Two Ways to Format your Manuscript

Properly formatting my MG mystery book loomed in the background during editing. The reckoning day arrived. Thanks to children's author Margot Finke I knew who to call upon: the formatting service at Golden Box Books Publishing Services. Margot sang the praises of Golden Box author Erika M. Szabo, who did the formatting for her young teen fantasy, Daisy and Bartholomew Q. She said, "I couldn't be happier with the results. [Erika] also educated me in the ways of correct formatting." Among Erika's many talents: a multi-genre author, Publishing Coach and illustrator.


I fully intended to contact Erika to help me with my formatting needs but decided to Google the subject: "How to format a fiction book," to see what would happen. I clicked on a tutorial by Jill Williamson, an author for adults, teens, kids, and some for the whole family, which she uploaded onto YouTube. I decided to try it.


By splitting my screen with Jill's tutorial and my ms, I went through the steps she explained by pausing, executing, pausing. It took several views to fully understand how to do it all. The biggest
glitch was doing the page numbering right, which Jill warned is tricky. At the end of the video, she invited viewers to visit her website for a more in-depth description. I found the information under, "for writers: jill's writing and publishing tutorials," and after some trial and error, solved the problem. I am proud of how my ms looks now and feel confident it is correct.


It's been an inspiration to discover both of these terrific authors and their websites, chock full of helpful information for writers.

• Golden Box Books offers help in every aspect of self-publishing. Check it out!
• Check out Jill Williamson's video, "How to Format a Fiction Manuscript," on YouTube, and  Jill's website. You'll be glad you did.

I will call on both of these resources again. The information offered is far-reaching and relevant in today's market. You will find many areas of expertise. My challenge to you? Go for it!
Illustration: https://openclipart.org/detail/121249/puzzle

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 100 articles for adults and children, and six short stories for children. Recently, she completed Joyce Sweeney's online fiction courses, picture book course and mystery and suspense course. She has currently finished her first book, a mystery/ghost story for 7-11 year-olds, and is in the process of publishing it and moving on to new writing projects. Follow Linda on Facebook.

 

 

For Success, Every Writer Needs to Develop Habits

By W. Terry Whalin

As a writer, do you have habits?  I'm a creature of a series of habits which I've developed over my years in this business. For example, I begin each day spending time reading the Bible. It's a pattern that I've done for many years.

Each year I select a different version of the Bible to read throughout the year. This year I'm reading Eugene Peterson's The Daily Message. It's part of my spiritual habit that feeds into my life as a writer and editor.  Your habit for meditation may be different but I encourage you to have some sort of meditation to begin your day.

Besides spiritual habits, I have habits with Twitter. In past entries, I've detailed how each day I'm using tools (mostly free) to grow my presence in the market and community—and also increase my presence on social media. These habits do not take much time but have consistently grown my presence—so they will be something I will continue in the days ahead.

I have a number of other habits in my life—consistent practices and actions. During the last year, I've stepped up my consumption of books by listening to more audio books through Overdrive. Recently I completed listening to the audio book of The Power of Habit by Charles Dihigg. The book explains the science and practical nature of habits including how we form new habits and replace old ones. I found the stories fascinating and informative. Until listening to this book, I didn't know about the history of the creation of toothpaste and how brushing teeth became a habit. If you want to learn about this important aspect of life, I recommend you track down this book through your library (Overdrive like I did) or purchase a copy and read it, then apply it to your own life.

Another resource on habits that I recently read is Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi. I enjoyed the book and learned a great deal from it. Apart from the book Graziosi has created The Better Life Challenge where in 30 days you can transform your life in as little as three minutes. This resources is FREE and you don't have to read the book—but simply take action every day for 30 days. Just use this link to learn more details and sign up to learn through this tool.

