Tag: writers

Self-Publishing and Formatting Quick Tips

Self-Publishing and Formatting Tips

jorobinson176's avatarLit World Interviews

One of the biggest challenges to Indies is getting a professionally published looking book when up against the costs of editing, proofreading, formatting and cover designs. If you can afford these services then foregoing them is not a good idea, but when you really can’t afford them they can mean the death of some really great literature. There are a couple of things that can help though.

Editing or Proofreading Swopsies

Rather than simply asking for Beta readers, offer to swop proofreading services. Writers have a different kind of eyeball when reading. I’ve just finished a Joanna Trollope book, professionally published by one of the big houses, professionally edited and put together, but so far I’ve found a couple of typos and instances of poorly strung together sentences. As far as the cover design is concerned, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was specifically looking for and wanting…

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Moments Become Memories

Don’t waste it today. Don’t waste your time or hold back your goodness. Do not withdraw your kindness or take for granted the gratitude you can gift to someone else. Gift someone today. Crown them with hope and courtesy. Who knows which of us will be called back to the dirt. Whose breath will leave their lungs to be stored away in the chamber where breaths are. Whose body will melt back into the dirt? Whose bones  will become the home of carcasses that roam the cemeteries? We are told to live every day like it is our last. But how? How do we take what is cliché and make it real? Think of moments. How they live for only seconds at a time. Think of pictures. How they capture those moments when they become memories. Don’t gamble with your life today. Enjoy the warm weather, accept the truth for what it is, and apologize. Apologize and forgive like a well of “I’m Sorry’s” that won’t run dry anytime soon. Be not held captive by anything or anyone. Do not enslave yourself to pain and emotion and sorrow. Always be forgiving. If only because it makes no sense to give us flowers when we’re gone. Do not weep for me, or throw arms around caskets that could have hugged my flesh when breath stopped the skin from melting back into the earth. Don’t waste it today. Don’t waste your time or hold back your goodness from those who need it. You don’t know if today is their day or if it is yours. Because moments only live for seconds at a time and soon they become memories.

WRITING CHALLENGE: See It, Write It – PLUS! A Special Announcement About My First Word Weaver WRITING CONTEST

I’m so into this!

Dan Alatorre AUTHOR's avatarDAN ALATORRE

Your humble host. your humble host

This week’s writing challenge looks kinda hard, so a LOT of you are not gonna wanna do it, but you’re ALL gonna wanna hear about the SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

First, the writing challenge. Hey, no pain, no gain.

Here is a road rage scene from the movie Marathon Man. Watch it…

Okay, NOW what I want you to do is one of three things. (Extra points for number three)

EITHER:

  1. Describe the place where dramatic irony occurs. Can you introduce that in a written scene? How would you do it? (Don’t know what dramatic irony is? Join the club.) OR
  2. Describe the action in the chase scene between the Mercedes Driver (The Nazi) and the Caprice driver (The Jewish Guy). Can you write that scene? Why or why not? OR
  3. The place where the nanny is crossing the street and the little girl…

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Why Reviewing Books is an Act of Love

Whenever I finish a book and prepare a review, I ask myself why I am doing this. Why I dedicate time reading books and time writing reviews and even more time structuring the blog post. Do you know how many times I revise a post before it goes public? Too many times. Some of the posts you love the most have been revised upwards to twenty times because I want it to be done to the best of my ability. It may not even be done right but at least I know I’ve done what I can. If I think before I speak then it means that I must also think before I write. Of course, typos fall through but the point is that to prepare and schedule a post takes time. So, after days (sometimes weeks and months) reading the book, hours writing the review and a few hours scheduling the post I ask myself, why am I doing this? This question led to this post.

