Category Archives: Senseless Ranting

Aside

Here is an interesting article on finding time to write by Sandra Madeira  My writing notebook I love the idea of seeing how many hours are in the day, and what time you have to write and when.  For some … Continue reading →

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Posted on October 2, 2011

What’s a good Beta Read?

Posted on September 30, 2011 | 14 comments

I just finished doing a 52 page beta read.  Yesterday, I talked to my BP, and told him I was about 25 pages into it, and had 40 or so comments.  He sounded a little upset by that.

I finished it today, with 82 comments, and a one page synopsis of my thoughts.  Afterwards, I was thinking about him sounding upset.  And it got me thinking…   Do I overdo it?

I know when I get a beta-read back of my own work, there is nothing more disappointing than only a few comments.  Especially if they are general and of no value.  I pour my heart into my beta reads, and really think over everything, and I comment on the good, as well as making suggestions if I don’t think something reads smoothly.  The better a novel is, the more comments I make… It just seems worth the effort.

(And let me tell you, this particular novel is worth the effort.  It has BEST SELLER stamped all over it.)

I’m wondering, though… is this too much?

If it were me, and I was about to submit to a publisher, I would want to know EVERY little hiccup in my story.  Fix my spacing, correct my punctuation, tell me my voice is off…  as well as the “Oh!  This is really  good” remarks.

I’m wondering though, is that what everyone wants?

What do you want in a beta read?

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Posted in Senseless Ranting

The Tooth Fairy

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 2 comments

I’d like to take a short breather from the writing world just to talk about something simple.

My eight year old lost his first tooth last night.  Big excitement in the Eaton household as the kids got ready for the arrival of the Tooth Fairy.  My husband went to bed early, and Mommy tucked the kids in, and stayed up late working on her computer, as usual.  No rest for the weary writer, or the mother of excited children.

I was thinking after I finally got to bed last night how good my husband has it, although I don’t think he looks at it that way.  He’s a work from home Dad, which is really really hard.  The great thing is though, that he gets to see the kids in the morning before they go to school.  I miss that.  Especially on mornings like this.

I wouldn’t get to talk to my son when he woke up, or see his excited face when he counted out his coins.   I would miss it, like I missed his first steps.

I did get a little bonus, though.  I stepped out of my room this morning ready to go to work, to find my son cuddled up asleep on the floor in the hallway outside his room.  His right hand was resting on a pile of coins.

I still don’t know why he woke in the middle of the night, or why he was in the hallway.  It bought a smile to my face though.

It’s the little things.   He wasn’t awake, but I got to see him, and I know he was excited.  Mommy really needed that.

Amendment:  Omigosh!  He lost another one at school today!  He looks so goofy!

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Posted in Motherhood, Senseless Ranting

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Sunset over Negril, Jamaica

Posted on September 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Sorry, I was just flipping through my vacation pictures and I just saw these.  I couldn’t resist.

Sometimes, reality needs no words to back up the emotion you feel when your eyes rest on it.

It’s astounding that there are places in the world that still have such untouched beauty.

I’ll get back to that manuscript soon, I promise.  For a little while, I just want to remember warm sand, blue skies, and crystal clear water.

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Posted in Motherhood, Senseless Ranting

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I’m back!

Posted on September 2, 2011 | 4 comments

Well, I’m back, but I wasted all night trying to figure out Facebook.

Dang it!  I’m a writer not a Marketing Expert!  I at least have a Facebook page now, but there’s not much there, yet.  I’ll build up on it later.

I’m also working on the copy and artwork for my WEB Site.  We’re moving forward!

I’m still chewing some info that I want to blog about.  I have a few posts almost ready and will have them up in a few days.

It’s good to be home!

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Reconnecting with What’s Really Important

Posted on August 21, 2011 | 1 comment

I am about to embark on a long needed vacation. It’s time to relax, and spend some time with my family.  I can’t wait to see the look on my children’s faces when the plane lifts off the ground, or when they see the sunrise from above the clouds for the first time in their lives.

I can’t wait to bring them somewhere where nature is the attraction, not the technology.  I am looking forward to teaching them about another country, another culture, and how people can be so happy when they have so little from our perspective, yet lead such full lives.

For me, it’s time to dig my toes into the sand, and show my children that there are places in the world where the beaches aren’t polluted, and you don’t have to swim between two poles, and there are no boardwalks or loud arcades to drown out the serenity of nature.

I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of my children (through snorkel masks) when a school of – fish swim right up to them, or when a crab the size of their arm walks across their path in the middle of the night, or when a peacock knocks on the back door asking for a snack.  I can’t wait for them to taste fruit that has been just picked off a tree, or drink from a coconut that was opened up just for them.

Most of all, I just want to get away from all there is to do in my life.  There is not enough time in our busy lives to enjoy each other, any Mommy working hard on getting published hasn’t helped that.  This next week is about re-bonding with my family.

Ire.  Ya Mon.  No Worries.  Jamaica, bring me back to what’s really important… my family.

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Posted in Motherhood, Senseless Ranting

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Free Professional Writing and Query Help from Real Agents!

Posted on August 16, 2011 | 1 comment

WriteOnCon 2011 starts today and goes through Thursday.  If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a really great place to get gads of information all in one place.  It’s great stuff presented by industry professionals that writers normally would have to know someone or have to jump through hoops to try to get.

