Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

P is for Pinterest

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I’m blogging my way through the alphabet with many others participating in the 2014 A to Z Challenge. The A to Z Challenge is the brainchild of Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out. We post every day in April except Sundays.

P is for Pinterest. What it is it? What does it do? How and what’s the point. Here’s an article that will answer those questions and tell you why you’ll become addicted. 

And believe me, addicted is the correct word. I believe my daughter has planned her entire wedding by searching Pinterest. We’ve figured out our table centerpieces (three books tied with twine), our literary couples–the happy ones! Yes, it’s a literary wedding. The groom has selected his groom’s table–pies, pies and more pies! Pinterest can “help” you do anything. While looking for a recipe with a certain ingredient, all I have to do is put it in the search engine and I find hundreds.

More importantly, Pinterest is great for writers. Authors are taking full advantage. Some have their entire books on Pinterest. They build visuals. In the old days we created graphic poster boards to inspire us, with everything that reminded us of our stories, but now, we post the hero and heroine’s homes, their jewelry, their clothing, their faces, the city they live in with its landmarks. I haven’t done it but only because I haven’t found the time. I hear it’s great promo!

Other authors have writing tips. I hope you can go to this page to see what it’s all about. And here’s a good one too! So much fun! So informative. 

I have several Pinterest boards: Praise, Prayers and Observations is filled with quotes and a few insignificant things I fancy. My second board is Heroes and Heroines I Think of While Writing. Beautiful people. My last two boards are Someday Recipes (vegetarian) and Someday Fun Projects. You can take a look at all my boards at this link.

If you have to sign in, it’s simple. Don’t worry about doing so. I’ve never received any spam or unnecessary messages from Pinterest. They do notify me when I have a new follower or someone has pinned one of my pics.

You’ll have a great time creating your own writing world … or any kind of world for that matter. You can also make it private so you don’t have to share with the rest of us.

Do you pin? What’s the subject of your boards? If not, why don’t you give it a try? It’s a new experience. It’s inspiring! I love it. I know you will too!

If you pin, leave a link to your favorite board.

Meet Ally Shields – Avoiding Rookie Mistakes

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I can’t help but wonder how many of us receive a couple of rejections and give up. More importantly, how many of us actually make serious changes as a result of our rejections? Ally Shields has some excellent tips that will help us strengthen our stories.

Avoiding Rookie Mistakes by Marketing Too Soon

                                             by Ally Shields
Writing is fun. It’s the publishing end that makes us tear out our hair. I made many mistakes in the process, but I’m only highlighting those that resulted putting my work out there before it was ready.

My first query letter was vague, something about a witch who solved crimes, nothing about the specific plot. A more experienced writer suggested I follow this checklist:

·        Condense the story to a one-page synopsis.

·        Condense it further to an elevator pitch.

·        Write a logline.

I couldn’t believe how difficult this was, and I didn’t understand the term, logline. It also became clear I didn’t understand my basic plot. If I didn’t get it, how could an agent, editor or reader? I went back to the story, adding and deleting, to clarify the storyline. (For help with loglines and elevator pitches try this site: http://writingnorthidaho.blogspot.com/2011/10/blurbs-for-success-loglines-elevator.html. A good discussion of the synopsis can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-robinson/book-synopsis-tips_b_2426724.html.)

As soon as I passed the plot check, I jumped into the query process and received good initial responses. Unfortunately, my writing didn’t live up to the query, and interest dwindled. Why? Because the first round of editing was up to me, as the writer—not the grammar and typos that everyone looks for—but passes through my manuscript looking for specific problems.

1.  Point of View: Is it consistent and clear throughout, without head hopping? Check here for an in-depth discussion: http://www.dbjackson-author.com/blog/index.php/2012/03/01/writing-tips-point-of-view-and-voice-part-i-overview/.

2. Five senses: Is each major scene grounded with as many of the five senses as possible without becoming artificial? Sight and hearing are easiest, but smell, taste and touch can often be added with just a little effort. The payoff is adding a richness that allows readers to share the experience.

3. Backstory/narrative: Backstory and narrative slow the pace of your story. Limit both to only what is necessary and dish it out in small amounts.