The writing life is much more of a marathon than a sprint.  I often meet writers who believe that one book or one action will propel them to bestseller status. Sadly this belief is a publishing myth.  Repeatedly I hear about writers who are called an “overnight” success because they've suddenly sold a lot of books. Yet when you look into the details, you will normally discover this author has been in the trenches faithfully working for years to achieve such a position.

What skills or habits do you want to develop in the months ahead? Are you taking consistent action to gain the knowledge and insights you need to get there? Tell me about your plans in the comment below and if I can help you, let me know.

Tweetable:

Are you developing writer habits? Check out these resources. (ClickToTweet)
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W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He is the author of more than 60 books including Book Proposals That Sell, 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success. Terry has almost 200,000 twitter followers and lives in Colorado.
 

Think Your Way to Writing Success with Daily Affirmations

"What you think, you become" is attributed to Buddha.

Then there's Mahatma Gandhi's saying:

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

Whichever you choose, bottom line is we have control over what we become or accomplish through our thoughts.

Below Jack Canfield shows how to use daily affirmations to change your thought process and achieve success, including writing success.

The Reason You Need to Practice Daily Affirmations

By Jack Canfield

Successful people, from top salespeople and entrepreneurs to bestselling authors and Olympic athletes, have figured out that using willpower to power their success isn’t enough.

You need to let go of any and all negative thoughts and images and bombard your subconscious mind with new thoughts and images that are positive and stated in the present tense.

How do you do this?

The technique you use to do this is called daily affirmations, which is simply a statement that describes a goal in its already completed state.

Two examples of affirmations would be:

I am joyfully walking across the stage as I receive my MBA degree from Wharton.
I am so happy and grateful that I am now crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

In addition to all of the feedback I have received from hundreds of thousands of students from around the world about the effectiveness of their using daily affirmations, there’s now new academic research that shows in high-stress level environments those who do daily affirmations have lower stress levels and more success than those who don’t.

Discover how you can use affirmations to re-create your self-image, replace your limiting beliefs, and achieve success in my Daily Affirmations for Success Guide.

What are Daily Affirmations?

Daily affirmations are to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Repeating daily affirmations helps to reprogram the unconscious mind for success.

It helps eliminate negative and limiting beliefs and transforms your comfort zone from a limited one keeping you trapped in mediocrity to a more expanded one where anything is possible. It helps to replace your “I cant’s” with “I cans,” and your fears and doubts with confidence and certainty.

How Daily Affirmations Keep You Focused

- Daily affirmations are reminders to your unconscious mind to stay focused on your goals and to come up with solutions to challenges and obstacles that might get in the way.

- Daily affirmations also can create higher vibrations of happiness, joy, appreciation, and gratitude that then, through the law of attraction, magnetize people, resources, and opportunities to come to you to help you achieve your goals.

Whether you know it or not, you are always using affirmations… but usually not ones that will bring you what you want.

These are things like:

•    "Everything I eat goes straight to my hips."
•    "I am never going to meet somebody I can love."
•    "I never catch a break."
•    "No matter what I do, I never seem to get ahead." 

How to Create Daily Affirmations

The use of daily positive affirmations interrupts and eventually totally replaces this barrage of negative thoughts and beliefs. To achieve this, you must continually flood your unconscious with thoughts and images of the new reality you wish to create.

I am going to share with you two sets of guidelines for creating powerful daily affirmations that work—the long form and the short form.

Here are the eight guidelines for creating effective daily affirmations. You may want to write these down.  They are also in my book The Success Principles.

1.    Start with the words "I am." These are the two most powerful words in the English language.
2.    Use the present tense.
3.    State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don’t want.
4.    Keep it brief.
5.    Make it specific.
6.    Include an action word ending with –ing.
7.    Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word.
8.    Make affirmations for yourself, not others.

Daily Affirmations Examples

Here’s an example of an affirmation following these guidelines:

I am joyfully driving my new red Porsche Carrera convertible down the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Or if you are more ecologically minded, you can make that a new Tesla.

You can use the following simple formula: I am so happy and grateful that I am now ... and then fill in the blank.

