The 2016 Writing to be Read

Well, it’s a new year and time for new beginnings. I know I promised you a new Writing to be Read was coming your way and I haven’t forgotten. No, indeed. But I gave up on re-designing the site myself. I’ve always been technically challenged and the digital world is no different for me, so I’ve recruited someone who knows more about it than I do, and I think she’s done a great job so far. I hope you agree.

My mystery tech is not really a mystery though. She’s my Western State cohort, a talented writer and skilled editor, Robin Conley, and she’s going to guest blog here as well as provide a few regular features, and perhaps share some reviews with Writing to be Read readers. Robin is an amazing woman who took the 365 challenge and wrote a flash fiction piece every day for a year. She is an alpha reader for much of my work and her suggestions do nothing but improve my stories. For that reason, one of the regular features she will offer is Weekly Writing Memo, offering tips on different writing issues that come up during the week. Robin also has her own blog, Author the World, and you can follow the link here, or in the blogroll, to check it out.

I want to thank those of you who have stuck in there, even when this blog seemed to be stagnant. 2016 promises to bring big changes for me, because I’m determined to make those changes happen, and I’ve already started the ball rolling.

I’ve stepped down from being the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner on Examiner.com. While I enjoyed the role, the pay per click column didn’t produce enough to justify the time it took away from paying gigs and my schooling. But because I did enjoy the role, I’ve decided to carry it over here, with book reviews, author profiles and coverage of Colorado literary events. In other words, I will provide the same great content I did as an Examiner, but I will do it here, with some added improvements to pep things up. For example, some of you may be familiar with my red quill logo. The reviews will now have a rating system, but we’re going to dispose of those boring little stars. Reviews on Writing to be Read will each receive from one to five quills. Also, I plan to make the posts here more personable and share what’s happening in my writing world.

For starters, I want to fill you in on what I’ve been up to, and you’ll see why I wasn’t finding time to pop in here, although I should have been. None of this is meant to excuse my absence, just explain it. As my regular followers know, I got my MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in genre fiction last summer, and this year I am seeking a second emphasis in screenwriting. The time is now approaching when I will need to make all that education pay off, so I can pay off all my student loans.

So, I have been busy revising and polishing a lot of the stories I’ve already written, and submitting them like crazy. One member of my writing group referred to me as a “submission machine”. I’ve got my children’s stories out there, as well as several shorts and a couple of flash fiction stories, and I’ve even dug out some of my better poetry and submitted to anthologies. In fact, I recently had one of my poems accepted to be included in the Manifest West Anthology, so I’m thinking that’s pretty cool. And of course, I’m on the lookout for a publisher for my thesis novel, The Great Primordial Battle, the first book in my epic science fantasy series, Playground for the Gods. And, my western novel, Delilah, is in the final stages of revision, so I will have it out there soon, too.

I also self-published a short science fiction story, Last Call, about time travel and new beginnings. It’s kind of an experiment, or maybe a learning experience is a better term. So far it’s taught me that I suck at marketing. But now, at least I know what skills I need to work on. It’s available on Amazon for .99. You can follow the link at the bottom of the page to get there if you’d like. On the positive side, it’s gotten two reviews which have given it a four star rating, so that’s a good thing, right?

So, with all that said, I’m going to turn the next post over to Robin and I hope you all will give her a warm welcome with lots of comments. Remember 2016 is going to be a great year for Writing to be Read, so don’t miss it. If you’re not already a subscriber, just click the “subscribe by email” button on the top right to get notifications of the latest posts. I’ll be glad to add you to the subscribers list. And if you enjoyed this post, or you are excited about the 2016 Writing to be Read, leave a comment and share how 2016 is going to be great for you!

The “5820 Diaries”, by Chris Tucker brings the undead to Colorado

The 5820 Diaries, by Chris Tucker, start out with classic zombie horror. In volume 1, One Shot One Kill, Payden Browning is just a young guy on a date with his girl when the streets of Denver are suddenly invaded by zombies. One minute he and Katie are enjoying a zombie crawl on Larimer Street, and the next, real zombies start taking chunks out of the participants, turning fake zombies and spectators into real zombies, as well.

In volume 2, Sanity’s Edge, a few short weeks after the zombie invasion, it seems world has been transformed into a barren landscape of walking dead. Payden Browning takes up with another survivor, looking for his daughter, but before they can find her, his new friend is bitten and… well… You know this can’t end well, right?

In volume 3, Flood of Souls, the zombies take on a new twist – speed, creating a bit more of a challenge than the slow-moving flesh eaters pose. There’s a new threat around every corner. Just trying to survive, himself, Payden Browning seems to have a knack for taking on responsibilities he didn’t ask for and forming attachments that force him to make some very difficult choices.

The post-zombie world is hard and cruel, changing survivors in unexpected ways and zombies aren’t the only threat to survival. Payden Browning learns this lesson first-hand in Volume 4, Infected, when he considers joining forces with a group of survivors that have taken refuge in a huge Costco warehouse. He finds himself once again taking responsibilities that he didn’t ask for, but can’t seem to walk away from, when he realizes all is not as it seems within the group. Payden believes that all hope for a return to something akin to normalcy is too much to hope for in this zombie infested world is beyond hope, until he meets a woman in the group who makes him believe that anything is possible.