4. Over-used and/or weak words and phrases: Skipping this pass can ruin a good story by making it seem amateurish. I’ve found a program that helps (Cliche Cleaner), but my editor finds other words I’ve missed. My over-used words change: in one book it was eyebrows, in the next stared. My next word obsession was well. I use the Find function to ferret out weak, tired, or vague words: just, that, few, several, most. A longer list is on this website: http://goinswriter.com/weak-words/.

5. Pacing: Are the scenes in the right order with enough variation in intensity to keep the reader turning the pages? Take a look at structure forms, such as Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet: http://www.blakesnyder.com/tools/.

I spent three years writing, submitting, rewriting, and abandoned the project twice. I changed names, POV. Gradually, I figured out the issues, but failure was a harsh teacher. I burned a lot of publishing bridges and collected 167 rejections. Finally, I sat down and rewrote the manuscript from the beginning using everything I learned during all those required passes. When finished, I submitted Awakening the Fire, a Guardian Witch story, to three small presses. Two responded immediately, and I signed with one.

The book became a series: two books are published, a third coming in July. I have an approved story-arc for seven. It was a rough journey with a big payoff. I guess I learned a thing or two along the way.
Ally Shields is the pen name of Janet L Buck, a writer born and raised in the Midwest, along the Mississippi River, the setting for her urban fantasy series. After  a career in law and juvenile justice, she turned to full-time writing in 2009, and Awakening the Fire, the debut novel in her Guardian Witch series, was released in September 2012.  The author still lives in the Midwest with her Miniature Pinscher dog, Ranger. When not writing, reading or visiting her grown sons, she loves to travel in the US and abroad. Way too often she can be found on Twitter.

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Meet Cindi Myers – Time Management for Writers

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Do you know Cindi Myers? You should. She written more than fifty books, and she has one of the best, up-to-date marketing newsletters around. Cindi started her newsletter in 2000 as a way to share her publishing information with others. Be sure to visit her site, but first read her post on:

Time Management For Writers

The dream: you sit down in your beautiful office, your favorite beverage of choice close to hand. Soft music plays in the background and a scented candle fills the air with your favorite perfume. You open your laptop and the words flow. You lose track of time as your story unfolds. Hours later, you emerge from a trance, thrilled with the day’s work.

The reality: you carve out a few hours to devote to writing and just as you sit down to work, the school calls to inform you that your child has the flu and is projectile vomiting in the office. The Fed-Ex man arrives with a package, the cat delivers a dead mouse to the doorstep, your mother calls, and you realize that if you don’t do laundry right now you will have to go naked for the rest of the week. And then your favorite episode of Castle is on and you really can’t miss it!

Finding time to write around the demands of family, home and day jobs is a challenge every writer faces. After 17 years as a full-time writer, I’ve developed a few tips and techniques to help you make the most of the time you have to write.

1. Take Inventory. Borrow a technique from successful dieters and spend a few days to a week tracking your time. Write down what you do all day in 30 minute blocks. Analyze the results and identify places where you’re wasting time and vow to avoid these traps in the future.

2. Eliminate and delegate. Get rid of activities you can live without. Cut out the volunteer job you hate. Give the kids or your husband a chore that will free you up for writing time. Get rid of the clutter to make cleaning house easier or better yet — lower your standards for house cleaning.

3. Carve out writing time. You’ve probably heard this one — get up an hour earlier. Go to bed an hour later. Give up watching one show each evening and use that time to write instead.

4. Set a scheduleand keep it. When you commit to an exercise program, trainers advise you to schedule a time and place to exercise and commit to doing it every day for at least six weeks. Do the same with your writing.

5. Make your writing portable. Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Write while your kids are at sports practice. Write on your lunch hour at your day job. Write before and after work, while you ride the bus on your commute, or anywhere you have a block of 10 to 30 minutes. It’s not the ideal fantasy, but you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

I hope these tips will help you find more time to create the great stories that are inside you, waiting to be written. 

Cindi Myers is the author of more than 50 novels, including The View From Here. Find out more atwww.CindiMyers.com