Writers On The Move

Fear of Formatting

I have a novel forthcoming from MuseItUp publishing, a science fiction novel for tweens/young adults, and as part of the novel, I created a poet and wrote thirty-one of his poems. Eight of the poems appear in the novel, and I wanted to publish the whole collection to go along with the book. I dragged my feet - first about obtaining permission to use the poems that appear in the book, and second, when I had permission, about putting the book together.

Fear of formatting held me back, but at last, with the deadline approaching, I jumped in.

I created the cover on the above using my image and a CreateSpace template.

Covers: This was my first sticking point. But fear not, designing one's own book cover is easy with CreateSpace, as they have cover templates and images you can use. Or you can use your own photo, or go to one of the many websites that offer photographs and buy one. I went to Bigshotphoto to purchase the image for the cover of "Sand in the Desert." It cost me $2.99 for the small size.

For the cover of SandInTheDesert, see Karen Cioffi's post: http://margaretfieland.com/blog1/2012/05/26/design-your-own-ebook-cover/

For the formatting, alas, there was no cure but to jump in. CreateSpace does have templates you can download and use for the various size finished documents. They have predefined layouts, page styles, and the like, and you fill in the blanks (or sometimes, generic text) with your own.

I downloaded and used one. And now, many hours later, I have just ordered my second proof copy - the first had problems with both formatting and content -- and I know a lot more about formats.

I use OpenOffice rather than Ms Word, so the menus will be slightly different, but here are some of the things I learned to watch out for:

Page setup options as to the distance from the top and bottom and from the sides.
Whether the format is MIRRORED or not.

Header and Footer: Do you have them? Do they have the same contents left and right?

What format follows this one? I got hung up on this because the LEFT page format had LEFT as the next format instead of the RIGHT page format. The RIGHT page format had the same problem - RIGHT was the next format instead of LEFT. This screwed up my page numbers.

Paragraph: Line spacing and distance between paragraphs.

Fonts: This one is pretty straightforward in your document, but CreateSpace wants the fonts embedded in the document. OpenOffice doesn't appear to have an option to put them in a .doc file, so I had to select "export to PDF" and check the option to include the fonts in the PDF.

Size of your finished book: The page formats include the page size, which will, of course, affect how much space you have for text. The CreateSpace templates will give you a guide as to how much space to leave for the margins - the INNER is the critical one, as you will need to leave enough room for the binding.

Proof Reading: There's no substitute for proof reading. Proof read for formatting, and again for content. I read through for the formatting, then again for the order of my poems, and once again for the poems' content.

My personal criteria for passing something out of a proof phase is that I read it through twice without finding any errors. Sad experience has shown me that I can overlook an error once through, but the chance I will overlook the same error on another reading is small. Yes, this is tedious. Yes, it's saved my ass more than once.

Here are some references:

For OpenOffice:

http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/office_guides/openoffice_3_writer_user_guide/openoffice_writer_Book_chapter_sequence.html

http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/ooo-help/r2.1/en-US/WIN/writer/guide/header_pagestyles

Here are some for MS Word:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/2009/6/Mirror-margins-headers.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_4488436_lay-out-book-manuscript-microsoft.html

I just ordered my second proof copy. The first had both formatting and content issues, ones I didn't spot using the digital proof copy. I'll be examining this copy carefully, both for formatting and for content. For each, if I can go through it twice without finding any errors, then I'll declare it good to go.

3 Writing Maxims to Ignore or Tweak

Today, Writers on the Move has a wonderful guest article from freelance writer Melissa Miller.

3 Writing Maxims to Ignore or Tweak

If you've undertaken any formal education in creative writing – say, more than one workshop – you probably know that much of the same advice is recycled by your teachers and peers, time and time again.

This is not necessarily a bad thing: the collective knowledge of people who have devoted their lives to this craft is an invaluable asset to draw on, especially when you're first setting out on the journey of finding your own way as a writer.

That said, some of the clichés are as stale as day-old bread (see what I did there?) and you should take them with a grain of salt (mm-hmm). Remember: in writing, there are no hard and fast rules. Anyone who tells you otherwise has been brainwashed, and is not to be resented so much as pitied. They will forever be confined by the non-existent rules, and their writing will seem as though you've read it too many times before, because it's been streamlined by groupthink, too many heuristic words of wisdom they've unquestioningly absorbed.

