Nothing Any Good

By Indie Authors for Indie Authors.

Tag: author advice (Page 2 of 2)

Writing Tweets Advice

Author Tweets of the Week (4-14)

April 14, 2017 / / 0 Comments

 

Let’s kick off this week’s Author Tweets of the Week with some shameless promotion!
https://twitter.com/AmyManwarren/status/852623579015499780

 

Thank you all for the kind words! They’re right! Why haven’t you bought the book yet?!?!? http://amzn.to/2oHB2JG

Ok, shameless promotion is over. Let’s go! Here’s your Author Tweets of the Week!

 

 

 

This photo is wonderful and terrifying all at once. Growing up in the Great White North that is Minnesota, I fully understand the plight that lay before this poor man. Being a writer, I fully agree that this is what it feels like about one hour after sitting down to write. All that excitement and adrenaline has worn off, and all that remains is the thought, “Damn! This is hard!”

 

So how do we shovel off that proverbial writing roof?!

 

Perfect! Passion is great, friends, but passion comes and goes. Excitement waxes and wanes. If you expect to rely entirely on your passion, you will be cast aside into pile of millions of people throughout time that have said, “I could write a book.”

Don’t let that happen! No if, ands, and Peter Pans! Write that book. Set goals. Schedule time. Remember why you started writing the book to begin with. Harness that passion and excitement to work for you, even when it ebbs.

 

This is great to remember as well. If you always keep this in mind, you’ll be able to remember why you started writing to begin with. Write for yourself.

 

 

Besides, if you don’t write for yourself, it’s not going to change the fact that doubters will abound. People are going to make you feel lousy about your book for sure. Trust me. I speak from experience. Don’t sweat it. The sooner you accept that it will happen (and will happen again), the better you’ll be at not letting their negativity affect you.

 

Ok, now that we have a little motivation and fortitude within us, how do we actually write that book, and do it well?

 

Ooooooohhhhhhhh! That’s it??? Got it!

Wait, hold up. What if you cross out all the wrong words and you have nothing left? Anyone want to buy my book of blank pages?!?!

 

Here’s a fun article on Goodreads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t make me complain yet again about Facebook’s terrible embedding feature. Yes, that’s a screen shot. No, you actually can’t click it. Don’t blame me! Or do blame me, see if I care.

Anyway, here’s the actual link to the article: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/845-20-problems-only-book-lovers-understand.

Random Marketer Reading This: “Well that is just terrible marketing. He sent his readers to a different site. Their gone now. He can’t be sure they’ll ever come back. That’s just really poor marketing. This Dan Buri guy is never going to make it.”

Random Obnoxious Grammar Guy Reading This: “You misspelled ‘they’re’.”

 

 

This is so true. I catch myself all the time thinking, “That’s such a funny, random happenstance. I need to remember that for a story.”

 

Here’s a good tip from @KellieMParker:

I don’t know if I’ve ever actually thought about this as concretely and succinctly as Kellie puts it here, but it’s so true. I immediately thought about the Jason Bourne books. The books have a ton of action and I loved them. I read them 15 years ago and I distinctly recall that any time the action scenes happened, I was a little bored. It was the build up that created all the suspense and excitement. Robert Ludlum was a master at the build up to the action.

 

 

https://twitter.com/tbuburuz/status/852004782868844544

Everyone reading this should stop right now and go leave a review. I mean it! Stop and go leave one review. It helps authors, I promise. Go support an author you love. We’ll wait.

Go! What are you waiting for?!?!

Random Marketer Reading This: “He did it again?!?!? Argh!!!!”

 

This next one has nothing to do with writing, but it made me laugh this week.

 

 

So did this one.

 

 

 

Ok, ok. Back to writing. Here’s a tip we’ve all heard a thousand times, but it’s worth repeating, so here’s a thousand and one.

 

 

Now a little motivation to urge you into your weekend writing. Be persistent, friends. Your path may wind and loop, but press on. Don’t allow anyone else (or even your own self doubts) to deter you from what you want to accomplish.

https://twitter.com/JeanLanewrites/status/852914623728631809

 

 

 

Finally. It’s Easter Weekend, friends. I will allow my heart to be sad and then celebrate. I will enjoy time with my family and friends. I will take time for myself to reflect on who I am and what I have been afforded. I will thank God for my faith and thank God for the faith He gives to others, in all forms. I will remember that I am simultaneously and paradoxically important and nothing but cells and dust. I will be humbled.

Happy Easter. Keep doing what you love. Keep on writing.

 

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.

 

Writing on a typewriter

Just Go For It

February 1, 2016 / / 6 Comments
Writing on a typewriter

Photo Courtesy of The Word Zombie

Just Go For It

by Samie Sands

 

This might seem like silly advice—Just Go For It—but when I speak to many aspiring writers, they say that’s the thing that they really needed to hear to give them the boost to at least give writing a try!

It’s very difficult to actually get started, I know. I had the idea for Lockdown rolling around in my head for a long time before I put pen to paper. I wrote out plans, I brainstormed, I thought about plotlines, but I couldn’t actually work out how to just start. It was intimidating.0 What if I failed? What if I was rubbish at writing? Then my dream would be over, just like that. In the end, I spent far too much time worrying, and not enough time writing.

Then one day, I decided to just give it a go and now I’m so grateful that I did. Sure, my first draft might have been terrible, repeating things I forgot that I’d already written, missing major plot points that I’d intended to include, but I had something written down, something real from which work—and that was an achievement in itself. I’d worked out a basis for how I was going to get the story from beginning to end and that gave me what I needed to get the book written.

Of course, then the real hard work started. Then I needed to get everything right, I needed to make it flow, make it interesting—funny and gory in equal measures. It took a few times, a few re-dos. I even left it for a while, so I could go back to it with a fresh perspective, and that helped me a lot because it meant I was looking at it without the tunnel vision that you get when working closely on something for a very long time.

 

One day I decided to just give it a go and now I’m so grateful that I did. My first draft might have been terrible, but I had something written down. [I had] what I needed to get the book written.

Once I had the story written and up to a standard I was happy with, I had to decide what to do next. I chose to send it out to a bunch of publishers because why not. I’d spent a lot of time on it, so I wanted to do something productive with it! I was expecting rejections—everyone will get them, you just have to be thick skinned enough not to let it bother you. (It’s the same for bad reviews. You will never be able to write something that everyone on the entire world will like because everyone has unique, individual tastes.)

Of course I got a few rejections. But then I got offered a three book contract by Limitless Publishing. My trilogy is on its way to being released. I guess I’m writing this because I want to give other people the advice that I wish someone had given me.

 

Just Go For It.

You’ll never know if you don’t try and isn’t it better to fail than always wonder, “What if?” It may even lead to some really great things, so stop worrying, stop procrastinating and simply start writing!

 

 

Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.

indie author

 

Samie Sands is a 28 year old freelance graphic designer who has recently decided to follow her lifelong dream and use her creativity in a new way by writing. She has a degree in Media Studies and PR, and has already had articles published in a number of e-zines, including one of the most popular pieces at Zombie Guide Magazine. She has also had short stories included in a number of successful projects. She lives in a small seaside town in the UK, but loves to travel to gain inspiration from new places and different cultures. To follow Samie’s work, please check out her website and her book Lockdown.

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