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Hi guys! Well it's that time of year again, where people go completely insane and buy anything and everything, from presents, to sweets and drinks, to mountains of food for the big day. We prepare so much, and spend even more, and inevitably crash in January.
Well I do hope that you all have yourselves ready, though I can't say the same for myself. As usual hubby and I are last minute, so from Friday on (when he finishes work) we'll be rushing around like the preverbial headless chickens. Oh what joy! I promise myself every year that I will do better next year, that I'll be sure to start early. Yet I always seem to find myself a week before Chrismas, racing around like the other lunatic's like me, and trying to get it all done an nothing but a few days. So wish me luck, I will probably need it, as well as some great big doses of patience :). See you soon, I hope. Sally.
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Hi guys! It's been a while, and for that I'm sorry, but with the build up to Christmas getting up to full swing, those hour less days have only gotten shorter.
I've had another review, a three out of five star one, by a friend who is as honest as the day is long. She said Angels Blood was well thought out, and was original, but the gramma and punctuation let it down. Now I have to be honest, I had book two proof read by my friend AR (@booksandspoos), who I've already mentioned before, and she picked up missed commas, the odd sentence with a missing word, or a word too many, and a few silly mistakes that are really very silly. I have to admit Angels Blood didn't get proof read, and I did wonder if I'd made the same kind of mistakes in that, which clearly I have. So I guess I was kind of expecting someone to point them out :). Now this friend who did bring them to my attention, was a little worried I may have taken offense. But how could I when I already had an idea they were there? You're right, I couldn't. But besides that, it is nice to know that someone is friend enough to point out the things you don't see in your own work. I have thanked her for her review, and let her know that she and I are still friends regardless, and was totally amazed at the offer she made to edit my work for me. Knowing that she was the one that spotted the mistakes in the first place, gives me a certain kind of comfort to know that she will also be the one to correct them. You can find good friends in some strange places, and to me there is not much stranger than Twitter, but it is there that I have found a few. Now I have named a few before, and I'm not going to relay them to you again. (Thank goodness I hear you say ;)). But I do have to mention Brigitte (@bluebirdbrige), and hope she knows what a wonderful friend she is, and how much I appreciate her. So, at the end of this, what did I learn? 1. That there really are some great people out there in the big wide world. 2. That I really should make sure to have any future books proof read, and edited. Well thanks for reading guys, and I hope to be able to give you some good news on book two soon. Catch up with you soon. Sally. Book two is edited and with it's first proof reader, yay. Now you'd think an author would be happy to finally have a break and let their mind settle wouldn't you? But oh no! This is the time when your brain seems to go into overdrive. What can I do now? Should I start marketing? Should I edit again? Should i start book three? And on, and on, and on it goes. It seems the mind goes a little overactive when it has nothing to focus on.
Now I don't know if other authors have the same problem, I would imagine some do, yet others would perhaps have their own version of the panic at not having a focus. Now I suppose if they've been an author for a while, then I would guess that they have found an outlet, or even an excersise that would help them deflate. I, however, have only written one before this one, and when I finished that I went straight to book two. This time is a little different though, it's a not even a month before Christmas. I explained my dillema to my husband, though I don't think he really understood the problem at hand, and his answer was have a break. I'm sure you understand the response I gave him for that :). After thinking on it a while he mentoned writing a short story. I must say it does have it's own apeal, and maybe I will look into it, or maybe I'll get straight into book three :), which I think is where my mind wants to go. And we are back full circle to the busy mind. Do I? Don't I? If? But? and the all important Will I? I have absolutley no idea, though I guess I should focus on the name of book two first :). Thats all for now folks. Catch up soon. Sally. Here we are back again to what is, at least I think, one of the hardest, time consuming jobs that comes with writting a book. I must admit its one of the jobs I really dislike, I have trouble consentrating on the work as opposed to reading the story. I have heard other authors say the same thing, and have had many helpful hints. Like, concentrate on two or three pages at a time to give your brain a time out, or edit your book backwards, and even to actually pick out chapters at randome, but I find that no matter how I go about it, it is not a job I am ever going to love.
Now I have had a few offers of help from other authors, some of who have offered to read my manuscript for me and point out any errors they may pick up with fresh eyes, and others that have offered help in any way they can. I have to say that though I do stick to it and do a final edit myself, I have decided to take one or two up on the offer. When you do this there is an element of trust that you are giving another person, and you have to be careful to pick someone you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, will give you constructive critisism, and point out where any mistakes are, including a part of your story that maybe wouldn't make sense to a reader like it does to you. You have to remember that you know the story inside out, and your readers don't, it is no good knowing you understand what you mean if they don't. The two I have chosen are completely different people, and will no doubt see completely different mistakes, but that is the whole point. Anything they agree on is a must fix, whatever they don't you have two options to go with, or you change it to give some sort of compromise. I have chosen tow friends on twitter, AR, who is affectionately known as my BFFT, and goes by @booksandspoons, and the other is Ian, who has been a friend since I set out and let me read his second manuscript to date, a sequel to Salby Damned, (A really good read if you can get your hands on it :) just a hint for you), and he goes by @ianstories. So fingers crossed guys, and lets see where this leads too. Bye for now, and I'll keep you posted. Sally. |
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I am a wife, mother, and grandmother, and I live in Wales in the U.K. Sallyann Phillips is an IASD member.
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