Here are a few old chestnuts that you should always question, and not even because they're necessarily wrong, but because they could stand to be examined more deeply:

1.    "Write what you know."

The way you interpret this is what matters. Should all your writing be autobiographical? Not necessarily. Is research off-limits? Certainly not.

But the emotional truth of your writing can only come from felt experience. This is what Stanislavski preached for actors, and was later embraced as "the Method" by such luminaries as Marlon Brando and Dustin Hoffman, but it's also true for writers.

So you can write about others with wildly different backgrounds from your own, but probe into yourself spiritually and try to empathize with how a given moment must have felt.

2.    "Show, don’t tell."

The problem here is that this is literally (or literarily) impossible. Writing only tells, by definition, unless you're writing in hieroglyphics, and even then, as the Rosetta Stone taught us, they were usually not representational, but conventionalized symbols.

Anyway, that's a tangent, but the point stands. What they really mean by this cliché is, "simulate showing, not telling," but that's not nearly as pithy.

It is true, though, that the level and diversity of sensory detail in a piece of writing has a profound, immersive effect on the reader. In this way, literature is sort of like virtual reality, but invented 10,000 years before any goofy 3D headsets.

3.    Always remember your audience.

Okay, this one is particularly well-intentioned. It's like "the customer's always right." The idea is that you should respect your eventual reader, and anticipate what they'll want, how to hook them, how to keep their interest, etc.

It's a good maxim, like these other two…as far as it goes. The problem comes when your audience is always in your head, psyching you out, from the first draft onward. This can censor or even paralyze your natural flow as a writer.

Sure, it's important not to waste the time of others. But the best way you can make sure to write something worth their reading is to, in another famous platitude, coined by Joseph Campbell, "follow your bliss." Don't forget to write for yourself too.

~~~~~~
Melissa Miller is a freelance writer. Throw your questions to melissamiller831@gmail.com.

Blog Posting, Keywords, Anchor Text, Tags, and Website Statistics Part 2

In Part 1 of Blog Posting, Keywords, Anchor Text, Tags, and Website Statistics we talked about Keywords and their importance on driving traffic. Today, in Part 2, we discuss Anchor Text and Tags.

Anchor Text

Another interesting fact in regard to the statistics’ referring sites is that the KCWM site itself is listed as a source. This is accomplished by creating anchor text within the post content and/or at the bottom of the post as “Additional Reading” or other worded lead-in. The anchor text (article titles) under this section leads the reader to another page/post within your site.

According to Wikipedia, “anchor text is weighted (ranked) highly in the search engine algorithms, because the linked text is usually relevant to the landing page.”

Is there a difference between an anchor text leading to another post and simply putting the url itself? YES.

Anchor text allows search engines to easily find and index your content and they value this strategy; the url address doesn’t have the same ‘word power.’ Wikipedia says, “The objective of search engines is to provide highly relevant search results; this is where anchor text helps.” This is part of SEO.

Tags

Next on my ‘to do’ list when posting an article on my site is to put relevant tags.

In the article “Using Categories and Tags Effectively on Your Blog” on
ProBlogger.net, it explains that tags should be thought of “as the colorful little page markers you might use to flick back to your favorite pages in a book. The tags don’t describe the book as a whole, instead they describe individual sections of the book.”

Two important factors to consider:

• Tags complement categories. If you use Wordpress you’ll be able to and should use categories. Blogger does not offer this feature, so it’s even more important to use tags.

• Tags should be focused and use the same ones for each specific topic. This means if you are writing about book marketing, use the same specific tags: book marketing, book promotion, etc.

Don’t switch them up. Be consistent because it is this consistency that search engines will use to index your site and establish you as an authority on that keyword. This means a higher ranking in the search engines.

Promote your Blog Posts

If you want to enhance your visibility, you need to SHARE each article/post. Wordpress and Blogger both have plugins or gadgets to provide easy ‘sharing’ to Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Linkedin. Make use of the ‘sharing’ feature.

Then of course there are your other social networks, your groups. Don’t forget to post a message in your groups letting them know you have a new post up.

Use these three blog posting elements for each of your posts and your traffic/views are sure to increase.

