The Write Place
Here you will find everything to do with writing, whether it is my writing or what I'm learning from reading books on writing. Reading, vocabulary, and grammar are the tools of the trade. The very best people to learn from are the ones who are seasoned writers who teach writing. You would be wise to enlist them as your mentors, as I have.
- In: The Write Place
What does it take to finish a novel and get it out to the public for sale? In two words, A LOT! If you are doing all the work yourself, or have hired someone to help you complete your novel, there are so many pieces to put the book together. Most of them you know about, like editing, putting the book into the finished template, adding the copyright page, getting an ISBN #, getting a Library of Congress #, adding a Table of Contents (if needed), a preface - if you decide your book needs one, an acknowledgement page - there are always people to thank, deciding on the dimensions of your book and getting the cover design centered on front and back and the spine dimensions, also. And I have no doubt I've missed a few items.
Each item I mentioned also needs time to complete and add to the book. This could take weeks, even months, particularly the editing part which for me, always takes the longest. My process is to make the changes from my editor, then he reviews it again, and a final review with both of us reading it outloud, making changes as we go. Then we send for a galley copy of the finished book for both of us and once again, read through the entire book. We are always so surprised to find that we missed a comma here or there or some other punctuation. At least the bigger issues had all been worked out by then but still, we wonder, how did we miss this or that? When we are sure that the copy is clean we sign off on it and send for my copies to sell or bring to book signings or other events.
And I haven't even talked about writing the book!!! For me, that is the easy part since I have so many stories in my head. But putting the entire book together, and in particular, editing the entire book, page by page, line by line, word by word, is the most time consuming part of writing and bringing a book to life.
- In: The Write Place
The more I write (and read) the longer my list of writing heroes grows. I am forever adding to my list of favorites because there really are so many good writers out there. And not surprising, they are often the ones getting the awards.
A recent addition to my list is Olga Tokarczuk, a Polish writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2019. I read her novel “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” which I absolutely loved. I also bought her novel “Flights” but have not read it yet. A few of her books have not yet been translated into English. Two other well-known writers that I love and greatly admire are Margaret Atwood and Joyce Carol Oates. I have read several books by each author and admire both their writing styles and the substance and abilities of their story-telling. Each different in their genre, powerful and memorable in their own separate styles.
I’m also a fan of Richard Powers, particularly after reading “The Overstory”. I have since purchased “The Echo Maker” and “Prisoner’s Dilemma”. Winner of the Pulitzer for “The Overstory” in 2019, this novel was an amazing and in-depth account of the lives of several characters who all had a singular goal in mind and all environmentally focused. It is in the top 5 of my favorite novels.
Writers who write for the greater good of the planet, exposing the destruction and devastation that we are witnessing on a day-to-day basis, mostly at the hands of the ‘masters of industry’ will always be my writing heroes. My goal is to emulate their themes while developing my own unique style.
- In: The Write Place
This is a topic I’ve been considering and finally decided to write about the kinds, or genres, of books that people like to read. I had a roommate who I’m pretty sure read every mystery writer out there. Some people like the horror and thriller writing of Stephen King and have read all of his work (that would be my husband!) Then there are the sci-fi enthusiasts reading Ursula Le Guin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov as well as romance readers, following closely the work of Kristin Hannah, Nora Roberts, Jo Jo Moyes plus so many others.
- In: The Write Place
I consider myself a life-long learner. Some people go to high school, and others continue on with college, but at that point, they figure their learning is done. Of course, there is always on-the-job learning, whatever kind of career you settle on. Maybe mostly because I'm a writer, I feel like my learning is continuous, non-stop, a life-long pursuit.
- In: The Write Place
One of the hardest things about being a writer, for me, is self-discipline. If I'm not feeling positive about what I'm writing, I will find every reason to not sit down to write. And of course, this frustrates me because I have a long list of books/stories I want to complete and avoiding writing is the last thing I should be doing.