Some examples would be:

- I am so happy and grateful that I am now earning $150,000 a year.
- I am so happy and grateful that I am now celebrating having achieved my ideal weight of 140 pounds.

One of my most famous affirmations is:

I am enjoying living in my beautiful beachfront villa on the Ka’anapali coast of Maui or somewhere better.

I started writing that affirmation in 1989 and in 2011 – that’s right, 22 years later, I had something better!

Make sure to take 5 to 10 minutes every day to repeat your affirmations – preferably out loud with high energy and enthusiasm.  The best times are early morning and right before you go to bed.

Create New Daily Positive Affirmations for Yourself

Write down 3 affirmations for yourself that affirm you having already achieved 3 of your goals and dreams. Then, write down the time of day that you will commit to practicing your affirmations. Is it when you wake up in the morning? Before you go to sleep? Or mid-day when you need a pick-me-up?

And to hold yourself accountable, go ahead and leave a comment below with your chosen time of day. I’ll follow up with you to make sure you’re staying on track!

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

MORE ON WRITING AND MARKETING

Freelance Writing Work – The Possibilities
Self-Publishing – 3 Tips to Help You Avoid the ‘I Want It Now Syndrome’
Top 5 Reasons Many Writers Don’t Reach Their Potential

Finding a Critique Group

It is the first month of the New Year and for writers that usually means new projects, new goals, new and better ideas floating around in your head. It also means evaluating what worked last year and what needs to be changed. A renewal of your commitment to becoming more successful as a writer may include finding a critique group for that second eye at your work.

If you don't currently have a critique group you may be wondering if you need one and if you do decide it might be a benefit, how do you find the right one? Here are some tips for helping you figure out if a critique group is right for you and finding the perfect members to make it work.

A critique group should be a benefit to you and in turn you must be a benefit to the others.

1. keep it simple
2. keep the group small
3. develop a trust within the group so that criticisms are not taken personally 
4. don't let it distract you from your real goal of writing

That being said, how do you find your group or as some writers call it, your tribe?

Start with deciding what kind of group you want, online or in person. If you want to be part of an online group you can find your members from writing sites, online classes you have taken, through your current social media writing friends you already know or by asking and being recommended by other writers you are familiar with. Joining writer associations or other membership sites related to your genre can open up many opportunities to find a critique group in your area of interest online.

If an in person group would benefit you more, check with your local library for any local writers that might also be interested. Local papers might also offer articles on other local authors or even list support/critique groups for writers in your community asking for members. 

Keep in mind that a critique group should offer you critical points that advance your story but should not demean you in a personal way. That's where the trust factor comes in. You must always trust that members are not tearing you down to make their writing feel better but are giving points to improve and lead you to more success. You in return must be the same type of critique partner.

What other tips do you have for those seeking a critique group, and any thoughts on how and why a critique group has helped you  can be shared in the comments. Here is to a successful 2017.

How Often Should You Be Blogging

Since I'm a writing coach and I often help clients learn how to use a blog to build their brand and their business and/or writing careers, many of my clients want to know how often they have to blog.

Do you wonder the same thing?

Well, if you feel like you HAVE to blog, you probably shouldn’t be blogging in the first place!

Blogging should be for someone who can’t WAIT to wake up in the morning and share more information with people.

If you lack that, it could be a sign that you’re in the wrong niche.

But let’s talk about traffic and authority.

You’ll see some leaders in a niche who blog very infrequently.

This is sometimes because blogging is a side tool for them.

They primarily use other things like television, radio, webinars and live, in-person seminars to attract and cultivate an audience.

But if you're a blogger who wants to use your blog as your primary source of audience engagement, then you need to make a commitment to show up and share on a regular basis.

The more, the better – but there’s an asterisk to that*

* More is better ONLY if there’s something valuable that you’re sharing.

In other words, don’t blog just to blog.

Don’t slap up meaningless content that dilutes the truly valuable blog posts you have just because someone told you to blog three times a day.