Book Bloggers are individuals who offer their service as nothing more than an act of love. It is a selfless act in which the person or persons expect nothing in return. Reviewers are not paid, have no agendas and to be real, we really don’t even have the time which is why our to-be-read piles are always sky high. Book Reviewers read books and write reviews even under pressure and harsh criticism because love endures. And the real ones, those opting to give much more than glowing five stars, these reviewers give even more. Not only do they give their time and attention but they are also genuine. They open up about how they truly felt about the work and add even more value to the service by giving authors the opportunity to grow.

As I finish a book and prepare the review, I find myself feeling really good. I am not burdened or worried or obligated. I am doing what I enjoy doing and am always excited for the authors I get to promote! It humbles me to be a part of their journey. Sometimes I scroll Amazon just to see how my authors are doing.  I remember reviewing books that had just a few reviews when I reviewed them. Then I see they have ten, twenty and thirty. I smile inwardly. In some way, I helped someone to grow.

You see, Book Reviewers do this, largely, with nothing coming back to them except the valuable qualities that no one can take away because it is something that people cannot touch and that money cannot buy: Love, Respect, Dignity, and Courage.

No Whining Wednesday – The Strength in Others

Welcome back to No Whining Wednesday, your (and mine!) weekly reminder not to whine, complain, or criticize for this twenty-four hour period. If you’re new to this blog or this segment, please refer to the first post HERE which explains in detail. (You can also see the other weeks we’ve done so far. Just click on the pingbacks)

The No Whining Wednesday Badge

Today’s reminder is all about looking for the strength in others, instead of the weaknesses:

“It is much more valuable to look for the strength in others. You can gain nothing by criticizing their imperfections.”
– Daisaku Ikeda

We have a habit of seeing only the bad in people. Every day we place judgment on others in subtle ways. Maybe we saw a blog post we didn’t agree with so we murmured under our breaths. Maybe someone bypassed us on the street and we wondered why they wore those shoes. Maybe we rolled our eyes because someone did something we thought was the wrong thing to do. Maybe an author is not winning in our eyes. Maybe he or she is losing because they aren’t doing it the way we’ve been taught it should be done. Maybe, maybe, maybe. These “maybies” add up. Sometimes they come out of our mouths. Other times they stay in our heads. Either way, consciously or subconsciously, we tend to see the negative in people first and then, only if we’ve chosen to accept the person anyway, do we see the good.

What if we could see the good first? What if instead of counting my weaknesses, you can count my strengths? What if instead of seeing what I am doing wrong, you can see what I am doing right? Today, try not to criticize people’s imperfections. Instead, look for their strengths.

“Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.”
– Elvis Presley

I challenge you to list a strength you see in someone in your life in the comments section! Could be a fellow blogger, author, sister, brother, mom, friend. Anyone in your life. (You cannot talk about yourself).

To Write a Heart

How do we trace the outlines of the invisible?
where despair won’t touch you gentle
and secret won’t fingerprint its way out of chest
and won’t poetry its way out of fear
the darkened cave of mankind’s deepest secrets
and treasured desires
the place he enters through the mind
tucking away all inner thought
inner being
inner wish
inner fantasy
that real self
hiding in thought
a storage place for his hopes
his hatreds
dreams and guilt
a peeled off echo of coming and going and knowing better
this is his resort
his vacation away from himself
his place of residence
he lives here
inside the cave made of chest
the place he thinks no one will ever find
can we write the heart?
take it beating
bleeding
and dripping with genuine
soaking with regret,
and repentance,
and expectation,
and nerves all tender like
hanging suspended in the air
or on the closet hooks of his thoughts
under the bed spread of memory
flowing back and forth like waves
we stand knee deep in his tears
our clothing soaked with his love
and his hatred too
can we contextualize the heart?
twist it
turn it
influence its shape so that it fits on these lines
can I drink your thoughts?
so that you relate to lyric
and your heart fits the silhouette of this pen
and puts a dent in white paper

5 Ways Reading Influences Your Perspective

I speak a lot on this blog about the power of perspective and not being limited in thought. As I made my coffee yesterday morning and thinking about a book I needed to finish, I thought about reading and the profound role that literacy plays in our lives. Perspective can be defined as:

“…a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.”

