Category: philosophy

Getting Critiques

While this isn’t the most fun part of writing, it is a useful tool to move on the way to publishing. (Or, at least, a better final product.)

I got a critique yesterday, as I mentioned, at the SCBWI-Iowa Spring Conference. It wasn’t all good, it wasn’t all bad, and it held at least one gem from my critique group. I knew they had a point when they brought it up, but I was hoping I’d solved it enough to keep going.

The answer is, I haven’t. I need a satisfying resolution to the puzzle. It’s not quite a Rubik’s Cube where you can just take the thing apart. (Note: I was never a fan of removing the stickers. Eventually they’ll stop sticking. Plus, it’s noticeable.)

So it’s not- quite- back to the drawing board. I just need to explore the other avenues that I had originally drawn up during my brainstorming phase and see in which direction my characters gravitate.

They (my group) will probably be glad to know I’m listening to them.

Posted on by ransomnoble 0

SCBWI Conference

I attended today! It was all I could manage of the three day conference, but I got there. They offered a manuscript critique (of synopsis and first ten pages) from an agent, author, or editor.

First, the manuscript critique… I’m still mulling over the advice. I thought of one of them after I’d sent it, so that’s something. And my critique group had been wondering about another thing she brought up. I have to figure out how to fix the things she pointed out. I’ll owe a thank you to Laura Arnold from HarperCollins when Don’t Tell Your Mother gets somewhere.

Second, I managed to meet some members from my area. I haven’t been able to connect with them around here, though I keep running into the Romance Writer’s group. They say they do all genres, but there’s something to be said for joining specific organization that you write. SCBWI focuses on the children’s genres from picture books to young adult, and this is very different from the focus of RWA, who will tell writers all about romance, erotica, and the other shades of love writing. SFWA will tell still different things, taking a turn for the speculative. If we could easily get lumped into one genre, we wouldn’t have them.

But that’s just my opinion.

Third, I got to listen to some great speakers. I learned things about picture books, so of course now that’s what’s running through my head thinking about coming out. I doubt it’ll come out soon, maybe not even this year, but it’s bouncing. One day it’ll gel.

I’ll just worry about capturing it at that time. I’ll keep pen and paper by my side. (Like any good writer should do.)

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How do you learn?

A fair number of people learn by mistakes. We try things, we fail, but there is knowledge gained in each venture. So many adults fear the attempt. It may not be the truth, but it does seem like the older one gets, the more afraid they become to try something new.

Perhaps that’s why my nephew, at two years old, could take his daycare provider’s cell phones and make calls. He had no fear. When do we learn that fear? Some of us may never learn it.

There’s a difference in learning by mistakes and getting some education on the beginning side. A little guidance can go a long way to stop from making too many mistakes and becoming discouraged.

One thing I love about reading is that I can pick up a lot of knowledge. I learn by seeing and by doing. Yesterday I picked up some new tricks about internet marketing. For instance, Google ranks this blog with a 2 (from 0 to 10, with 10 being rock star Google and Facebook status). A 2 is respectable. I mean, even Amazon only ranks a 9.

Failure is not necessarily the screwing up of a task. I think of it more as not doing anything about what you learn. I watch my daughter toddle with a few steps. Sometimes she falls on her butt. Other times she goes head-first. Hasn’t stopped her yet!

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Work.

Authors don’t work like other people. We grab snippets of time for our novels where we can. At least, those of us who aren’t lucky enough earn our living each day writing.

So how many moments do we need to finish our masterpieces? Do you cram it in at the end of the day? Do you get up early to manage a few quiet moments before the other inhabitants wake?

Dedication means working in the stolen moments – but when is the downtime?

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A Question of Talent

Everyone has a talent. Some of them might not seem so stellar or business-worthy, but you can find an aptitude to something. Some people sing. Others draw. If you wandered here thinking I’m talented at writing, well, today I’m not so sure. What I might really be good at is math.

Don’t ask what I’m doing being a writer then. It’s not that I stink at it. (At least, I hope not.) This is a difficult profession and it takes a lot of work to get anywhere. So I have to have at least a little talent to get the acceptances with which I have been honored. (See, Sarah? I do learn.)

So while writing may not be my greatest talent, there should be a box to check to just say hey, I love this. I love sharing my stories. I will work at all hours, even with the baby not letting me sleep at night, to make the novel read well.

I’ll admit that without sleep that’s really difficult, but I do keep trying.

I won’t deny that there are other writers out there with more talent. One of them we love to hate is in my online critique group. We read his submissions and just wish we could do as well. Some days he admits that what stops him is inside him. He doesn’t know how far he could get. I don’t know how far I can get, either, but I’m working to find out.

I haven’t let fear of rejection stop me. I refuse to think that because I’m not the most talented writer out there that I should give up and do something different. In spite of all the negativity around me, I still pursue my goal.

All I can tell you is that motivation is at least as important as talent, if not more. I have the drive to keep trying. I send things out again once they’re rejected. Sometimes it works, others it doesn’t. But I am absolutely a published author because I didn’t quit, because I didn’t listen to how difficult it was, and because I wanted to make it work.

