N is for Novice Novelist

That is me, a novice novelist, a newbie.  Like any other new undertaking I started with loads of enthusiasm and research.  However with this undertaking, unlike any other, everyone I have come into contact with was helpful.  Not reluctantly helpful but happily helpful.

I have learned so much thanks to the assistance of others and I know I will be relying on the assistance of others as I try to decide my path forward with my maiden manuscript.  Agent or no, traditional publishing, indie or self?

I think this processes is going so slowly for me not only because I am new to it but because it is my first novel.  My first baby that I am putting out into the world and you can only be a first time author once.  For that reason I want to make the best decisions possible and am weighing all options for my introduction to the world as an author.

I would love to hear what other authors have learned along the way, any advice that they wish they had know before they published their book.

Thanks for the support.

Happy Writing.

M is for Manuscript

 If you started following my blog after theme reveal day in March you are unaware that my theme was tossed out the window by some wonderful news (which caused me great elation, which I quickly tempered with realism) that there is a person, a professional in the writing world, who is willing to review my manuscript and if he judged it worthy, he would pass it on to an agent, who would only look at me thanks to his say so; so after that extremely long sentence, if you are still with me... I felt it was time for a manuscript update.

I set, what I thought to be a completely realistic goal of, a month to get back to him, however I forgot that I was compelled to complete a blog a day so a month really is not realistic in April, any other month yes.  I could not drop my second A-Z because I really need to have a platform for when the agent sees my manuscript and wants to check me out.  Of course you know the more followers I have the better it will look to the agent so I am hoping and praying for an A to Z miracle and adding at least 100 new followers in this month, slow going so far I must confess but there is still time. (Hint, hint, nudge nudge, wink wink ;) Just click on the little follow link to the right please.)

I have also been reading other novels like crazy.  My pitch for my manuscript was compared to works by Nick Hornby so I have been reading two of his books and one by Tom Perrotta (a fellow New Englander) as he came up as similar to Nick Hornby. [You can visit my previous post about comparison authors http://katloveswriting.blogspot.com/2014/04/c-is-for-comparison.html for more information.]   I have to stop and say I am in love with the concept behind 'The Leftovers' by Perrotta and while I have only made it 80 pages in I would recommend picking up a copy.

So with all these tasks demanding to be completed simultaneously I am only half way through the re-read and edit of my manuscript.  I have tense issues, a lot of tense issues.  I am working them out but every time I start reading my work I think it is not that great. Other writers are much better wordsmiths, they show don't tell, I am at a third grade level while they have achieved, what, if I remember my Aristotle correctly, would be called a wholeness or the thinghood of their writing.  It is the true form that we are striving towards, the central core of the item that brings it to be recognized for what it is, literature.

Then I pick up one of the 10 books I bought or borrowed from the library as comparison books and realize I am not a third grader I am writing the way I expect my characters would speak.  I am writing a book that is comprised of my writing style, shorter sentences (wouldn't guess it from this post would you!), dialogue and the human experience, for my main character in this manuscript that contains some second guessing and self-doubt.  My work is comparable to the work I am seeing here in published books.  So I am pushing on and hope and pray that I will achieve my goal and finish this manuscript by week end (notice the wiggle room I left there, could be Friday could be Sunday).

Happy Writing!

L is for Libraries

Welcome to National Library Week!

When I was young I needed a library to complete any of my school work.  Without the resources of my local library I could not have found the information needed to complete any reports or research projects.

Now the internet replaces research trips to the library for most of the school work we are doing.  We do still need to go to the library for some book reports but we mostly go for fun.  Our library is very family friendly and has a wonderful selection of books.  We each leave with at least five books when we go, we also rent music and movies from the library as well.  Our library also has copies of all the major newspapers and magazines.  We can also rent e-books and audio books electronically.

Our local library also supplies wonderful study rooms, hosts craft projects, teen groups and informative lecture and music series.

We are not only patrons of the library but supporters through donations of gently used books, purchasing used books at their monthly sales and of course donations of our time and money.

For many people a library is the only place they have to get school work done, to find books, to have a safe warm place to spend their time.

Visit and support your local library.  Instill a love of the library in your children.  The library gives so much to so many.