Did I Achieve my 2019 Writing Goals?

It will soon be time to say goodbye to the old writing year and hello to the new.

Every year in the first week of January, best buddy Tracy Fells and I get together to set our yearly writing goals. At the end of the year, I look back and see if I've achieved any or all of them.

The one thing I've learned over the years is it's important to have goals that will stretch and encourage but which are manageable too (rather than stressful). The other thing it's important to remember is that luck and life circumstances play a big part in what happens as well and that I should not to be too hard on myself if I don't achieve all my targets. The important thing is that I try.

These are the goals I set for myself:

Goal: To enjoy every minute of being a published author.

Achieved? Mostly! As most of you will know, my debut psychological thriller, What She Saw, was published by Bookouture in May this year (you can read my blog post about it here). It was fabulous... exciting... amazing. The same can be said when my second thriller, We Were Sisters, came out in August. But did I enjoy every minute? Not when I was struggling with structural edits or when I was stressing about whether or not my novels were good enough for people to buy or when I received my first bad review. But all these things come with the territory. It's what happens when you're published. In fact it's proof that you've been published! 

The biggest test is whether I would do it all again... and the resounding answer is YES!

Goal: To secure another publishing deal.

Achieved? Yes! I was delighted when in May my wonderful publisher, Bookouture, offered me another two-book contract. Yay!

Goal: To think about and start novel three.

Achieved? Yes! Not only have I thought about and started novel three, I've finished it and it's with my editor (though the hard part will soon start when I get the first lot of edits back in a few days). I have also started novel four.

... and that's it for another year. Next week, Tracy and I will be meeting to set out 2020 goals and I'll be posting you very soon. In the meantime, I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Why You Need A Good Proofreader - Guest Post Julia Gibbs

You've finished the book, you've checked it for errors until your eyes are crossed. Your work is perfect... or is it? 

I'd like to give a very warm welcome today to Julia Gibbs. When I first 'met' Julia on Twitter, I actually thought her name was Julia Proofreader (her Twitter handle). It was only when I started to read some of her informative blog posts, that I realised proofreading was her profession not her surname! I am really pleased that Julia has managed to find some time out of her very busy day to answer my questions, so over to you Julia.

How long have you been a proofreader and what made you choose this profession?

At the risk of sounding clichéd, I didn't choose it, it chose me! I have always had my nose in a book from the time I learned to read, and I sailed through all English language and literature exams at school. I worked for some years for a firm of architects and found that everyone came to me for spelling and grammar advice; when the chief architect ruled that no document was to leave the office without being passed by me, I thought to myself, 'Hang on, I could do this for a living!' So to answer your question, I think I've been doing it for most of my life.

Are you a writer as well as a proofreader?

Good heavens, no! I don't know how you authors do it, I really don't. I could no more write a novel than I could run a marathon (PS, I don't run.) I can write blog posts, though, but I think my creativity expires after about a page and a half.

What’s the difference between a proofreader and an editor?

There is a difference between proofreading and editing fiction. Not every writer requires an editor, by the way, there is a minority who can edit their own work. Editors will perform services such as: suggesting cutting out characters; changing or omitting dialogue; changing the narrative arc of the novel; moving chapters around; various other suggestions that will in their opinion improve the book. I don’t alter the writer’s work apart from correcting it, although I will point out anomalies of plot if I notice them, and any other inconsistencies (this is copy editing, and goes above and beyond what a proofreader does, but I like to do it as well). I will also make other suggestions if, for example, I see a word or phrase repeated too often in a paragraph.

Why can’t we writers just edit our own work?

You can, if you like. Some writers (a minority, as I said) are capable of being sufficiently dispassionate to edit their own work. But nobody can proofread their own work. Here's why: when you read what you have written, you see what you expect to see. In a sentence of 10 words, the mind actually reads the 1^st, 5^th and 10^th words, and then makes sense of the rest of it on its own. I've proofread books by authors who've been pretty confident that they've been through their own work thoroughly and reckon that I might, if I'm good, find 30 or 40 errors. I've found on average 600 and upwards. You'd be surprised, as were some of my clients, see what they say here: Happy Customers

Do you only need a proofreader if you’re self-publishing?

