Category Archives: Writing Tips and Quips

Apr7

Publishing (A First-Timer’s View) in 19 Easy-ish Steps (LOL)

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Publishing (A First-Timer’s View) in 19 Easy-ish Steps (LOL)

As my faithful readers know, my forthcoming novel, A Bent Tree Path, is taking a long time (understatement of the century) to prepare! It’s with beta readers now, and I recently finished the cover (stay tuned). So, just to delay things a bit more, I decided to take a side trip. I created a guided journal for inner healing, partly because it will be a great accompaniment to the novel–which is sure to stir up all your deep-seated emotions and make you want to not only cry but also get healing for yourself–and partly to gain experience publishing on Amazon KDP with a smaller piece. Here’s a brief view of how things went the last few weeks:

  1. I opened an account at Canva.com
  2. I created the document pages, playing with Canva’s cool text boxes, graphics and such. Fun!
  3. I downloaded the document as a pdf with bleed and flattening
  4. I opened a free account with Amazon KDP, navigated to Bookshelf and clicked Create.
  5. Once I read through options and uploaded the book pdf file, I received their template for dimensions and layout of the cover.
  6. I went back to canva.com and created the book cover design by uploading the KDP template, placing pictures (used the free resize option found in my existing software to increase pixels!) and text in the right places, and then deleting the template from the design.
  7. I downloaded the cover, saving it in as a pdf with bleed and flattening.
  8. Once uploading this to KDP, they generate a preview. I waited, filed my nails, got a drink of water. . .
  9. Voila! It showed up. I previewed it, making sure everything lined up within the margins. Yup.
  10. I ordered a proof copy and waited some more. This was excrutiating; like 5 days.
  11. I excitedly opened the box (see video of this momentous occasion in my last post)
  12. Then I went back to step one and made corrections, repeating the process until I was happy enough to “SUBMIT”
  13. Then I waited again.
  14. Oops, KDP said 36 hours later, your journal is a low-content book, not a mid-content book, because it has lines for the reader to fill in.
  15. “No!” I said in an email reply. “I put a lot of effort into the content! I didn’t just post lined paper. This is good stuff! Life-changing stuff! Did you read it or just let a computer decide?” (Okay, I didn’t exactly say it like that)
  16. Then, realizing it was a NO REPLY sort of email, I swallowed my pride and went back to step 6, choosing “low-content book” instead, which meant adding my own ISBN and barcode (which is available at bowkers.com) to the right spot on the back cover, downloaded the new cover, and resubmitted it on KDP.
  17. Again, waiting. It is in draft form, waiting for approval by Amazon machines/people–who knows?
  18. I checked it three, maybe four times a day, and decided to blog this little ditty while I wait (yes, I am still waiting as I write)
  19. And of course I’m researching more on marketing, author page, and other fun options Amazon offers and checking out beta readers at Scribophile.com

I’ll post again as soon as that book, My Road to Recovery, A 12-Week Guided Journal for Inner Healing, is approved! And I assure you, even though there are lines to fill in, because what good journal doesn’t have lines to fill in, it is not low-content. It is content that I’ve lived. It is content I’ve practiced with others. It is content that is therapist-approved. It is easy to read, and, unlike many other how-to books, it doesn’t repeat itself every other page. Those books, you know, the ones that tell you the same thing over and over again, and by the time you’re half-way through, you realize there’s no point in finishing it because you got the point on the first page? Yeah, those should be low-content books. This one is concise, reader-friendly, and oh-so helpful for anyone who is hurting inside and doesn’t quite know why. Or for anyone who knows why, like the #metoo experience, but doesn’t quite know how to work through all the pain. Because recovery isn’t just about knee surgery and addiction. Recovery is about getting back what someone else took or damaged. And that, my friends, is entirely possible. Especially if you have the Power of Love in your life, and especially if you get, and read and journal through, this book. (Sorry, had to get the plug in).

By the way, if you’d like to be a beta reader for parts of The Bent Tree Path, either comment on this post or email me. I’ll do swap beta reading for you too. I’m at jtwHeart2Heart@yahoo.com. Please don’t spam me. It will only annoy me and detract from my precious time creating books for the world. I won’t send money for your dear Aunt Sally or help you transfer your billions of dollars from India. I won’t even click to see why you sent me that video you think has me in it. Sorry not sorry.

With all my heart!

Joan T. Warren

P.S. My publishing company is getting a website, too. It’s not finished as of today, but will soon be another way we’ll share health with the world. It’s called A Book to Grow On, LLC. Let me know if you find it in WordPress!

