Book365 – A retrospective

The end of another year and I have now completed my 365 day art project - ProjectBook365 (https://www.facebook.com/ProjectBook365)

Around about this time last year I was mulling over a mechanism by which I would make myself do something creative every day in 2013.   

I needed a theme, and as I was writing the last few chapters of a novel, ‘books’ seemed to make sense.

Part of taking on a project like this is that you need to share it with others, if you don’t, there is no accountability, except to yourself, and that’s not enough to stay motivated.  I started a Facebook page for the project and it’s amazing how encouraging it is getting likes and comments on your work, it kept me going. Here are a couple of my favourite days:

Day 228 - I call this one 'Cultivating Innuendo' It's amazing the suggestive phrases found in a book on garden machinery!

I also reached a couple of milestones in the year:

• Day 330 - Finished NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org)

But the most exciting of all was finally realising my dream of seeing my first novel in print

• Day 197 - I am a Published Author! The Bronze Box is now available in paperback from Amazon: http://amzn.to/132zwk3

•  I also started writing my next book - Solomon's Secrets (http://bit.ly/1avRoUv)

My house and garden have bunting draped all over the place

Day 230 - Outdoor bunting made from a book on caring for roses

I have little piles of homemade books dotted everywhere - there's never a shortage of note paper in our house!

 

Day 82 - Notebook

 

The problem with doing something like this, however, is not so much finding the energy to do it, but spending the last few days wondering what project I’m going to do next year.

I’ve been giving it some thought – here were some of my ideas:

• 'A Book in a Week’

I keep saying I should read more and I never allow myself the time.  It’s also a bit of a challenge, read a book every week.  However, realistically, I decided that I would have to sacrifice too many other activities to do this as I’m quite a slow reader

•  ‘A Fiver a Week’

I had this idea about having a fiver every week and in that week I have to convert that fiver into more money by doing something entrepreneurial.  I decided that this didn’t inspire me enough and would involve a lot of energy and time 

•  ‘From idea to publication – a novel in a year’

I’ve already started my next novel so this was a bit of a cheat

But I have since made a decision about what my next project will be.

If writing is something I am serious about, and one day I’d like to make a living from it, I need to put more energy into it – So my 365 project for 2014 will be:

Operation Author: 

A daily commitment to succeed as a writer with 365 actions

Wish me luck and watch this space…

A NaNo Hangover - 20 Editing Tips

It's been 8 days since I became a NaNoWriMo winner.  

I competed the challenge of writing 50,000 words of a novel in a month (nanowrimo.org)  

Yeah me...I think...why doesn't it feel like I've succeeded at something?

Ever since I've had writers hangover

I look back at what I've written and see 200 pages of editing and re-writing and the further 40,000 words I still need to write to complete the book

To get myself motivated I've set up Pinterest boards that I have open on one of my screens while I write

I have a couple related to the book, 'Solomon's Secrets', but I also have one that's just writing tips and help for writers:  http://www.pinterest.com/amymorse184/writing/

A month of free-flow writing has left me with so much editing to do that I've been gathering tips.

Here's my Top 20 Tips for Editing Your Work:

1. Delete the unnecessary adverbs
2. Is at least 50% of the book Dialogue?
3. Lose 10% - be ruthless
4. Are all the characters necessary?
5. Reduce the adjectives
6. Show don't tell
7. Multi-sensory; does the scene appeal to all the senses?
8.  Have you kept points of view consistent?
9. Cut up long sentences
10. Are there any holes in the plot?
11. Are the characters believable?
12. Does each character have a distinctive voice?
13. Have you done your research?
14. Is there enough conflict?
15. Check spelling - using more than just the spell checker
16. Get at least two other people to read through and edit your work
17. Are sentences logical?  too many 'as', 'and' & 'thens' can have characters doing everything at once
18. Less is more - cut unnecessary words from sentences
19. Read it out loud, anything that doesn't flow will jar and be immediately obvious
20. Always use 'said' as a conversation tag

A couple  of strong coffees and some carbs and hopefully I can cure this hangover and get back to writing

 

Procrastination is infectious

The first of November was the start of the 14th annual Nation Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo (http://nanowrimo.org).  What started with 21 people in the San Francisco Bay area challenging each other to write 50,000 words, the skeleton of a novel, in a month, has become a global phenomenon.   In 2010 200,000 people registered on the website and joined the community.  This year, it's 277,000 budding writers and counting. 

I'm one of them.

My blog is all about the power of ideas and this movement in many way epitomizes that.

It starts with a dare, a challenge, a comment, a spark.  

It takes hold, and in our globally interconnected world, infects people with a sudden, uncontrollably contagious strain of creativity.

