1) After you finish writing it, put your document away for a while. Hours, days, weeks or even months. You want to look at it with "fresh eyes." Instead of seeing what you meant to write, you want to see what you actually did write. 2) Use the spelling and grammar features in your word processor. They aren't perfect - ask anybody - but if you know the rules, you can decide which suggestions to accept and which to ignore. 3) Know your weaknesses. Keep a list of errors you tend to make often, and use your word processor's search feature to help you find them. 4) Print your manuscript and edit it on paper. Away from the computer. You'll see more. I mark the printout with a pen, then go back to the computer to tinker, then print and repeat as needed. Different fonts, too, for the change of perspective. 5) Use a straightedge. If you're reading on paper, it can be a ruler. If you're reading on the computer screen, situate the document so the line you...

The main accomplishment with any year is surviving it. 2018 was no different. A new health issue gets tossed my way every year. Fate and I have such a contentious relationship, we can barely muster the energy so say "FU" as we pass each other in the hallways of life. That said, I still managed a few things. From 2008 to 2014, I created the Story Building Blocks series. I later added a Build A Cast Workbook. In late 2017 into early 2018, I created fourteen genre Build A Plot Workbooks, one for each genre based on the conflict layering process I developed for  Story Building Blocks I: The Four Layers of Conflict. I also added a Build A World Workbook. My web host went out of business, forcing me to quickly find another home for my website. So, I updated my website to accommodate the new books and added free forms and tools. I posted tips from those books on my weekly blog. I failed in my goal to learn more about marketing, but it is still on the list of goals for 2019. I ...

Our theme this month is to brag about what we’ve accomplished in 2018. This is a hard one for me, because I don’t think I’ve accomplished much at all, at least in my writing. I started two books and finished neither. I've talked to fellow writers, listened to what they’re saying on social media, and find that many of us are in the same position. Sales have tanked for all but the star authors whose followers will buy their new books, no matter what. The main branch of my city’s public library had a few special evenings with some of those star writers. Writers with top agents and big publishers who will kick in the necessary funds to send these bestselling authors on tours to different cities to plug their newest book. In all three cases, the publishers donated a hardcover or paperback to the attendees. Sandra Brown, a charming raconteur and top-selling romantic suspense author, kept us entertained for at least ninety minutes and generously signed books to the long line waiting....

https://www.pexels.com/photo/flower-roses-red-roses-bloom-15241/ My year didn’t start out too well. I had just lost my mom two days after Christmas 2017, and early in 2018, I also lost my dear aunt from my dad’s side of the family (she was like a sister), and an uncle from my mom’s side. It was a sad time, and I almost bailed out of my registration for Left Coast Crime scheduled for the end of March. It might have been better if I’d stayed home, but I’d already decided it might be my last out of town convention or conference ever, so I attended and made sure I went to every single event and panel and performance, and whatever that I could fit into the schedule. I also roomed with my wonderful Five Star editor who lives far, far away from Colorado, so we had the extra fun of getting caught up on all things. LCC2018 in Reno was a great mystery fan convention, as always, and I did have a good time, but I overdid it and came home with a terrible cough that turned into a sinus in...

Writers are no different from most people in that we, too, make New Year's Resolutions, oftentimes lots of them. However, instead of pledging to lose weight, stop spending so much online, or cut down on the buttered popcorn, etc., like normal people, we generally resolve to write more. Sometimes the resolution is specific. We pledge to finally finish that novel, poem, screenplay, biography, etc. Or we might vow to write 500 words a day seven days a week no matter what, even if that much-heralded zombie apocalypse finally arrives. Other writers' resolutions are more general...we promise ourselves we will write more words, more often. We staunchly swear to avoid temptation in the form of chocolate or its near relative, romance. We're not going to watch television or movies and plan to totally ignore the publication of new books by favorite authors. We'll overlook family craziness in general, particularly that created by our children. We're so sure we're g...

Now, when I was growing up, I was admonished by my parents, "Don't toot your own horn," "Let your work speak for itself," and so on and so forth. In this day and age, however, if you don't pick up that horn and BLOW, no one is going to have any idea that you've got something to celebrate. Get out there and blow your horn! (Adriaen van Ostade [CC0]. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951) Since Blood Red Pencil has designated January as the month to reflect on the past year, here are some 2018 writing-related triumphs I feel pretty darn good about. A Dying Note , the sixth in my Silver Rush historical mystery series, was published by Poisoned Pen Press in April 2018. Whew! Seeing a book in print is ALWAYS something to celebrate. The fact that it garnered positive reviews in Publishers Weekly , Booklist , and Kirkus just enhanced the glow. Just about the time that the book came out in audio (which pleased me grea...

