Writing is a process. Depending on what you're writing, the process can be long or short. A process requires patience, endurance, focus, determination and fortitude. Once you have your book idea, whether you're writing a novel or your own personal memoir, the actual writing is a process. Preparing for the process is key to having the patience and endurance to see it through to the end. In order to prepare for the process, it helps to know and understand the process.  The process has specific steps which include: Prewriting Drafting Revising  Editing Prewriting = Anything you do before you actually write a draft of your project. This includes, but is not limited to: Thinking Getting the idea Talking to others Brainstorming Taking notes Outlining Gathering information All these things count toward the writing process. If you're thinking about writing a novel, you have already started the process! It starts with a thought. This part o...

Sometimes the best laid plans get side-tracked. What's a writer to do when that happens? Keep writing, of course! My plans have been side-tracked this fall.  My original plan was to offer my regular Writing for Publication and E-Publishing classes through Community Education through the school districts in which I was already offering the classes, expand to an additional school district and also begin offering an online writing course. Also, my local Community Education Office had offered to give me a "Featured Instructor" page in their fall booklet, complete with a bio and an expansion on the success of my classes. This success, of course, started with Amanda Hocking and her launch into e-publishing. But, this year, my plans were side-tracked. Instead of teaching my regular classes, we are moving, relocating to another part of the country.  Because our move is pending, I could not commit to any of my classes and had to turn down my local district's offer to be ...

Lately as I've done a little blog hopping, I noticed a few things about some blogs that appeal to me and I noticed a few things that didn't appeal to me.  I've condensed my observations into five different tips which might improve your own blogging performance: 1. Be concise. Most people do not want to read a long, drawn-out story in a blog.  Blog readers are mostly looking for concise information they can gather quickly. 2. Use good grammar. This may seem obvious, but you might be surprised at how many people do not edit their blog posts before publishing. 3. Set links open in a new tab. It personally frustrates me when I click on a link in a blog and it takes me off the current page. 4. Do not have music playing on your blog.  I often have my own music going when I'm working on my computer, so random blog music annoys me. My response is generally to click off that blog immediately. 5. Use pictures.  Pictures are a great way to break up paragraphs, give a...

Are you successfully working the social media scene to your advantage as a writer? It can be a great resource, but it can also be a great hindrance, depending on how you use it.  I recently read this great article, Practice Good Facebook Etiquette , by Real Simple magazine and it has excellent pointers for using social media successfully. While the article is specifically about Facebook, it can apply to all avenues of social media.  In addition to this article, I have a few reminders which will help your social media experience work for you and your writing. What you say in social media stays in social media.  In other words, don't say it if it's not to your advantage because once you write it down out there, you can't undo it. Even if you delete something, it's still "out there" somewhere in cyber space.  Nothing ever truly goes away.  Facebook has recently extended their timeline system to go back even further than they did before and people are up in arm...