Here is a link to this year’s offerings.  http://writeoncon.com/2011/08/gearing-up-for-writeoncon-2011-%E2%80%93-the-full-schedule/

There are question and answer sessions with agents, chances to submit your pitches, queries, and parts of your manuscripts for agents to look at and give feedback on.  (And if you are one of the lucky ones, they might ask you to submit something to them off-line)

There are also general topics of discussion.  I can’t wait to see the one on writing the perfect opening line.  I am so darn tired of writing my first page I can’t stand it!

What’s great about this, is if you are like me, and you can’t get off from work to participate in the live offerings during the day, the posts will still be there when you get home.  So, even if you are not participating, you can still learn from the agents that are on-line.  It’s a really great opportunity.

So, what are you still doing here reading this blog?  Get on over there and learn a few things from some agents and GOOD LUCK with your querying!

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Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting

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Happy Birthday to the World Wide Web!

Posted on August 8, 2011 | Comments Off on Happy Birthday to the World Wide Web!

Did you know that twenty years ago, August 6, 1991, the very first WEB page was published?  Back then, only a few people could view it, so no one really even knew it existed, but WOW has it totally changed the world as we know it!

I remember when I used to have a question in my head.  If it bothered me enough, I would go to the library.  Most of the time, my questions would just be left unanswered.  Now… I just Google it.  Life sure has changed.

Not everything that the WEB has made possible is necessarily good… There are things out there that I wish weren’t there.  Also, the convenience of it all has led to some bad things, like the fall of the record stores, and the dwindling bookstores.  I miss them.  Parts of progress, I guess, are not easy to swallow… although I do admit it is convenient to just buy your music or books on-line.  I do miss, though, walking in a mall and strolling through a little bookstore or a music store.  It’s just the experience of it… especially when I was a kid.

You know what else is interesting…  My kids have no idea what it would be like to live without the WEB.  Think about that.  It’s a little weird.

The WEB is part of our culture, now.  It brings us all together.  It’s why you are here, now, reading this.  It makes so much possible.  There have been a lot of inventions in our time.  This one is pretty cool, despite its shortcomings.

Happy Birthday World Wide Web!

(This is the article I read where I found out about the date)

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/world-wide-web-20-years/

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Yes! We will publish your novel… If…

Posted on July 30, 2011 | 4 comments

 You toil for years over your story.  It’s very intricate.  It’s brilliant

(I can say this because it’s not mine.  This just happened to a friend of mine Friday)

Your story is a three-part series. Every facet of book one is important to the next two novels, and they are all completely written (at least in draft form)

 You send it out, rejection here, rejection there, partial here, partial there, rejection, and then BAM!  A request for a Full Manuscript from an indie publisher.  The only chink is that they think it is too long, so you need to cut 25,000 words out of it before they will even consider you, and you only have two weeks to do it.  You toil and toil.  You edit till you drop.  Your beta partner reads madly right behind you watching for little plot chinks that don’t work.  Coffee if your friend.  Sleep is optional, but you do it.  You make your deadline.  (And I have to admit, the final draft minus the 25,000 words is AWESOME)

 You wait and wait, and after a few weeks, you get a response.  They are interested.  They just want you to change one little thing that they don’t like.  The problem is that one little thing is extremely important to the next two novels.  They said if she’s willing to change that, they’d read the revised version, and prepare to move forward.

 UGH!  I sat on the phone with her for an hour and a half trudging through how to make it work…  how to take this one facet out, or how to work around it.  A week ago, she was talking about how many of her friends changed their stories drastically just to get published.  Now here she is in the same boat.

 I’m wondering what I’d do.  Little changes everyone expects to make… but something drastic enough to affect your entire series? 

 Positive energy SHOOTING your way, Buddy!  I hope you make the right decision, whatever that is!

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Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting

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Technology is catching up to Science Fiction

Posted on July 25, 2011 | Comments Off on Technology is catching up to Science Fiction

Funny, when I started writing my novel a few years ago I came up with this neat little innovation…  these kids on my futuristic planet don’t carry books around to school, they have Datapads.  Imagine my surprise when the iPad became the “in thing” last year.  I just laughed it off.  It still fits in my story, and I don’t wave it around as an “innovation” but I found it amusing.

Today, on Circuitmart, there was an eight-minute video clip about “wearable robots”.  The military has contracted for a firm in the USA to create wearable exoskeletons that will be able to read the wearer’s intent, and increase their strength by twenty times.  Eventually, they speculate they may even be able to make people fly.  (They do other cool stuff, but I don’t want to bore you if you’re not into tech-stuff)

Now, my first reaction was: This is a bad idea… haven’t they read Science Fiction stories?  These things lead to no good!  One of the companies mentioned was even named Cyberdine.  (Very funny in a ‘spooky sort of way’ for all you Terminator fans out there)

Anyway, it made me think… for those of us who are Science Fiction authors, we need to really start reaching into the depths of our imagination as far as technology goes.  It was a lot easier to write in the 50’s when a simple computer was a dream someone had.  Now, all our dreams and wildest fantasies are becoming reality.

We are going to have to work harder to spark the interests of our readers.  Yes, you can say “go for the story… the story will drive them in!”  Well, yes, that’s a given, but in Sci-Fi, I think readers look for a little something “different”.

Story is always a given, but to make our worlds seem “futuristic” we are going to have to start working harder… and faster.  You might just come up with something cool, and someone will come up behind you and actually invent and market the darned thing before you even get published!

If you are into “tech stuff” you can watch the video about the robotic armor at the link below.

(Circuitsmart makes you watch a 30-second commercial, first, and the video will start afterwards)

http://www.circuitmart.com/mart/49531.shtml

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