Each volume of the 5280 Diaries tells a small piece of the story. Tucker threads the tale in each volume within the bigger story chronologically, weaving a tale that captivates readers and should thrill Colorado zombie fans. By locating his zombie-fest in Denver, he creates a world easily visualized, building a post-zombie world on familiar territory to many Coloradans.

In addition to the 5280 Diaries, Chris Tucker is the author of a fast-paced action novel, Lost Voyage. I look forward to watching this new author evolve as develops his skills more with each story that springs forth from his creative imagination.

A new “Writing to be Read” is coming

My latest graduate class through Western State Colorado University dealt with the business end of writing. You know, agents, editors, contracts and, due to a plethora of changes in the publishing industry, brought on by the rapid rise of digital media and the resulting increase in the popularity of the self-publishing realm, marketing. Writing is a business and you must treat it as one, whether you opt to go for a traditional publisher or to self-publish, or to go with some type of hybrid publishing house, (and they’re out there).

The rise in self-published authors, who do all of their own marketing, (and get to maintain copyright and control of title and cover, as well as content. All while claiming a bigger percentage in royalties than traditional publishing offers and requiring less time lapse before publication), has triggered a trend with traditional publishers to utilize the marketing power of their authors, as well. So regardless of which method of having their work published writers choose, they’re going to need to understand marketing strategies and techniques in order to sell their work.

Writers must have a way for readers to find them, and in the digital world we live in today, that means they need a strong writer’s platform, or following. To get that a writer needs a blog or website where that following can grow and a strong social media presence, because that is where you gain fans or readers.

What all this means, is that it is time for Writing to be Read to get a makeover. So for a while, if you pop in here, there won’t be much happening. If you’re a subscriber already, you will receive an e-mail notification when my next post comes up, and that will be the first post for the renewed Writing to be Read site. If you aren’t subscribed, I hope you will do so in anticipation of what’s to come on the renewed site. There are several promises in store.

The renewed Writing to be Read will still feature book reviews and author profiles from time to time, but it will also feature blog posts which update readers as how the tides are flowing in my writing processes as I revise two very different novels, (one western – Delilah, and one epic science fantasy – Playground for the Gods), and maintain my freelance career simultaneously. I’ll share with readers my trials and obstacles, as well as tidbits I learn along the way. So I hope you’ll join me in my writing journeys and benefit from whatever you find useful. Please be patient, knowing that I will be posting again soon and the renewed site is going to be great. Good things will come to those who wait. I won’t keep you waiting too much longer. Thank you for hanging in there with me, and my apologies for any inconvenience.

Copyright Infringement: A Warning to all Authors

3 editing types.

Kaye Lynne Booth on Scholars and Rogues. Nice. 🙂 Hope you’ll all check it out.

Today Editing is More Important than Ever

In today’s writing market, just about anyone can become a published author, if they are willing to pay the price. This is a double-edged sword, because although authors are no longer forced to be faced with countless rejections before finally receiving that long awaited acceptance by a publisher, but it also means that you don’t have to actually write well to be published. While I have reviewed many independently published books that are, indeed quality works of literature, I have also reviewed several that have appeared as if the author either hasn’t bothered with the editing process at all, or tried to do the editing themselves and didn’t have the proper skills to do it properly. Nothing ruins a good story as quickly as having to muddle through a poorly written work that is full of grammar and punctuation errors.
Don’t misunderstand me. There are many talented authors out there that publish independently, such as Chris Keys and Tim Baker, whose books I have reviewed here. I did a profile of Tim Baker in my post “Author Tim Baker recommends publishing independently“, because I feel that his books are examples of quality writing. Tim emphasizes the amount of work involved when publishing independently, due to the fact that you do not have the vast resources of a publishing powerhouse at your fingertips. When you choose to publish independently, the preparation for publication, as well as the marketing is all up to the author.
While traditional publishing houses provide editors to help writers make their work the absolute best that it can be, independent authors must spend more of their hard earned money, over and above the publishing costs, to have their work edited. In his article, “The Three Types of Editing: Which Does Your Manuscript Need?”, Yahoo contributor Steve Thompson gives a good definition of the differences between the three types of editing that one might require when preparing a manuscript for publication: basic editing, which is giving the manuscript a proofread, or run through to check for spelling grammar and punctuation errors; line editing, which goes more in depth to check plot structure, syntax, character development and factual errors; and substantive editing, which goes beyond that and involves reworking major pieces of the manuscript . Most editing services offer all of these types of editing for various prices, including my own, Write It Right Editing Services, found at Kaye’s Literary Corner.
If you are trying to get picked up by traditional publishers, you may have feedback from previous rejections to clue you in to what type of editing your manuscript requires, but if you plan to publish independently, it is up to you to determine what type of editing your manuscript needs. Even if you are a proficient speller and have a working knowledge of grammar and punctuation, I caution you against doing even basic editing, which is basically proofreading yourself for one simple reason. An author knows what a sentence or paragraph was meant to say and often, when rereading the work, will see what was meant instead of what is actually there, therefore missing many mistakes that someone else might pick up on. Independent authors owe it to their readers to make their manuscripts the best that they can be. They owe it to themselves, as well, for a book that has been published without the proper preparation shows, and will end up being a book that doesn’t sell. If you are going to spend the money to publish independently, it just makes sense to go the extra mile and have your manuscript professionally edited, so you have a chance of making your investment back on book profits.