Carpinello's Writing Pages is back with writing tips from authors we've interviewed in January and February 2016. Please feel feel to leave your own advice in
the comments.
I guess I would try to demystify novel-writing as 10% inspiration and
90% perspiration. There are many good ideas for books, but authors are
people who develop ideas into books. Sure, I’ve heard the stories of
authors sitting down, starting to type, and hammering out their novels
from beginning to end (with a slap-dash pull of the last page from what
in my mind is the cartridge of a typewriter). But that’s uncommon, in my
opinion. I use many practical tools to maintain control over my
writing—outlining, charting, diagramming, deep questioning—and I revise,
revise, and revise, then revise some more—Marie C. Collins, author of A Brief Stay at Earth Human Camp
Keep writing. Keep networking. Make yourself
a real person. Enable people to get to know you. One thing I have
learned about being an author is it is so much more than just writing.
You must interact on social media. This is more than saying, “buy my
book.” It is a matter of letting people know what your interests are and
sharing about them. I don’t sell a book by saying, “buy my book”. I
sell books when I introduce myself, talk about my kids, and why I write.
Eventually, someone says, “what is your book about?” That is when I
sell a book—Kandi Wyatt, author of Dragon's Future
The main advice I have is don’t give up. From what I’ve read, it seems
like every author has a different process, but all seem to agree that
you need to keep writing, every day if possible. I’ve found it
incredibly helpful to set small writing goals and to track my first
draft word count. When I first started my goal was to write only 300
words a day. This was so small that it seemed ridiculously easy. Most
days I wrote over 700 words. That doesn’t sound like much, but it added
up very quickl—David Brough, author of Del Ryder and the Crystal Seed
Being an indie author is so much more than just writing the manuscript.
You need a great editor, formatter, and cover design person. Also, you
need to know how to market a book in a constantly evolving media world.
Surrounding yourself with people who have these tools is key—Tricia Copeland, author of Is this Me?
And now,
Welcome back to another month of terrific children's literature on the April 2017 Kid Lit Blog Hop.
On this Hop, Carpinello's Writing Pages interviews
So for our hop, please make sure that your posts are related to Children’s literature only and add it to the linky. (Please make sure to add your direct post only) If you are an author, feel free just to link to your blog. Once you are done, then hop around to visit others. Please follow the co-host and visit at least the one or two people above your link. Please leave a comment when you do visit, we all like those.
Also, it would be appreciated if you grab the Kid Lit Blog Hop Badge and display it on your blog and/or your post. Note: Make sure you have the newest badge as the old one goes to the wrong page.
We would also be grateful if you tweet and/or posted on Facebook about the blog hop. Let’s grow this wonderful community.
Thanks for sharing your great children's books with all of us! The hostess will be around to see you.
Happy Hopping!