A comment like; 

"I've always wanted to write a book."

Whenever I tell people I'm a writer and write books, if I had a pound for everyone who said that, I'd make more money than I ever would selling books!

But why do so many of us dream of writing?

The short answer is because we can. 

There's a long answer, but that would involve an academic study on what drives us to be creative and what motivates us.

And why do we need a website to get us going?

The simple answer is because we need to belong.  

We need to feel like we're part of something bigger than ourselves. Pack mentality, safety in numbers, whatever you want to call it.  Being around others, even in a virtual sphere, encourages us.  We are fundamentally social creatures.

What stops us just getting on with it?  If so many of us would like to write a book, why don’t we?

Motivation.  Confidence. Fear.  Time. Commitments. Responsibilities. Laziness.  etc etc. 

We will always find something else to do...Procrastination.

Procrastination is an affliction that affects 70% of us.  I'm probably doing it right now as I type this instead of actually working on my NaNoWriMo - I do appreciate the irony of that!

But there is a greater irony in the NaNo website itself.

Take a quick glance and there are forums, discussion boards, questions, articles, tips, advice, support, merchandise - it's endless.  Pages and pages of procrastination!

Perhaps this is another way for me to procrastinate - but to keep me inspired and the organise my web research for my NaNoWriMo project, I've started a Pinterest page:

http://www.pinterest.com/amymorse184/nanowrimo-inspirations-solomons-secrets/

Be part of the community, feel supported - yes.  But the most important thing is just to do it.  To write.  Write.  Write, and keep writing.  That's what writers do. 

Speaking of which....I have a novel to write...

Random Acts of Marketing

Noise

There is so much noise.  Everywhere.  We are bombarded with it.  

...emails, tweets, texts, follows, likes, pins, pokes, junk mail, adverts, 

popups, banners, blogs, spam...

Argh!

How can you possibly be heard in all this noise?

You can't.  At least, not by everyone.  The best you can do is to get noticed by those in your immediate vicinity.

Here are my Top 7 Tips to get noticed in the crowd and be heard above the din:

1 - Be interesting

2 - Be informative

3 - Be quirky

4 - Be different
 
5 - Give something back

6 - Everyone loves a freebie

7 - Listen and respond

There are some scary stats out there.  

My book is The Bronze Box (http://amzn.to/19MWQkh) and it is just one of millions of new titles being published... 17 books are published every minute of every day in the US alone!

Even as I write this, I am acutely aware that there are millions of other blog posts being published all over the world and this one will disappear into a melee of information.

But marketing doesn't have to be boring or uninspiring.  
Use it as an excuse to be creative.

In an attempt to be noticed, I'm engaged in some random acts of marketing. 

I'm making little boxes (number 3 & 4).  
Inside my boxes are a sweet (number 6) and information about the book (numbers 1 & 2).  

But whenever you are sending out a message the only way that you know it has been received is to get some feedback.

So inside the boxes I am also including a note asking people to tweet me (@TomCatDesigns) if they find the box and tell me where they found it.  

This is useful as I'll know where people are finding out about me, plus it's fun and an excuse to engage in a conversation with a potential customer/fan (number 7).

Now all I need to do is use some guerrilla tactics and release my little boxes into the world.

 
 

The Pinterest Rabbit Hole - A lost weekend and a head full of inspiration

Something both terrible and magical happened to me this week.  

I discovered Pinterest  

Here I am: http://www.pinterest.com/amymorse184/boards

It all started with a bit of fun - looking at fantasy homes and swimming pools, and now it's getting serious - 19 boards and counting...

A lost weekend and a head full of inspiration is the net result.

I'm trying to control my Pinterest habit, but even as I write this, to paste in the link I had to login and then I had to twitch the curtains and 'pin' a few more lovely things.

Here are 5 tips, as a Pinterest novice, to make it work for you and prevent it from becoming a procrastination tool:

1 - Think carefully about how to title your boards.  Categorise your pins in an intuitive way so that you can find things again

2 - Download a widget for your toolbar, so that whenever you are browsing you can quickly capture and pin things 



3 -  It's a great research tool - If you are conducting some research for a project (IE: writing a book) set up a board for the project and pin all the links you browse so they are easy to find and reference in the future

4 - Pin regularly if you want people to find your pins, re-pin you and follow you

5 - Why reinvent the wheel.  This fabulous person has a board to follow on Pinterest Tips
(http://www.pinterest.com/kanter/pinterest-tips-and-tricks/)

Finally, it seems fitting to post a re-worked book art piece I did for my Project Book 365 (https://www.facebook.com/ProjectBook365) from Alice in Wonderland

Happy Pinning!