If you have been accepted by a publishing company, whether mainstream or indie, then they will provide a proofreader for you, as part of the service. However, I have recently worked for a client who had 6 novels published by Random House, and wanted me to check his work before he sent his latest book to them, as he thought he'd written it in a hurry. (He was right to do so, I found over 1,500 errors.)

What are the most common mistakes you see writers making?

Most errors are typos – that is, mistakes made through inattention while the writer is in creative flow mode, and not caused by ignorance of spelling or punctuation. And most of these are punctuation, with people not realising that they've missed out commas or full stops because they're focussing on their characters or story line. That's where a non-creative pedant like me is so necessary, you see!

Some of the spelling typos result in hilarious misunderstandings, and I am currently compiling a list of the funniest ones I've come across, so that I can put them in a blog post – with the authors' permission, of course!

How long does it take you to proofread an average length novel?

Depends on how many mistakes I have to correct. My clients' books run the full gamut, from a few changes per paragraph, to one or two per chapter. On the other hand, some people say to me, 'this shouldn't take you too long, it's already been checked by a few people, so there will be very few errors'. My reply is, 'yes, but I still have to read every word'! I only work on one novel at a time, so that I can concentrate on the plot and the author's particular quirks. I reckon it to take me approximately 10 days.

There are many people advertising proofreading services. How can a writer sort the good from the bad?

You're right, there are so many people advertising themselves as proofreaders these days, and many of them appear to have just started. I notice that I am followed on Twitter by newbie proofreaders every day. Here are a couple of blog posts I wrote, which I hope will be of help to anyone looking for a proofreader, and not knowing where to start:

Proofreaders: The Good the Bad and the Criminal

Five Ways to Spot the Wrong Proofreader

So, as my final word, dear authors – take all the time you need when choosing a proofreader!

Thank you, Wendy, for inviting me to have my say. I did enjoy it.

You're very welcome. It's been lovely having you as a guest.

You can contact Julia through her website here or on Twitter here

How to Write the Perfect Rom-Com - Guest Post Alison May

Today I'd like you to give a warm welcome to my guest, Alison May. She is the author of Choc Lit novel 'Sweet Nothing' and her second novel, 'Midsummer Dreams', is out in June. Alison is not only a rom-com author but a creative writing teacher and I decided she would be the ideal person to put this question to - what makes the perfect rom-com?

 

Over to you, Alison.

Ah the rom-com. It’s a classic form in movies, books and television but what is it, and what elements make up a good one? Today I’m going to don my white coat of academic endeavour, head down to the great laboratory of writerly whatnots and do some analysis. 

The first element of a good rom-com is, of course, the rom, traditionally short, in this context, for romance, not roman. Although a roman-com would be awesome. It would probably involve people called Romanus going around the house.

Anyway, romance, in my terribly humble opinion, is always born out of the characters doing the romancing. A hero doesn’t just need to be dishy and available – although both of those help – he needs to be the right hero for this one specific heroine. The pair either have to fill a gap in the other’s character or challenge some flaw in the other. So for a heroine like Cora, in Cora’s Christmas Kiss, who is obsessed with status, and achievement, her perfect hero could either be someone who helps her gain a sense of achievement or it could be someone who encourages her to relax and maybe be a wee bit less goal-oriented from time to time.

