I did a pre-edit on my mystery novella, Sunshine Boulevard, last month. Karen McGrath, Muse It Up Publishing editor, sent a sheet full of words that need to be weeded out of the ms to avoid passive voice. Some of the 24 words to purge are just, that, had, but, and then, about, was, as, very were, has been, and so on.

I pulled up the Sunshine Boulevard file and  smugly clicked on the Edit tag in MS Word 2003 and scrolled to Find. Knowing that I would not be using the villainous word, just,  in my ms, I clicked on Find and typed in” just”. Lo and behold, there was a ton of them! Just imagine. I guess I just didn’t realize just  how much I unconsciously slipped it in. Just how crazy is that!

The Find feature is a life-saver for writers. If you discover you have misspelled a word throughout your manuscript or if you decide to change a character’s name from Sally to Martha, the Find tool will find it for you. If you want to replace it, just type in Sally then type in Martha for the replacement. Like magic the entire piece will be cleaned up for you. You may want to play with it a bit by using a small document instead of an entire novel’s manuscript at first.

I sent off the edited masterpiece shaking my head at what was an eye-opening experience for me. This exercise certainly helped point out my over-used words and allowed me to write stronger sentences. Now I can only imagine how much tighter and more focused my story will be after an editor looks it over. Looking forward to that!

Teaching writing can be a volunteer job or a paid position. I began teaching a class on writing life stories after a writer in my writer’s group shared a diary that her great great grandfather kept in the 1800′s. This was an eye-opening experience for me. It almost became a mission for me to encourage people to write down their lives as a historical record of their times and as a gift to future generations.

In the beginning I wondered if all the studying, reading, outlining and decisions on areas to cover would be worth it. I am happy to report that I have had successful, paid for workshops since 2004. Not only have the proceeds lined my pocket with spending money…yes, it is not a huge money maker..but the responses from participants have warmed my heart as I see them leaving the class confident and ready to begin their life story and to organize it. They are inspired to write the information down for their families and finally accept that their life is worth living and sharing it with others.

Think about it. Choose your topic that you know you can teach and begin working out a workshop and a way to market it. The results for you will be satisfying and I guarantee you will learn more about your own writing through the exercises.

You are welcome to visit my website to view my page on Writing Life Stories. See? I cannot stop encouraging everyone to write their life story!

You may attend the forums and interact any time of day or sign up for scheduled workshops that work into your day’s activities. The workshop  handouts are packed with information that you can save and peruse later at your leisure. (I know, what leisure???)

The Muse Online Writers Conference is FREE if you sign up before August 15. A nominal charge of $5.00 is added after August 15. (Just think, you aren’t spending any gas money to get to the workshops…) Registrations will not be accepted after September 10.

This workshop has been valuable to the development of my career. I think you will pick up a nugget or two that will help you in your writing as well as meet some wonderful, helpful, sincere folks at the conference.

Let me know if you sign up.  I will look for ya’!!!

If you can’t make it tonight, then stop by the website. You know they’re always open 24 hours a day!!

I always wanted to be journalist, so I gathered my courage and approached our regional newspaper editor. I offered to write some articles for the paper and to my delight, he agreed to give me a chance. I discovered I enjoyed writing profiles on business people, getting to know and interview people who make a difference in the community, taking in the theater productions, festivals,  and events FREE. With a little imagination I turned a school visit into a story and apple picking into an article. I now have people who I regularly report on their organization and contacts I can go to for community information.

Yesterday I attended a Remote-Controlled (RC) planes Fly-In at an area airport with my hubby and grandsons. Not only did we have a fun time,  you better believe that it is going to make a great story for the paper! Be a journalist to meet lots of interesting folks and to write worthwhile, satisfying information people want to read.

In an article by Robert Campbell, Outlining,  in Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America, this mystery writer admits he never used an outline. He preferred William Faulkner’s method of setting his characters on the road and “walk beside them, listening to what they have to say.” Campbell admits writing without an outline causes him to start down paths that lead to dead ends, but he discovers a lot about a character spending time on pages upon pages that he may have to discard. However, he feels that at least, he exercised the writing muscles.

