I have been writing for the past 4-5 years
My first book, published in December of 2008
I'm currently working on my second
My advice, don't take no for an answer and don't get discouraged at rejection.
It's a hell of a good feeling to succeed...finally...*smiles*

Well, it's hard to really know how to get started with this stuff.

I mean, I went to the huge Borders in Chicago back in 2005 or 2006, and I couldn't believe how many books about writing they had. There must be 5000 "How To Get Yourself Published" manuals out there, and they offer different information and different strategies, and you could go crazy just trying to do the research on which one to use.

And even when you find a good one (I thought "Writer's Market" was actually pretty helpful), you find out that Publisher X only accepts manuscripts between April 27th and 4:30 p.m. on April 29th, or that Publisher Y typically takes 12-18 months to even evaluate a submission....

And Publisher Z doesn't accept simultaneous submissions, so if you want to go with them, you can't even offer your book to anybody else....

People don't know this stuff unless they've been through it. And there is a "downside" to the whole process of getting your writing out there -- but it can be done.

A thread like this can be a good place to disseminate some of this information.

Heh. If I got discouraged by rejection, I definitely wouldn't be hanging out on a dating site....lmfao

This is exactly the kind of information I would like to make available to people.

I don't think prospective writers should have to go to a bookstore and sift through all the books on publishing just to get a piece of information.

Not when we can give people access to the information for no cost.

After all, most of the information in those books is public domain, the books just collect it and make people pay for the info.

The website will be free for the writers and other users.

One of the reasons I prefer writing to dating -- writing changes me, but it never tries to change me....

Yep. And the book doesn't tell me that I can't go play golf....lmao

then again...neither does my dog. The cat just ignores me. LOL

I have 5 novels written and 1 children's book. 1 of them is free if you are interested email me.

I have it online to read or to download.

The title - Darkness Awakens - 533 pages

It is a Sword & Sorcery Medieval type novel that offers beievable characters, humor, adventure, and romance. It also comes with illustrations that I have drawn and a neatly created map to track the characters travels.

Writing for writers is the air they breathe. If they can't write they can't breathe. That is how important writing is for writers.

I have to put in at least 2 hours a day writing or my day isn't complete. In otherwords, I don't feel productive.

I wish everyone much luck in their writing endeavors.

I was trying all day yesterday to create.....just didn't happen, I feel the same way now

You have to be able to shake that off.

If it isn't there, it just isn't there.

It will be there for you another time.

There are LOTS of days I sit down to write and nothing is there for me.

whatever your subject is about
immerse your surroundings within it
the music you listen to
a movie in the same nature
get completely involved
it will come to you

One is always productive even if one doesn't write on a screen that day or week. I mean every writer has different methods, yet I believe one can still be productive if one didn't write that day.

and here is why....


You sit in front of your screen with a blank screen and nothing works. You start the same sentence 10 times writing it differently to only delete it and ponder further.

No problem!

Get away from the computer and watch a old episode of Seinfeld or something. Have lunch and pig away. You are actually thinking about the story at the same time. Sometimes without even knowing it.

Why?

Well you sat there in front of the computer wondering what to write. So you where thinking about it. Then you probably are thinking about it while watching Seinfeld or eating lunch.

It is formulating and processing as you do your things....

Then suddenly out of no where you begin to type.

Why?

Because your mind had the opportunity to first find dialogue through your day to day activities.

There are times I don't write a whole week physically, but in my mind.... I have a chapter written already. Yes it comes in drops...but it is formulating to a story that is urging my finger tips to type later on.

Writing a story isn't a rush job. It takes time. It takes patience.

and even when you have written it, it is not completed in many cases.


You let it marinade......

Let is sit ......

and come back to it to only shake your head and say "Wow what a mess! Need to change that!"

so here you are fixing glitches until the chapter flows as smooth as butter spreaded on bread.

My suggestion... Don't worry! You are writing each and everyday even if you are not physically doing it.

Good luck!

WOW!...great perspective

It's true. If I had a dollar for every time I had that thought, I wouldn't have to write books anymore....!

But yet...you KNOW you still would....lol

No doubt. Or I'd go back to doing music or something. I can't really function if I'm not doing something creative.

Speaking of being creative...I really need to see if I can't get something productive done on the story tonight.

Actually...after corresponding in this thread with you guys, I've learned quite a lot.

So now...it all LOOKS LIKE A MESS to me!

Now, I have to take more time to fix everything I've written, which is alot...but I think it might be worth it!

Sometimes it really doesn't look like so much of a mess when you reread it.

I think one of the hardest things to do, as a writer -- but maybe one of the most important -- is to go back and try to read what you've written, but from the perspective of someone else, someone who has no idea what the story is about at all.

How would it come across to that person?

I used to send chapters to people, just to ask them "Does this make sense? Can you follow it? Is there something I could do to make it clearer?" -- that sort of thing.

Because I want people to get whatever it is I'm trying to say in my writing. But there have been times when I was my own "worst critic"!

So, a "mess" isn't always a terminal scenario!

This was THE hardest thing I had to learn to do. I had been nothing but a " reader " for so long, that when I started writing again, I found it very difficult to separate myself into reader mode when I was reading something I had written.



I am definitely guilty of doing that...lol

Sending a chapter from a part of the story that no one has seen, and doesn't know about the things leading up to it let's me gauge their reaction and let's me know if the " flow " I am looking for is there.

its ya'll damn fault

cause of this thread specifically (and papersmile's wheedling) I got off my azz and started writing again

gimme a few days to get somewhere and I'll copy some of it here (or somewhere) for ya'll to critique