Of Ink and Quille

This is for the 2006, Reader's Choice Awards for WRbeta. I won Best Series for a set of shorts last year. The link to the award is: http://pics.livejournal.com/wolveriness06/pic/0000b59s/

Have a book coming out? A guest Blog happening? A good article on the craft of writing you'd like to share? A peom or short story you want to market? I'm looking into putting together a free email based newsletter that deals with marketing of your book. If the interest is high enough, I'm going to try and have one published in time for June 1st. Please note, this is simply a free, no money exchanged, newletter for those who are interested in the craft of writing. I don't have any ads for it, or anything like that. It's based upon submissions only! If you're interested, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

There are moments when I wish we had two computers in our house, one for me and one for my husband and son. Here I am slogging away, cursing my goalsetting in an attempt to get the last chapters edited before I submit a query letter and low and behold, they've found a fishing game. Needless to say, out came the red pen, the table got cluttered and I sat down with my manuscript. Having restrictions on your time or your access to the computer can put a serious bug in your hat when it comes to things like writing that all important novel. I can honestly say, there have been moments when real life and the constraints there of, have made me want to throw everything away and just forget it. The truth is, you can't. Some people paint, others sculpt, still others - and I'm including myself in this category - need to have an outlet that allows those thoughts, plans, dreams to escape. I spent years building worlds within my head, creating an escape for myself and others because it...

Expectations? What are they? How do they work? Everyone has them, and sometimes the one who has the most unrealistic expectations is you. I set goals for myself, a chapter a day, 15,000 words per week. It shouldn't take long to get to the 80,000 word mark, right? I forgot the things that make up my day, my life. When I started writing my novel I was working 40 + hours a week, raising a highly energized child, dealing with an immature husband who I neglected to tell I was working on a book to sell and not just fan fiction...needless to say, my expectations of myself did not get met. So here it is nearly two years after I started my novel and I've learned that goals are great, they help me get on track, but they aren't my written in rock statements. So I set my goals with a more realistic idea in mind. I've got four hours a day I can get onto the computer without an interruption, and in those four hours I can get a fair chunk of work done. I'm okay with that. Four hou...

When I first got the idea to write a manuscript to sell, which is much different than writing a manuscript I have no intention of anyone from a publishing house seeing, I had a gross misconception. As I've said before, I've written for years in all lengths, formats, and categories. A saleable manuscript is easy...hehehe...sure it is. I found out that it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and time. You don't just sit down, write a hundred thousand words and send it off. Nope, you have to be sure that what you're getting out of your work is what you're putting into it. It didn't take long to get 100,000 words, but were they good ones? Did they help the story or just bog it down? I've discovered there is a difference. You can type up a story in a month...is it ready for pubication? No, not in my humble opinion. Regardless of your expeience, an author can't assume anything. Misconceptions have a way of hampering and even disabling a writer because they g...

To continue on from yesterday's post, here is Candace with more tips for you when you're doing your edits. Format, format, format *Don’t make your manuscript hard for an editor to read. Your manuscript should use a good sized font, and be laid out and formatted properly. Just think of all the poor, unappreciated editors out there who receive submissions that are so hard to read they make their eyes blur. This one factor alone could be the difference between getting a contract or not. (I, for one, am considering lasik surgery and it’s all because of the numerous manuscripts I have to read that make my eyes cross…so come on, lighten up on me already). *Make Microsoft Word your friend. When in doubt, ask Clippie, the handy little Microsoft Help guy. Make sure you know how to use it to format correctly. If you are unfamiliar with many of its features, take a course – it will pay for itself in the long run. *Most publishers will post their formatting requirements online. Read t...