~~~~~

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MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Widen Your Reach Know Your Audience
Small Business Marketing – Know What Consumers Buy

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).
Karen Cioffi
Award-Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter
Author Online Presence Instructor

Create and Build Your Author/Writer/Home Business Online Presence
http://www.karencioffi.com/author-online-presence-ecourse/

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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Why Do You Write?

Don’t worry about the type of writing you do or how long you’ve had the creative bug. Focus on the reasons why. Some of you may feel an overwhelming need to express yourselves. Others feel a passion for the written word. In both cases, writing comes as naturally as drinking water to satisfy a thirst. You write because you must.

Perhaps you write for yourself, taking satisfaction from forming an idea into a finished piece. Perhaps you write for you family, preserving bits of history for future generations. Perhaps you write for publication, sharing your work with anyone willing to read beyond the first few lines.

What about money? Wouldn’t it be great to be paid for your work? A fiction teacher once told me to consider my reasons very carefully. If I sought fame and/or fortune, I ought to give up writing in favor of more practical skills.

Is it really that difficult to earn a living as a writer?

In the world of creative writing—particularly literary fiction and poetry—proper compensation seems like a half‐forgotten dream. A select few literary journals offer high fees, but competition among writers is fierce. Smaller and less established journals may offer little or no monetary compensation.

In order to earn a living, many writers turn to trade and specialty magazines for more lucrative deals. Feature articles tend to generate considerably more income than creative writing. However, most editors aren’t interested in reading unsolicited manuscripts. For the writer, that means extra time spent on research and crafting a convincing query letter. Why is your article unique? Why are you the best writer for the job? Why should the editor care?

Ultimately, you have to decide if the benefits outweigh your efforts. If you’re making good money but hate what you’re writing, you’ve probably gone off track somewhere along the way. On the other hand, an old adage suggests that if you do what you love, the money will follow.

Betty Dobson is an award-winning writer of short fiction, essays and poetry. She also writes newspaper and magazine articles but is still waiting for those awards to materialize. In the meantime, she continues to run InkSpotter Publishing, which has three new books available and several more in the works for 2012.

FINDING OUT WHAT FUELS YOUR WRITING

When I think of maintaining both a sense of inner peace and personal ambition the following quote by Lao Tzu comes to mind "By doing nothing one could accomplish everything.'"
As a busy mom, writer and psychotherapist, I rarely have time to "do nothing." As I type this entry after midnight, I have two loads of laundry in progress, a feverish child in my bed, and a desk piled high with work. A part of me thrives on burning the candle at both ends and having multiple projects in the works. However, a larger part of me, simply just wants to be relaxed and enjoy exactly where I am in this moment. For me, inner peace is simply about being in the present and knowing that everything will be okay, regardless of how crazy it seems now. Meditation is a great way to infuse your day with inner peace. I try to set aside ten minutes each morning to simply sit and breathe. During meditation, I slowly breathe in and out through my nostrils and gently let go of any thoughts or worries. I allow everything to be as it is. Having thoughts occur during meditation is as natural as breathing. I welcome the thoughts and then quietly let them go as I surrender to silence. At first, I found meditation challenging. I ,too, am ambitious. It was hard for me to sit still and I was eager to get started with the next item on my list. However, after a lot of practice, meditation is now my favorite part of the day. Paradoxically, I find that after this ten minutes of "doing nothing" but meditating, I am most productive. Some of my best ideas and freshest writing come to me after meditation. In a sense, meditation fuels my ambition yet also sustains my sense of inner peace.

Meditation feeds my soul and infuses my writing with passion. What activity works for you? For some of us, a ten minute walk deeply enhances creativity. Others may enjoy cooking, gardening, yoga, or a leisurely telephone chat with a treasured friend. Find out what revives your creativity and make some time to do it. After engaging in your favorite activity, take five minutes to respond to each of the following writing prompts.

1. If I knew that I would not fail, I would immediately...

2. If I had enough time, I would write.,,,

3. If I had an endless supply of money, time, talent and energy, I would make the following changes in my life....

Aileen McCabe-Maucher is the author of the book "The Inner Peace Diet" which was published by Penguin Books and released in December 2008. Aileen is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist who has helped many people find inner peace and discover their unique life purpose. Aileen has worked for over fifteen years as a licensed psychotherapist and registered nurse providing individual and group counseling to a diverse client population. She is a graduate of West Chester University, Widener University, University of Delaware, and The Gestalt Therapy Institute of Philadelphia at Bryn Mawr College. Aileen studied yoga and the chakra system at The Yoga Lifestyle Center in Paoli, Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and writing her third book.

