything. The book she is writing is a YA fiction and I gotta say that I think she has a best seller on her hands. Sshhh--don`t tell anyone I said that; I`m the only friend of hers who has read the partial manuscript. 

We walk together in the evening oftentimes and as we walked she said to me, "I`m stuck, I can`t quite get my plot going in this next chapter." Now, I know my friend very well and she is, as am I, a perfectionist to the 'T' and won`t cut herself a break. I asked her if it was because it wasn`t perfect enough. As we walked and I asked her that question, she stopped...put her hands on her hips--you know,like she was fixin to cuss me out--and then smiled and began walking again. She knew I had a point. My point was this: You have to re-write to get to the creative perfection you want. 

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