I do not miss 2018. Yes, we're only eight days into the new year, but as time ticked us toward 2019, I was so ready to give 2018 the boot. Looking back, I want to say that everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong--personally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially ... even literarily. Here at The Blood-Red Pencil, we have articles on writer's block and how to jumpstart your creativity and find inspiration . I've even written a few of them. Yet even having this place of wonderful information didn't keep me from plunging into the darkness of the Creative Void. I started and stopped more projects than I can count. I prayed for inklings of inspiration to initiate writing. I, in a lackluster fashion, played with my photography and doodling and writing dreams in the hopes of lighting a fire under me. I questioned whether creativity still dwelled within me. And then ... two amazing things happened toward the end of 2018 that would lead me to a bright...

At the end of 2018, I entered the eighth decade of my life. Physically, it was just another day. Emotionally, it was a milestone, as well as a reminder of the things I still really wanted to do. Production-wise, the year had its ups and downs. Editing jobs were fewer and farther between, and I didn't have the energy to pursue new ones. The reissuing of my updated first two novels continued to be plagued with the ramifications of two major computer crashes and resulting file losses. (It didn't help that the company that had created my backup software went out of business, and I was unable to get the necessary tech support to access the files saved on my external hard drive.) The goal to get at least one new novel out the door got pushed into 2019 so I could update the two that required extensive polish. Where does all this leave 2018 in the grand scheme of things? Adjustments were obviously the name of the game, but upon review I discovered some surprising positives. ...

This post was first published here on November 12, 2008 Today, we talk to Hank Phillippi Ryan , author of the Agatha-winning book , Prime Time , the first in the Charlotte McNally mystery series. Thanks for joining us, Hank, and for answering a few questions about how your books get edited. Let’s start. Dani: How many of the various types of edits does each of your books go through from start to finish? Hank: Depends on the page—sometimes on the words! to quantify. Every day when I begin writing, I go back over my pages (or words!) from the day before. I polish and tweak for flow, pacing, logic, story and rhythm. I also go back, earlier in the manuscript, and insert clues or connections that are needed. By the time the first draft is complete, it's been nipped and tucked several times. I wait a week, then go back over once again for logic and continuity. For dialogue. For clues and continuity. How may full edits at that point? Some parts never change. Some parts change...

This post was first published here on January 16, 2009 Mark Goldwich, author of UNCOVERED: What REALLY Happens After The Storm, Flood, Earthquake or Fire asks, "How do I get back cover reviews from the people I want reviews from?" Good question, Mark. Thanks for asking. The quotes you see on the backs of books come from two sources. Most are blurbs - short recommendations written specifically for the cover. Others are excerpts from reviews. I first learned about blurbs in Austin Camacho's marketing text. I recommend you find a marketing book for writers that will work for you. Many exist. How do you acquire blurbs for your book? The short answer is you ask for them. I know this is not an easy thing for many writers to do, but it is a necessary part of our business. If you are not comfortable writing request letters, find a friend who is and ask for help. When deciding whom to ask for a blurb, consider your target market. What name (or title) would your reader...

This series of posts was first published here on December 11, 2008 Sometimes the right title for a book is easy to think of and it fits perfectly with the storyline through any rewrites. Other times you may struggle to find a title you’re happy with, or the one you chose early on doesn’t bear any relation to the story once you change some aspect of the plot that the title initially referred to. If you’re not sure of your title, or don’t yet know enough about your story to choose one, you might want to settle for a working title so that you have something you can use to refer to your story, save it as, and file your notes under. Personally, I tend to refer to each of my stories by the name of the main character, even if I have a perfect title. It’s usually shorter and easy to remember. But think of what defines the story for you. If you write a lot of mysteries with the same protagonist, using his name won’t work for you, but using the murder style or weapon might be a better refe...

This post was first published here on October 14, 2008 Some people may think an editor looks only for the commas, split infinitives, missing words, misspellings – all the mundane stuff. Yes, we read a manuscript and find those things. But we also look beyond the basics. For example, we note the minutiae that need to be cut. And we note when the small details are not actually minutiae, but important stuff that has to be left in. Even if you’re writing a memoir, a person’s everyday life does not make for an interesting book. Let’s face it, our daily lives are boring. Even when something different happens, it’s boring. I got locked out of the house last week. So what? I unloaded the groceries, put the refrigerator and freezer stuff in the freezer, then headed to Starbucks for coffee. I talked to a friend of mine who recently went for a walk and got lost. Totally lost. Completely turned around. By the time she got back home, she’d been out trying to find her way for five and a half...