What you ought to do is go through and develop your editorial calendar to see how much content you can conceivably create.

You’ll be surprised at how many ideas you generate once you understand how to look for good blog ideas.

As far as search engine bots (spiders) are concerned, they like to see a certain amount of “freshness” in your blog.

They typically start off visiting your blog once every couple of weeks, but they narrow their visitation schedule to index your site if you blog regularly, and this looks good and helps you get content indexed faster.

It’s also helpful to your blog subscribers if you blog frequently.

If this is a topic they’re interested in, then you want to be the go-to authority figure in your niche – the person they know will have continual updates and fresh information.

A daily schedule is best.

Some people post several times and day, and this is great, too.

Don’t burden yourself trying to reach that goal, though.

Just be consistent.

If you can only manage to post three times a week, then do it three times a week.

However, there is such as thing as blogging too little.

When you start going weeks or months without blogging, don’t expect a blog audience to stick around and become subscribers and fans of your content.

In fact, they won’t even know who you are!

Suzanne Lieurance is a freelance writer, the author of over 30 published books, and the Working Writer's Coach.

Let her teach you how to turn writing about your personal experiences into a career and your brand.

Learn more at www.fearlessfreelancewriting.com.

7 Writing Goals for 2017

Writing is like exercise. The best way for writers to improve their craft is to keep writing: write more, write different, and write outside of your comfort zone.

Here are 7 writing goals that can help you in 2017:

1. Journal Regularly. It seems like any and all of my advice begins with journalling. It can help you improve your writing and organize your thoughts, while developing your tone, style, and voice. Set aside some time (at least 15 minutes, at least once a week) to share your thoughts and brainstorm ideas in your journal. You never know what you'll create when you just allow your pen (or keyboard) to flow.

2. Start or Refresh Your Blog. A blog is the best way to showcase your expertise as a writer, and within your niche, so potential customers and clients can find you online. Even if you only blog once a week, on a consistent day and time, you are getting who you are and what you know out there.

3. Submit. Don’t keep your writing to yourself. Enter a contest. Pitch an agent. Write an article and query a dream publication. If you already do this, double your efforts in the new year.

4. Write in a Different Style or Genre. Are you a technical writer? Explore fiction. Do you write screenplays? Try an essay. While it's great to have a niche where you excel, it's also fun to try something different.

5. Try a Different Length or Format. Similar to above ... If you write short blog posts, try writing long. If you tend to write lengthy content, write something concise. Or write a book (fiction or non-fiction). That will certainly expand your writing repertoire.   

6. Write What You Avoid. Choose something you have been meaning to write that you somehow keep avoiding. Then, do it!

7. Have Fun! People sometimes forget that writing is supposed to be fun. If you love what you are writing, there’s a greater likelihood that others will love it too. Bring your passion through your words to your audience.

Try one of these goals or all of them. My goal is to set you all up for success in the new year. Here’s to a fabulous 2017!

What do you think? What are your writing goals for 2017? Please share them in the comments. 

* * *

Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. 

She is author of Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog and Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages and host of the Guided Goals Podcast.

Debra is an editor at Social Media Examiner and a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 7: Apostrophes

Sometimes people underrate the importance of punctuation. If your work is full of errors, you risk not only confusing and/or annoying your readers, but you also risk losing credibility. Punctuation errors are bad enough in a novel or a short story, but if you're writing non-fiction, your readers may think, “Hmm...if this guy can't put apostrophes in the right place, can I really trust his expertise in the subject matter?” This is something you do not want your readers to think.

Recently I read an independently published non-fiction book plagued with so many apostrophe errors that the author unwittingly inspired today's post. Here are the main types of errors he made, over and over again:

1) Wrong: His mothers fears

Right: His mother's fears

If you're showing possession, you need that apostrophe. Otherwise is looks like a plural. This would be doubly confusing if it were “His mothers fear” because that reads like he has two mothers and they both fear something. It's not until the next word that the reader is jarred into the intended meaning: “His mothers fear was made reality.” Oh...his mother (or mothers, we're still not sure because it's not punctuated correctly) had a fear and it came true.