Posted on by ransomnoble 5

Reading to Baby

I try to do this every day. Sometimes it’s difficult to choose the right books to read.

Writing and reading are related activities. I think about everyone agrees that reading to your children is a great activity to involve the family, but what do you read to your kids?

I vaguely remember the scene from Three Men and a Baby where Tom Selleck is reading to the baby from a sports magazine and telling one of the other guys, “It doesn’t matter what you read, what matters is the tone you use.”

Finding books on the subject isn’t too difficult. I’ve been reading Baby Read-Aloud Basics and I have another book on the subject that I haven’t perused yet. (love the library- they feed my brain!) They had it partly right. The tone does matter.

But it also matters what you read. Reading is giving your child a solid foundation of language. It’s also why you’re supposed to talk to the baby all the time. (even though it’s really hard when you never get coherent answers.) This is how the baby learns to speak, and the more you can do it, the better off the baby will be.

I know, that’s speaking. Reading is just as important though. Those books that you cart around have words you don’t always hear in regular conversations. It’s a wonderful way to boost the vocabulary. Yes, I mean baby books. No, I don’t mean Dr. Seuss.

Don’t think I’m knocking Dr. Seuss, though. He wrote wonderful books, but they’re for the beginning reader. (Proudly marked on their covers that way.) The beginning reader isn’t looking for tough things to say or read, just to gain familiarity. If we only read beginning reader books to our children, we aren’t giving them as many different, complex, learning tools for their vocabulary as we could be.

So one question is, when looking for a book for your baby: Will you be reading it, or will the child? Don’t shy away from books with larger words in them. What’s wrong with fuchsia for a color or exhilarating for a description when the adult is reading it to the baby? Absolutely nothing! If you never introduce your little one to those words, they’ll never know them.

It almost makes me want to read my dictionary to her, but not quite. Now if it had some pretty pictures…

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Meeting the Readers

Okay, not all of them. But I went to a local mother-daughter book club and I had a wonderful time tonight. They read my book!

I think I had as good of a time as they did. They had so many questions about the writing and rewriting and publishing and even the naming of the characters. I loved listening to their discussion of the book and I could even ask my own questions of them. (And did, once or twice.)

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of their discussion. They were great girls and their moms seemed awesome. The girls yelled ‘Thank you!’ as I left. And I smiled. Very big!

Thank you to Amber, Dahlia, Izzy, Gracie, Kylie, McKenna, and Sophie and to their mothers for letting me join them at their meeting.

Posted on by ransomnoble 2

Protecting Your Work

Authors are not alone in the quest to protect their work. Creative people everywhere worry about their creations and keeping them safe from thieves. I’ve noticed some of us worry more than others, though. How much is warranted versus rampant paranoia? That I cannot answer.

I have learned a lot about the methods of protecting work. I hold a patent, worked a little with trademarks, and as a writer I live by copyrights. Sometimes I hear others mixing up the words, but they’re very different things.

A copyright protects original works such as poetry, novels, songs, movies, computer software, and architecture falling under the categories of “literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works.”

A trademark is a brand name. It has intent to be used to identify a good or service in a commercial aspect. This includes names, words, symbols or other devices used together or separately.

A patent protects an invention or an improvement to an invention. This doesn’t cover just a physical thing, but may also cover a process.

People don’t confuse patents as often. Trademarks and copyrights should be distinct, too. A copyright cannot be used for a title or a name. Don’t be afraid to protect your intellectual property, and investigate the processes involved to do them properly.

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February’s End

And I got another rejection today.

I wasn’t surprised – I expected it. I knew seven other authors who also received rejections for this particular magazine’s round of submissions. It’s part of a group of authors who are trying to help each other get published. It’s an online critique group, but we don’t have a set meeting time.

I’m a recent addition to the group, and I’m not close with many members yet. However, I find the advice fascinating and I’m glad to have a contribution to the group.

One of my favorite things is sharing things I’ve learned. I started this with my mom and other writers when I get the chance. (Yes, my mom is a writer, too, for those of you who didn’t know. One day I hope to be able to point you in the direction of her published work.)

Next month I’ll begin again, sending more things out. I’m signing up for an SCBWI-Iowa conference in April, and I’m going to be working on my submission for the manuscript critique this weekend.

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Blogging Stories

Do you wonder about authors that do this? I know putting a story in a blog is self-published and not eligible to post elsewhere, like in e-zines, but what about stories that have been published and the rights have reverted back to the author?

Or, just for amusement on the blog? I read about an author doing that and it makes me want to read his blog for the stories, to see his style, and to read. (I think all writers love to read.)

Blogging is about a platform, and what better than to sporadically season with your own fictional work? Heavily edited, of course, and preferably by someone other than the author.

I’ve noticed as I work in critique groups how many times I can read the same passage and not see the problem with it until someone else says, “Really? I’d fix that.” Of course, I do the same thing right back, so we’re even.

Posted on by ransomnoble 2