Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Halloween is My Least Favorite Holiday Bah, Humbug!

Halloween scares me. Yes, it does. It is my least favorite holiday probably because of trick or treating experiences as a child. How many of you had your mother dress you up like the jolly green giant with a balloon for his head and tiny peep holesin his chest to see the path to the neighbor's doors? Or how many of you ran like crazy 12 year olds racing from house to house in the cold rain, freezing to death because it was not cool in our clique to wear a rain coat and boots? And how about those old folks who invited you into their homes for cocoa and cookies and wanted to talk and talk and talk? They were as creepy as some of the monsters in my imagination.
I went to one scary movie with my brothers--something like Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein. I think they told mom it was Abbott and Costello so she thought it was okay and had them drag me along. I'm sure they loved taking their seven year old sister with them.-- I spent the entire movie under the theater seat hiding from the scary scenes on the enormous screen.
So, I hate Halloween. But isn't it ironic that the first book I sold is a mystery/horror story???
What are some of your Halloween memories??

Thursday, October 14, 2010

My Brain is on Overload

This is the week of amazing learning, talented teaching, and mind-blowing information gathering. It is the Muse Online Writers Conference--a FREE, yep FREE, writers conference. A writer can attend any hour of the day, but best of all, there is no need to dress up or even get out of your jammies to get in on all the writing information.

Discussions go on all day and night about the business of writing, fiction, non-fiction, publishing, self-publishing, editing, book covers, grammar.....you get the idea. There are handouts for attendees so if the brain is on overload, the participant can read the information at her leisure (whatever that is...in the bathtub?)

If you didn't get a chance to register for this year's conference, do sign up for next year's. There is something for everyone. Just don't forget to get your stash of chocolate to get you through this fantastic experience.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Editing My Manuscript for Sunshine Boulevard

This week I received the first edited manuscript for Sunshine Boulevard. My content editor, Karen McGrath, sent me her edited version of the ms done by using the Tracking option on Microsoft Word program. Oh, my goodness, but you should have seen the red boxes with deletions, insertions, and comments! Whoooo-eeeeeeeeee….Karen assured me this is what all authors have to go through and that mine was no worse than others.
Do you remember getting your red-inked English theme back from your sixth grade teacher? While that was a shock, opening up my ms file and seeing all the red boxes on the right side of the page with broken lines leading to the text took me back to those school years. Oh my.
When my heart slowed down and I could breathe again, I began reading through the ms. As I read, I noticed the flow of the story was smoother, the action was faster, a few words replaced several sentences. All of the things I love to do when I edit my writing. Hey, she made this script even better??
I now look at the trimmed down story as being on Word Watchers…a writer’s version of Weight Watchers.  I went over her changes and suggestions and added my own, then emailed the file back to her.
I did not realize that after turning in a ms I would be spending hours on revising it again. But I want to put out the best story for my readers and I appreciate Karen working with me to do that.  I am anxious to see what she sends back to me for the second edit and to learn about the process that Muse It Up Publishing uses to finish the ms in order to give the reader the very best reading experience.
Stay tuned. I’ll probably be whining again about the editing!!

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