Good romance also needs obstacles. At least it does in MadeUpStoryWorld. In real-life, meeting a nice guy or girl, asking them out, going out, having a nice time and getting together is utterly lovely, but, as anyone who’s ever been bored to death listening to a friend recount the details of their perfect date will know, it’s also really dull. Again the obstacles in a really good romance should be linked to the characters. If you have a confident and normally outspoken heroine you can’t give her an obstacle that could easily be resolved if she just mentioned it to somebody. Well you can, but you risk your poor reader throwing your book across the room in disgust. And just imagine that when they throw the book they strain their shoulder, forcing them to take time off work, and because this key staff member is off work their company loses out on a big contract, forcing them to make first your disgruntled reader, and then the entire workforce, redundant. It could happen. Poorly thought out plot points have consequences, you know. You have been warned.

Time now for the second element of the great rom-com formula: the com. Comedy is a tricky beast – utterly subjective, and liable to become entirely unfunny when subjected to close inspection. I’m a naturally analytical writer. I tend to break stories and characters down and think a lot about the building blocks of a novel, but with comedy that approach fails me. The one and only piece of advice I can offer is this: if it makes you laugh then the chances are that somewhere out there will be a reader who feels the same. The second one and only piece of advice is this: when writing a novel you will have to read your own words lots of times – certainly three or four, possibly closer to ten or fifteen – by the end of that process nothing you’ve written will be funny. It will all be stale, unimaginative and hateful. At that point you just have to remember that it was funny originally. If it made you laugh when you wrote it, then keep the faith. The words haven’t changed; you’re just reading them with a worn down, worn out, unamusable outlook. Writing a novel can do that to you unfortunately.

So there you go. Here endeth the lesson in the twin disciplines of the rom and the com. Have good characters who fit together; present them with obstacles that are specific to them, and remember to keep the faith in the funny stuff.

 

And now you have no excuse not to sit down and write the perfect rom-com! Thank you for joining us today, Alison and the best of luck with your new novel when it comes out next month.

About Alison

Alison May was born and raised in North Yorkshire, but now lives in Worcester with one husband, no kids and no pets. There were goldfish once. That ended badly.

Alison has studied History and Creative Writing, and has worked as a waitress, a shop assistant, a learning adviser, an advice centre manager, and a freelance trainer, before settling on 'making up stories' as an entirely acceptable grown-up career plan. 

Alison is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and won the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy in 2012. She writes contemporary romantic comedies, published by Choc Lit. Her first full-length novel, Sweet Nothing, is available as for kindle now and to pre-order in paperback, and her second, Midsummer Dreams is out in June. Alison has also written two Christmas Kiss novellas, both available as ebooks now.

You can find out more about Alison at www.alison-may.co.uk or by following her on Twitter @MsAlisonMay

 

About Sweet Nothing 

Would you risk everything for love?

Independent, straight-talking Trix Allen wouldn’t. She’s been in love once before and ended up with nothing. Now safely single, Trix is as far away from the saccharine-sweet world of hearts and flowers as it’s possible to be.

Ben Messina is the man who broke Trix’s heart. Now he’s successful the only thing rational Ben and free-spirited Trix see eye-to-eye on is the fact that falling in love isn’t part of the plan. But when Ben’s brother sets out to win the heart of Trix’s best friend, romance is very much in the air. Will Trix gamble everything on love and risk ending up with zero once again?

 

Sweet Nothing is available for kindle and you can pre-order it in paperback here

Have any Writing Tips?

Since publishing The Last Rose, I've been lucky to have been invited as a guest on some lovely blogs (see last week's post here) and a question I'm often asked is what writing tips I would give to new writers wanting to break into the magazine market.

Here is the answer I often give:

 Write the story you'd love to read. Rather than trying to fit in with a style you think the magazine will want, try and find your own voice. It you love your story, it's more likely that a magazine editor will too.
 

But this is just my own advice and there are a lot of writers out there with years more experienced than me, writing for a lot of different markets. 

With this in mind, I though it would be fun to compile a top tips list covering three different categories: magazines, novels and competitions to publish on my blog.

Could you help? 

Just leave your tip as a comment below, starting it with the name of your chosen category (just a sentence or two would be great) and I will use the ones I feel are the best in a future post. Thank you in anticipation of all the lovely advice you are going to give!