As an published author and editor for romance novels what tips would you share with an author just starting out for doing those dreaded revisions and edits? Answer: Whew! So you made it through to that last chapter of your book and all that blood, sweat, and tears later you’re now ready to submit it to a publisher. But what should it look like? What is the publisher looking for? What does the publisher NOT want to see? 1) Edit, edit, edit. *Make shore awl typos arr gone. Don’t just rely on Word’s spell check feature, however. Go over each line with a fine tooth comb. *Ensure your grammar is impeccable. *Don’t use too many contractions, ellipses…Italics, or exclamation points !!!!(most of these will get removed by your editor anyway). *Read each sentence out loud – does it make sense? -This is particularly important for dialogue. Do people really talk like what you’ve written for your character’s dialogue? If you overheard someone saying that same line would it sound odd? St...

Coming soon. Candace Morehousewill be gracing us with a column. Candace is an editor for Enspiren Press, as well her first novel is due for release in March of this year. Please come out and join us for this event! GOLDEN ENCHANTMENT By Candace Morehouse Release Date: March, 2008 http://www.champagnebooks.com/ Tagline: “Sometimes the most coveted treasures of all are found where you least expect them” Blurb: When her father dies, Andrea Alexander decides to return home to New Mexico and continue his search for a buried treasure of gold dating back to the days when conquistadores ruled the territory. However, she didn’t count on a mysterious figure shooting at her, a puzzle of clues and the involvement of her very masculine and handsome neighbor, Jake Houston. Jake Houston remembers Andrea as the scrawny little tomboy next door who followed his every move. When they meet again years later, Jake is surprised to find Andrea has filled out in all the right places. Tempting as she may be, ...

There are moments in everyone's life that it seems all the negativity is pointed directly at you. No matter how hard you try, what amount of time you spend nothing ever seems to work out for you and its hard. The old saying (Well at least it is to me) of same shit different pile - is reflected in daily life. Before I get any further, I am not dissing anyone. I have an awesome support network in place for my writing and I love everyone whose been there for me. Its when a stranger, someone you don't know from Adam looks at you and says you're not good enough or you need to throw this away and start over that it hurts. Yes, you want an honest opinion. As a writer opinions matter but you have to be willing to look past what someone is saying negatively and look at the bright side. Recently I got stumped on the rewrites for a chapter, my beta reader/critique partner sent me back a whole lotta red ink, I got negative feedback for another chapter and then on top of all of that, t...

Adelle Lauden will be chatting with Zinnia Hope and M E Ellis so please come out and join her.

When I said that for the first time you could have heard a pin drop. Yes, some of the shock had to do with my age - I was thirteen at the time- but a lot of it had to do with what people automatically assume an author does. The assumption I've encountered all too often is that as an author you spend hours at your computer or with pen and paper slogging away at some story that no one but you will read. "Get a real job, girl. One where you can support yourself and not starve." Yeah a real confidence booster but it was the honest opinion of the speaker. Rejection doesn't start with that first query letter, let me tell you. It starts when you first open your mouth and say those dreaded words. By no means am I saying that being an author is easy, it isn't. You have to be dedicated to your craft, be willing to slog the hours and take rejection like cod liver oil! Still if it's what you want, then you have to work for it. Now I'm sure everyone has run into a roa...

Hello; Its been years since I've learned how to print my name in grade school and I've gone through a major journey through the years. From reading the words printed before me to writing novellas and novels is a rather daunting jump. One I congratulate everyone whose ever written anything be it a good ad or a full length novel on. I admit I'm no expert when it comes to the English language when its written or spoken. An old quote I'm especially fond of is "I only speak two languages - English and bad english so listen up!" Don't recall where I've read/heard it before so if anyone knows please comment. I've always found it to be very, very true. In the course of my journey, I've discovered that having someone willing to critique your work is invaluable. You can write the best darn story you've ever believed but if it doesn't flow, than its not going to carry the reader anywhere. When you feel confident and ready to have someone look at y...

Welcome to Ofinkandquill.com, this blog is my personal space to document my journey through the world of publication and the ups and downs of my search to find a good publisher. I've been writing for a long time, since I was a little girl and have weathered a lot of life's storms through my writing. I hope you'll join me as I go from unpublished author to published!