Later in his writing Campbell discovered outlining using his “word processor” or even hand writing a simple outline. He also makes up documents before starting the story such as Chronology, Cast of Characters, Address Book, Timeline of History, Notebook and Agenda which “sketches the goals, desires and probable actions of each principal character as I move through the body of the book.” He builds on each of these documents as the work-in-progress (WIP) evolves.  Campbell cautions that at no time is anything engraved in stone. He remains flexible with each chapter.

It really makes no difference whether you need a map, guidelines, outline or just an idea to freely write a story. The important thing is to write. Don’t be paralyzed by constructing an outline, then never writing the story. With no outline, you may write paragraphs, pages, chapters, etc that will need to be cut for the final draft. But many authors incorporate those leftover pages into another future story.

Pleeeeeezzzz…just write! It’s in you. What a shame if you don’t let it out on the page.

I used a pen name for the upcoming  mystery novel to be released in March 2011. I didn’t think much about using a pen name until I actually signed a contract. As an ebook, I will need to have a presence online to promote it, but my website and writings have all been under my name, Janet Glaser. To promote this book under my pen name, I will have to start from scratch building a readership through this fictitious name. If, for publicity purposes, I do connect my name to the pen name, then what is the point of even having one?

My main reason is to separate this fictional world of writing from my articles and non-fiction works. (I don’t know that an editor would like me to write articles for a children’s magazine and then discover that same writer’s name is associated with a mystery/horror story!!) I also believe that I can assure my privacy with a pen name. I don’t believe there will be a slasher at my door who takes exception with this mystery, but the fictional name allows an extra layer of security.

Now I need to figure out how to promote my pen name. Anyone have some great suggestions?? Thanks for your help!

This week I checked out Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland. Lofland is a former police detective and he spills the beans on everything from equipment used by police and detectives to procedures for investigating a crime scene. Arrest and search procedures, homicide, murder, and manslaughter, fingerprinting, autopsy (yep, I about lost my cookies reading this chapter), drugs and drug trafficking,  prisons and jails are just some of the information packed chapters in the book.  Lofland’s actual experiences are narrated in the sections called In the Line of Duty.  In the chapter on Arrest and Search Procedures, Lofland finds himself facing a “Mountain Man” who is crazy wild in a bar. I can tell you that Lofland successfully tames this wild man and arrests him.

If you are a mystery writer or want to be, this book is a fantastic resource to get you started. It may even spark a few ideas for story lines.

Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland–Writer’s Digest Books, 2007

Add to the small space of time available for writing, the temptation of  gorgeous summer skies and gentle breezes and all of a sudden the weeks pass with nothing written. Even my blogs are begging for attention.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and have more determination to keep writing in spite of perfect June weather, ball games, carting children around to activities, vacation time, and pure exhaustion. Do you have any tricks or tips to help us settle down to the business of writing?  Please share….. Thank you!

As you may recall in a post on May 5 entitled Rejected Again, I complained about publishers leaving a writer hanging by not responding to the submission.  I emailed my full ms to Lea Schizas of Muse It Up Publishing. She told me she would notify me within two weeks of a decision. Well within that alotted time frame, she emailed me. She wrote, “The editorial department came back with an assessment. We loved your writer’s voice.” She went on to say the contract and other paperwork was attached….I stopped reading and started again from the top. I read it all again to believe that I actually had a contract for this crazy book! I can’t stop dancing!

Muse It Up Publishing is  a small and upcoming royalty paying independent e-publisher. The official opening is in December 2010. But don’t wait to look them up because they are on the web now with submission information, authors, and book titles. It is an exciting time for everyone at M I U Pub. I am sure readers are in for a feast for the eyes and mind and heart with the talented authors already contracted and diverse genres.

Check out the authors page. My pen name is J Q Rose. I’ll keep you updated on this new adventure. Okay I’ll stop dancing now..for awhile.