Get your completely free Inner Peace Diet E Course today by visiting Aileen's website now at

www.theinnerpeacediet.com

Fear

We all deal with fear whether we are conscious of it or not. As writers, we can deal with the fear of failure and rejection. Mark Twain once said:

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.

Courage is a decision – not a feeling. It looks fear in the eye and decides to move forward anyway. It doesn’t have to be a determined march either. It can be simply putting one foot in front of the other.

Fear paralyzes. We understand the one who becomes “frozen” with a fear of heights. Writers can become frozen, too, and not move forward.

Some fears that can stop a writer:

Manuscript rejection(s)
Lack of encouragement
Comparing yourself to other writers
Lack of confidence in your voice or craft
Overly sensitive to critiques
Lack of freelance employment
Failure

The only way to be successful is to keep going no matter how you feel or what your experiences have been. If you give up, how will you know if the very next assignment or query may be your breakthrough?

Writers must learn to believe in themselves when no one else seems to. Chances are you write what you love. Keep going and don’t give up! Someone out there needs to read what you write.

Can you list some fears you may have had and how you dealt with them? Or fears you are currently dealing with?

~~~~~~~~~

Kathleen Moulton is a freelance writer and nature lover. She is married, has 8 children, ages 10-28, and has been homeschooling for 25 years. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at “When It Hurts” http://kathleenmoulton.com/

Photo Credit: Pattys-photos / Foter / CC BY

To Beat or Not to Beat

What is a beat? And what is its purpose? A beat is a little bit of action that can involve physical gestures. They are used to remind you of who your characters are and what they are doing. An example of a beat is:

“Where are you going?” Charlie grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into her flesh.

They can increase the tension where needed or they can give the reader a bit of relief where the tension is really great.

A reasonable balance is necessary or you can interfere with the flow of the scene. You have a scene where the dialogue is building the tension (example: an argument that is increasing in tension and building toward a critical moment such as a murder). Too many beats can interfere or disrupt the tension and make the murder scene less exciting. This can damage the flow of your scene and keep your scene from building. In other words, it can slow you pacing. The result can be the loss of your reader’s interest. So your goal should be a proper balance between dialogue and beats.

Interestingly beats can be used to vary the rhythm of your dialogue. Remember, good dialogue has an ebb and flow to it. The areas where the tension is high you need to cut the beats to a bare minimum. If you have two high-tension scenes in a row, you should allow your readers to relax in the next scene with some quiet conversation containing more beats.

If you are not sure just where to put a beat, read your scene out loud. Where you find yourself pausing between two consecutive lines, insert a beat.

Beats can be used to define your character. A good example of this is body language. It can allow breathing room in an emotionally tense scene. To reinforce the point I’m trying to make, beats can accomplish three things: 1) They can increase tension; 2) They can allow breathing space for the reader; 3) They can define your character.

In looking over your scene(s) there are some questions you should ask yourself:

1. How many beats do I have? Try highlighting them.

2. How often am I interrupting the dialogue?

3. What are the beats describing?

4. How often am I repeating a beat?

5. Do the beats help illuminate the character?

6. Do the beats fit the rhythm of the dialogue? Read it out loud.

Faye M. Tollison

Author of: To Tell the Truth

Upcoming books: The Bible Murders

Sarah’s Secret

Member of: Sisters in Crime

Writers on the Move

www.fayemtollison.com

www.fayetollison.blogspot.com

www.fmtoll.wordpress.com

Writers On The Move

Fear of Formatting

3 Writing Maxims to Ignore or Tweak

3 Writing Maxims to Ignore or Tweak

Blog Posting, Keywords, Anchor Text, Tags, and Website Statistics Part 2

Why Do You Write?

FINDING OUT WHAT FUELS YOUR WRITING

Fear

To Beat or Not to Beat

Beginning Writers Do Get Published

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3 Writing Maxims to Ignore or Tweak