Jul8

Blue-pencil Time

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Blue-pencil Time

So many of us here, who follow each other’s blogs, are writers who want to publish. Others are writers who just want a place to express, create, share and sometimes just vent.

I’m both. I’ve enjoyed times here when I’ve been very active on WordPress. I’ve taken breaks and focused more on other things, including personal writing. Around 2010, a concept for a novel twinkled my eye. I set out on the journey, and the journey took so many more years than anticipated. But folks, it’s almost ready!

With only a couple of chapters left of the first draft, this thing is a monster! If I were to format it for your basic paperback, it would be nearly a thousand pages. That’s too big! Who wants to read a book that thick? I usually won’t. So, soon I’ll approach blue-pencil time. Time to edit. Cut. Rearrange. Re-phrase. Clean it up.

I’m turning to you, my fellow bloggers and readers. How have you managed parting with your treasured paragraphs? How have you ensured your books are concise and on point, while also richly laced with delights for the senses? Have you paid beta-readers? Have you paid editors? Do you have family who can be that honest with you about what needs to change? How soon before publishing did you start your pre-release marketing strategies?

Please tell me your experiences rather than your advice. That’s what I’m after. Thanks for following, and thanks for sharing your comments and experiences!

Typing away,

Joan T. Warren

May13

Developing a Mission Statement for Fiction Novel

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You can help me decide! Here are a few shorter sentences that I’m developing to help guide revision of the upcoming novel, The Bent Tree Path. Here’s your chance to weigh in! Add, subtract, edit, suggest, negate. . . be involved.

A mission statement for a fiction novel helps the self-editing process. It serves as a filter to revise each scene and chapter: if they don’t significantly support the mission, they don’t belong.

The original mission statement draft, shared last week, was nearly the size of one of Ernest Hemingway’s paragraphs! Now it’s time to simplify. Which of these do you like the best?

  1. Interplay stories of ancestral history with modern life to highlight the importance of, and a pathway toward, healthy relationships with God, self, others, and the earth.
  2. Reveal the secrets of generations of women who grew stronger as they overcame oppression and abuse.
  3. Create a path for future generations to find their way through challenges.
  4. Show how generations effect one another; each personal choice bearing on future generations.

I’d love to hear from you!

Joan T. Warren

May6

Writing Through COVID-19

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Hello Faithful Readers!

First, my apologies for leaving you so long! Writing is a hobby for me, and sometimes I fall into placing my beloved hobbies last on my list of things to do!

In the last couple months, though, I’ve been writing a lot more. The COVID-19 scare and distancing orders at first gave me LESS time to write (can you say homeschooling?), but then MORE. Fear of early demise reconnected me to the importance of prioritizing that which is most precious to me. Faith leads me to keep that up even though that fear subsides.

As a result, I’ve been tap-tap-tapping away on the novel I started nearly ten years ago! It’s epic, folks. So far nearly 150,000 words! Which, of course, will get whittled away in the editing process. That’s how I write. I overdo, then slice and dice. I’m in editing mode now, for most of the novel. There are a few chapters yet to write.

An awesome self-editing course I took from Mary Kole set me to creating this novel’s mission statement. A mission statement helps the writer stay on course. Each scene is re-read through the lens of that statement. If it doesn’t support the statement, it either needs to be reworked or sent to the chopping block. The mission statement can also lead into log lines, which help attract you, the readers, to be interested in the book.

So here, I entreat your help! Please take a look at the mission statement and tell me what you think. Does it interest you, bore you? Is it too long, or too wordy, or too whatever? Do tell! It’s better to fix it now than spend another day on something that isn’t worth it.

Here it is:

“Through stories from three centuries, The Bent Tree Path follows ordinary women who overcome oppression, abuse and despair and pave the way for future generations to connect with their rich ancestral heritage, their earthly and spiritual interactions, and their personal and relational health.”

So comment away, no worries about offending me. I can only see through my own eyes unless you share your perspective.

Thanks!

-Joan

 

 

Oct27

How to Write With a Whip

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Ever get caught up in frustration that there’s just not enough time to write?

Between working full time, homemaking, investigating information we need to write, and a few other significant endeavors, like parenting, many aspiring writers feel they’ve been “tied to the whipping post!”

 

(Here you may imagine I inserted a video of the Allman Brothes playing the song, “Whipping Post.” Or, you can go to You Tube yourself, leaving me no copyright issues.)

Tired of feeling whipped? Let’s take that WHIP in hand, turn it around, and get cracking!

First, let’s clearly identify the factors that WHIP us, ie., detract from our writing time:

W is for working! While some writers are fully financed by someone or something, most of us have to work full-time to keep that ever-so-important roof over our heads and food in our bellies! Read the rest of this entry →