12.06.08

Impressions

Posted in grannie's sayings, Writing at 5:17 pm by Fiona

My grannie had a magnificent collection of proverbial sayings stored in her head. When I was little, it was like having my very own Chatty Confucius talking doll. I’d do something misguided and it was like pulling her string because out would come one of these sayings. One of these sayings that I heard often was “you only get one chance to make a good first impression”. It wasn’t that my grannie was obsessed with what other people thought as much as she was obsessed with living up to her own standards of being the best that she could be. She would have made a great Marine!

It’s because of this saying from grannie that I am often shocked and amazed by some people who claim they want to be writers. I mean, really! Are these people serious? I see them in writing classes all the time. The ones who don’t know the difference between there, they’re and their, or just don’t care enough to worry about using the right spelling. They seem to think that some editor is going to rescue their poor spelling and word usage. Well I have news for them! They won’t even make it out of the review pile. Why should they when there are so many other writers who have taken the care to put their best foot forward?

I’m currently taking Terry Spears’ Happy Hookers online class and one of my fellow students wrote this sentence in one of her assignments:

The piece you typed is from the beginning of the first chapter, so not really your first impression as their is a prologue.

How ironic that this person is actually writing about first impressions, isn’t it? If I were reviewing manuscripts for a publisher and encountered this, it would go straight into the rejection pile with a pithy note “learn to spell”.

My grannie felt that being sloppy when it wasn’t important only guaranteed you would err sometime when it was important. I have to agree with grannie.

01.31.08

Are you missing NaNoWriMo?

Posted in Writing at 8:19 pm by Fiona

So November has passed, holidays are over and you’re missing that thrill that rush from writing a whole book in a month!!

Romance Divas has the cure!!

We’re hosting our own writing month in February!!

So come join us in the first official Romance Divas Writing Month (RoDiWriMo).

Write 50,000 words with us, while you learn industry news, writing technicques and more valuable information.

Join Romance Divas http://www.romancedivas.com today! It’s free and so is RoDiWriMo!!

01.11.08

Quote of the day: “keep going”

Posted in Writing at 4:43 pm by Fiona

Have you ever noticed the things you need to hear seem to happen right when you need them? Today I got a rejection letter from an agent. I decided to dig in and do some more agent research and through a series of internet surfing events ended up on Jim Butcher’s site. On his “About Jim” page he has a section titled “How’d Jim Get Published” that contains the most honest and delightful tale of any writer’s journey I’ve ever read. At the end he shares this:  

Here’s the secret of how to get published: keep going.”

 

He goes on to say: 

“Keep trying when the guy next to you quits in disgust. Keep writing when the girl next to you sobs and throws her manuscripts into the fire. Keep conducting yourself like a professional, and you’ll get someone to believe that you are one.If you’re lucky, maybe even yourself.” 

Some days it just pays to keep going. Especially when the rewards are like this one. Thanks Jim!