#1 You Are What You Read

The saying, “you are what you eat,” is used to convey the message that we should be careful what we are putting into our bodies. A stunning new report from the World Health Organization has concluded that there is clear scientific evidence that eating pork leads to cancer, and I am not just saying this because I don’t eat pork. An overindulgence in snacks such as processed foods is also not good and can hurt the kidneys and harm weight.

Just like we are what we eat, we are also what we read!

What you put into your mind has the power to change you for better or for worse.

#2. Reading One Type of Book

Do this, and you will indeed be confined to one form of thought. You can be passionate without being limited. There are books about black history that are not written by African Americans, and while I get how that sounds counterproductive, there is still some useful information in some of these books. I don’t neglect to read them because the author is not black. (I don’t even believe in white or black people. I use these terms specifically for understanding, but I believe in nations, not colors.) I read Urban Fiction sometimes, and sometimes I read Western Literature. I will not be boxed in, and I will not be limited.

#3. Neglecting Indie Authors

Readers should not limit themselves to reading only Traditionally Published books. Because you have read one poorly written Indie book, and now every Self-Published book is not good? The Shack, a book I own and have used for research for many years, started as a Self-Published Book. It became a USA Today Best Seller and is being made into a movie.

As an Independent Author, I must support this community. If I am reading something, like a classic novel, I make sure that I also have an Indie book to read, and since I am a book blogger, I always have an Indie book on hand.

Indie books also tend to be cheaper than Trad, so there’s really no excuse. You probably spend more on lunch and coffee. Two dollars and under a month (for an eBook) is not expensive. Go the extra mile and buy the paperback. Pick an Indie Author whose books you love that are well-written and support them. Or, pick a slew of Indie Authors and purchase at least one book a month. How can you really support Indie Authors (or change the way you think of us) if you don’t read our books? How can you say all Independent books suck if you’ve never read any?

#4. Neglecting Trad. Published / Classics

The door swings both ways, people. Don’t neglect the Traditionally Published books and Classics either. Mainly since many of them are well-written. This next part may be sensitive for some of you, but it is the truth:

Be Careful Reading Poorly Written Books

This is mainly for the writers out there. Balance is everything. I’m an Indie Author, and I support Indie Authors, but disregarding the elephant in the room is just naive. While I enjoy Indie books, not all Indie books are well-written.

I have a genuine love for reading, so it matters little to me how a book is published. I read Indie books, classics, and traditionally published books. This is important to me because if you keep reading books that are not up to par, you can only begin to write just the same.

I am not saying Indie books can’t compete with literary classics or traditional publishing. I am saying there are still lots of Self-Published books that are just not well-written. To continue to read this kind of material is counterproductive.

#5. Morals / Values

I saved this for last because I know how sensitive we are about anything that we “perceive” to be religious. However, it must be brought up and goes back to the first bullet point: You are what you read.

There are lots of great books for research purposes, and then there are books that are not worth the time. 

While some readers are strong enough to “chew the meat and spit out the bones” – meaning to dissect the worthy information and apply it without ingesting the falsehood – some readers are too sensitive to do so. In other words, it wouldn’t take much convincing for them to be negatively influenced or adopt a foreign belief.

If you know that you are easily swayed and unstable in your thoughts, you may want to stay away from particular literature that has the potential to change who you are.

Sure, I have books on the importance of watching what I eat, but I will not become a vegetarian Goddess who condemns all meat-eaters because we should love animals.

That’s what I am talking about. 

As I say, staying true to yourself is a priority. Some books are not worth the time, and we must learn to discern what those books are. People walk around, like reading is always a good thing. In some instances, it is not. Everything has a balance to it. Some books are bad for you, just like there is food that is bad for you. Make sure that as you read, you are also paying attention to yourself. Reading can influence your perspective in more ways than one.