Janet Q. Glaser, the Wordwright
The Writer's Life of Frivolity and Philosophy

The FREE Muse Online Writers Conference is a fantastic conference to attend in October 11-17. You can go in your jammies, eat chocolate at your desk, and catch up on laundry while you meet esteemed writers, publishers, workshop leaders, and writers of all genres.

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’!!!

Grand Opening for Ask an Author is at 8 pm Central tonight, July 30. Lots of give aways and of course writing info and a chance to mingle with published authors. The purpose of the site, spear headed by Keira Kroft, is to help writers with writing a novel, answer questions on publishing, and to offer writing tips. You will also rub elbows with many published authors from different genres.

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

When you begin your story or novel, do you use an outline to guide your writing or do you just begin and let the ideas/characters/plot take you in the direction of the story? Letting the story go along with no pre-planning means you are writing by the seat-of-your-pants thus gaining the title of a “pantser.”  We have lots of discussions at The Writers Chatroom among the newcomers and regular attendees of the Wednesday evening chats, as well as guest authors on Sunday nights,  as to the best method of writing a story or novel.

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.

Muse It Up Publishing is opening its doors for business. Lea Schizas, the energetic whirlwind, is launching this new business and is looking for submissions. Click here for genres and more information.

If the dedication she has for her well-organized, award winning free online conference is any indication, I am sure she will operate this publishing company with the same degree of attention to detail and accessibility. The Muse Online Writers Conference, the brain child of Schizas and Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is a week long opportunity for writers, editors, publishers to network and learn from the numerous workshops offered on writing techniques, platform building, writing business, queries and book proposals, etc. Schizas offers this outstanding opportunity FREE–no strings attached.

If nothing else gets you to check out this new publishing company,  launching their new website in April, perhaps this quote from Schizas will peak your interest.  In an email, she said, “I promise to be a nice publisher.”

Best wishes to you, Lea and the staff at Muse It Up Publishing!

Avatar, the new 3-D, sci-fi/fantasy movie premiered this past weekend loaded with lots of fantastic animation and special effects, but at the heart of it is a love story.  The production is the brain child of John Cameron who worked as a high school janitor and at precision tool and die manufacturing company.  He said he was a blue collar worker.  Then he went to see Star Wars, the movie, and was blown away because what he saw on the screen was similar to the stories he could envision himself.  He knew he wanted to write themand make them into movies.  And he did!  Big time including the hit movie, Titanic. 

There would be no hit movie without that small kernel of an idea of a love story that developed into a full story.  Stories and thoughts spring from writers’ brains.  A writer is the one who gets the ball rolling on so many levels.  Advertisements, marketing, legal documents, bills in Congress (okay I won’t go there), books,  poems, instructions for setting up computer programs or operating the Wii game system.  All the technical writing and news stories have to be put down on paper.  And we do that.  Our writing touches every part of life.

At this time of the year, I think what would have happened if the writers of the Bible didn’t take time to write the stories, the lessons, the history.  The story of the love, peace, and joy brought by Baby Jesus would not reach so many people in the world.  Christmas is a worldwide event celebrated by many cultures.  These writers have played their part in touching the people of the world.

Give yourselves a gift this season, the gift of time to write.  Do it for yourself.  You can contribute to the literature in this world.  You can make a difference.

I wish you all the blessings of this holiday season.  Merry Christmas to All!! 

Yes, tis the season for gift giving.  Lea Schizas, award winning author, writes an inspiring and humorous ebook for writers and is giving it to you for FREE!  Now, don’t sign up for it if you have a weak heart or you already know everything you need to know about writing.  But if you want return to why you are a writer or you need some kick butt advice, then download or read it on the full screen.  It’s a fun quick read that could make a difference in how you view your writing  journey.  Enjoy.

AssaultingAWritersThinkingEbookLeaSchizas

Ah, the glamorous life of a writer–  Check it out…

I thought when writing a story I would write the best one ever and sell it to a publisher. Umm…it doesn’t work that way.

Writing the first draft is difficult, but fun. Seeing the story take place on the page and emptying your heart out is satisfying. But you are not finished..not by a long shot. You must add flesh to the skeleton of the story. More details about each character, more information about the setting, description. And oh no, sometimes the paragraphs that you so lovingly wrote, just have to be cut. You have to be ruthless. Keep the story tight. Keep the characters in, well, character. Check that there is no head hopping, in other words, the Point of View has to be told through one character or the reader gets really, really confused.

Then after revising the second time, you will need to revise again, and then again, and again until you are satisfied. Let a fresh pair of eyes read to catch spelling errors, awkward sentences, typos, etc.

Then you have to write an attention-getting query to a publlisher or agent, not just one, but perhaps 70 times 7 of them AFTER researching each pub or agent to see what they are looking for. Study the guidelines thoroughly. You don’t want to send a sweet little romance to a publisher looking for erotica.

The wait begins, so don’t just stop writing. Start a new project to keep your mind off the waiting.

Then, if you do sell your story, the hard work of marketing and promotion begin. Oh no, you cannot sit on your hands and think you will be dragging in the money from all those sales. You have to stir up the buzz on the Internet, author talks, and signings.

I hope I have given you some helpful information and you have been warned that writing is a LOT more than telling a story if you want to be published. So go ahead and write, but that is not the end of it.

I never read YA books which are written for the Young Adult crowd….Hmm, there is no designation of OA books, Old Adult, which would be the genre I should be reading…But I met Kim Baccelia on Facebook and Writers Chatroom.  She is into the YA book business as editor and writer of this exciting segment of publishing.  I am sure you have heard the buzz about Twilight which was originally a YA book and is now a big money-making movie.  I have not read it yet, but plan to very soon although I never was much interested in werewolves, para-normal, fantasies, etc. 

However Kim kept writing on Facebook entries how much she was enjoying reading Shiver.  She never really gave away the story, but her enthusiasm made me check it out of our library only to find out it was a were wolf story…not a horror story, but a love story between a were wolf boy and a high school age girl.  I thought I would read a few pages, then turn it back in.  Not true. Once I began reading, the premise held me and the writer painted fabulous word pictures.  I was caught up in this odd romance. 

I plan to read more YA books and probably write a YA novel soon.  Can’t wait to get started.  Oh no, there will be no werewolves in it.  But it will be fun and interesting.

The Muse Online Writers Conference begins October 12, a unique writers conference that you can attend sitting in your jammies, eating chocolate at your computer, and not even wash your face! Plus the time you spend at this conference is determined by you because you can join in at your convenience to read the forums and interact with the presenters.

The old saying is “you just get what you paid for it” but in this FREE conference, you get a LOT more. Not only can you network with writers, editors, publishers, self publishers, you can pick up valuable writing tips, publishing information, writing courses, and even pitch your book idea to a publisher. BTW the conference is free, but you will want to throw in a donation because it is worth it.