From one writer to another, thoughts on both the creative and publishing process. I finally opted for self-publishing after the painfully recorded (at this blog) futile two-year agent-search. Four novels published including Hafan Deg, published last month (available at Amazon and most outlets, including eBooks). Will let you know what's happening with "A Kind of Winnowing" from time to time...
Friday, December 5, 2008
Chapter Three Today
I've found a useful site for all of you who would like more feedback on their work, called Authonomy. It's not much use to you if you haven't completed at least 10,000 words, because that's their minimum, but you then simply download the material, one chapter at a time (save them to separate doc files).
The manuscript could be reviewed by HarperCollins, as it's their site, and there are so many writers to critique your work, and everyone seems really friendly. Do check it out. I've just put the first three chapters of Hafan Deg there, so will let you know what kind of feedback I get.
I cannot believe the errors that keep popping up in my MS. I have been using a lot of expletives lately at my apparent blindness. How is it that I have proofread this book so many times, yet still they present themselves? I was an editor for years on a rather stuffy business directory, lots of names and figures, and I don't recall it being as tricky as this has been. I think, when we're working on our own words, the flow of them is already embedded in our brains, and we simply think we've transferred them that way to the page. With the business publication, it was so fact-oriented, it had nothing to do with that creative flow.
Somewhere or other, I have a nice poem on this subject, if I ever find it for you.
Do read Chapter Three. The story is now truly unfolding.
Quotes to Consider
"Well behaved women rarely make history."~Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”~William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894), theologian, teacher, pastor
"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." ~Franklin D Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd U.S. president
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, poet, philosopher
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
~ Wayne Gretzky
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