This post was first published here on March 31, 2011. Writer, editor, and book reviewer Wendy Noble is our guest today at Blood-Red Pencil, with some advice from the perspective of a reviewer. I’ve been reviewing books for over seven years. Four important elements stand out for me as the keys to producing a really good book, which will gain a glowing review. These four elements are: Text Give me some ‘golden lines’. Use imagery – without being silly about it – and make sure your nouns and verbs are so strong and evocative that only the rare adverb or adjective is needed. Dialogue Don’t start every second line of dialogue with um, err, oh, well, uh… or they’ll be as irritating to the reader as a dripping tap. Use them sparingly and they’ll shine like diamonds. Also, please remember that most people use contractions when they speak: it’s, we’ll, they’ve… Plot Make me want to keep reading. Give the protagonist a goal (big or small). Have difficulties get in the way, t...

This post was first published on October 13, 2010. One of the questions most frequently asked of writers is: “Where do you get your ideas?” It’s not a popular question among published authors. Maybe they consider the question too silly to answer, or maybe they don’t want to share. I don’t think the question is silly, but I can’t always explain where my inspiration originated. It's amazing how new ideas weasel their way into my conscious mind. The process works in many different ways. Here’s one example. I belong to a local face-to-face critique group that meets every other week. One of the things we do is exchange thoughts on writing in general. Last week our conversation went like this (with lots of paraphrasing): M: Did you know Willa Cather is going to be here? I thought she was dead. Me: Blank look. M: My Antonia is one of my favorite novels. B: Willa Cather? She’s dead. Everyone laughs. Me: I’ll bet it’s one of the historical presentations where someone acts...

This post first ran on October 6, 2015 Okay. First off, let me say I know zilch, nada, nothing about marketing - which is what self promoting is all about. What I've learned from online resources, such as Kristen Lamb's interesting and entertaining blog and others, just highlights how much more I have to learn. But when it comes to promoting, the first thing a writer must do is come out of the closet  - so to speak. Back in 2009, I wrote a post here about Glenda Gibberish , who worked on her stories while hiding in the closet so nobody would find out that she was a writer. She didn't want any attention, and she didn't want to have to explain what she was doing if one should happen upon her writing at a desk. However, she finally reached a point where she had to tell someone, so she invited her best friend out to lunch. After hearing Glenda's tale of surreptitious writing, the friend assured Glenda that she would keep the secret, to which Glenda responded, “Ac...

This post was first published here on March 20, 2009 If you use several descriptive words in a row, where do you put commas? Or do you? Here are a couple of my theories on that subject. First, if you can put the word and between the words, you should use a comma between them . For example, Mary is an impish-looking, animated, slim white girl. This sentence easily could read this way: Mary is an impish-looking and animated and slim white girl. But you wouldn’t say she was a slim and white girl. So, according to that example, you put a comma where you use each and . Here’s my second theory. If you can rearrange the descriptive words, you should use a comma before each of the words that you can move . Using the same example, you could write that Mary is a slim, animated, impish-looking white girl. However, it wouldn’t work to say Mary is a white, slim, animated, impish-looking girl. The word white needs to stay next to girl because it is an integral part of her basic descri...

This post first ran on April 25, 2013. Today I'm talking about critique groups, specifically the sort where work is presented in small bites rather than having someone evaluate an entire manuscript. The ideal critique group has people who write as well or better than you do, and understand your genre. Members should agree to a schedule for submitting and giving feedback. They should be willing to accept the positive and the negative, and understand that if several people have problems with an aspect of the work, it deserves rethinking no matter how good you think it is. Critique groups can be Face to Face, or they can be done online. I've done both, although now I'm with a small (3 member) online group. Face to Face gives you a chance to discuss critiques in more depth. One of my constant questions as a beginner was, "Am I writing it wrong, or are you reading it wrong?" because I thought I knew what I meant to say, and needed to know where I'd gone wron...

The following article from Diana Hurwitz reminds us that, even though it was published in October 2014, it is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Writing may be a solitary profession, but it requires a team to take a book from concept to creation. Be sure to note the ten points she mentions—lots of wisdom there. ~ selected by Linda Lane ~ Midwest Writer's Workshop 2008 I'll start out by saying, I am not a group-oriented person. I like working alone. I work faster and better without distractions. As a writer, that is a good character trait to have. You have to spend time alone and palely loitering over a pad of paper or keyboard to get the story out. I can disappear into a project for weeks and forget to eat, sleep, and bathe. That does not mean I don't enjoy other people. I love other people: witty people, clever people, preferably with a wicked sense of humor and an appreciation of the ridiculous. Writers, artists, and other creatives make the best, f...