2) Wrong: Humanities primal urges. Also would be wrong: Humanitie's primal urges.

Right: Humanity's primal urges

When a word ends in y, and you want to make it PLURAL, you change the y to i and add es. But when you want to make it POSSESSIVE, you do not change the y. Just add apostrophe s. The city's streets are clean. Not many cities are so clean.

3) Wrong: A process which Heracles labours are forcing him to undergo.

Right: Heracles' labours... OR Heracles's labours

The correct way to punctuate names and singular nouns that end in s is debatable, and depends on which style guide you use, though nowadays most lean toward adding the apostrophe s instead of just the apostrophe. Charles's camera. The bus's back tires. But of course, if the noun is plural, you just add the apostrophe. The girls' playhouse (there are at least two girls).

4) Wrong: The sea's were troubled.

Right: The seas were troubled.

It's a plural noun. The apostrophe has no place here. Exceptions may be made (depending on which style guide you follow) for acronyms, years, and other strange cases. Some people write CD's, DVD's, etc. when they mean multiple CDs or DVDs. They write the 1980's when referring to the decade, instead of the 1980s. I personally think this is imprecise and potentially confusing, but it's common and often considered acceptable. You should use an apostrophe in plurals of some one-letter words that would be confused with other words if you didn't add the apostrophe. So, for example, you can write “I replaced all the a's with i's in my secret message.” These a's and i's are plural, not possessive, and would generally not use apostrophes, but if you don't add the apostrophe, you get this: “I replaced all the as with is in the secret message.”

5) Wrong: Helios see's all things.

Right: Helios sees all things.

Never put an apostrophe s in a verb UNLESS you're making a contraction with is or has (he's tired, she's singing, Mary's awake, the cat's never caught a bird before, the world's been going downhill..) Otherwise, just don't do it. Please. A regular s is sufficient. Helios sees. Helios hears. Helios knows.

6) Wrong: It's muscles flexed.

Right: Its muscles flexed.

This is a very, very, very common error. It's is a contraction of it and is (It's hot in here). Its is the possessive of it (This book is complicated. Its appendix of characters is twenty-seven pages long.). I think most of us know this, but it's easy to make the error in haste or with bad typing and then not catch it later because we know what it's supposed to say, so our brain skips over the error. If you're worried about it, there's a long, boring solution: use the find feature on your word processor to hunt down every example of both it's and its in your manuscript and make sure they're all right. While you're at it, check you're and your.

A few other things to remember:

“My parents' house is old” means that the house belongs to both your parents.

“My parent's house is old “ means that the house belongs to one of your parents (and for some reason you call this person your parent instead of your mom or dad.)

Let's is not the same as lets

Let's go swimming this afternoon. Mom never lets me go swimming.

Who's is not the same as whose

Who's going to cook tonight? Whose carrots are these?

They're is not the same as their

They're going to cook tonight? But their carrots are old.

You're is not the same as your

You're invited. Your invitation got lost in the mail.

We're is not the same as were and he's is not the same as his. Yes, these last ones should be obvious, but I've seen the mistakes in work people felt ready to publish.

The problem with these types of errors is that spell checker will never find them. Your grammar checker won't help a lot either. You have a sacred duty to your readers to find somebody (yes, an actual person, and preferably several of them) that will be able to hunt down and correct errors like this after you do your best to correct them yourself.

Happy hunting.

For more punctuation help, see my other posts:

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 1:  Commas Save Lives; the Vocative Comma

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 2:  Commas and Periods in Dialogue
Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 3:  Commas with Participial Phrases

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 4:  The Mysterious Case of the Missing Question Mark

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 5:  Adjectives with Commas
Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 6:  Hyphens in Compound Adjectives