"That's Definitely A Big Mistake!"

Nothing bothers me more than to be reading a story, and to find a misspelled word, poor grammar or improper punctuation. It has been a pet peeve of mine, since I was a youngster, to find documents that have mistakes in them. If I was the one that had made a silly mistake, then you had better stay out of my way, because I would be so angry with myself for being careless that I would be grumpy for days!

To this day, I am still pretty hard on myself, but I am not sure that it is altogether such a bad trait. Lack of self-editing by authors who send their work in for consideration for publication is one of the main reasons that manuscripts are rejected. If an editor prepares to read a story, only to find that the story is riddled with errors, he will reject it immediately, a good story or not; it will be an irritation to him/her to read the story in unpublishable condition.

Certainly, you can understand that to an editor, if words are misspelled, that alone would indicate sloppiness on the part of the author in the preparation of the manuscript. It might also indicate that the author is someone that has a poor work ethic, therefore making him/her undesirable to work with. My advice is: present yourself in the best light possible, and if you want your book published, you had better be willing to go that extra mile and correct any mistakes that you possibly can.

If editing is not your forte, you could always hire someone to do it for you. If I were you, I would take the time to learn at least the basics, because, in my opinion, knowing proper grammar does help you to write better.

There are several courses to choose from, but I would suggest starting with the one that I am familiar with. Rob Parnell and Robyn Opie have teamed together to offer a course entitled "How to Edit for Success." It is a well-rounded course that offers such things as:

• Introduction to Manuscript Editing



• The Basics - Tips and Strategies to Ensure Your Success



• Editing for Story, Content & Rewriting



• Editing for Impact: Clarity, Sense, Logic and Transparency



• Editing for Submission & Publication



• Three SECRET BONUS ITEMS

Plus, if you want to learn to the best of your ability, you can also be mentored throughout the entire course! (*Note: Mentorship includes thorough feedback on your exercises, one on one guidance and individual help with editing your MSS.) If I were you, I think I would check out the "How to Edit for Success" course right away!

By the way, did you notice my new "favicon" that's located on the tab up above, next to my blog name? It looks like a capital letter "H" in a box, which stands for the "H" in my last name, Hammond, just like the one that is here on the right:

Until next time... stay safe, stay well and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"Sometimes Things Get A Little Hairy!"

In medieval stories, romance novels, stories about Kings and their kingdoms, horses always play an important role. They are romantic figures, due to the fact that they almost always play a major part in the rescue of the heroine of the story, or they lead the King off to battle or home from victory and sometimes even defeat.

How would you feel if your horse appeared to look a little more like one of us? What if he had a head full of long, luxurious, locks and thick bangs instead of a mane and forelock? You'd have thought I went off the deep end if you hadn't see these astounding photos, am I right?




************************************These portraits were taken by the famous Australian photographer, Julian Wolkenstein . It took an entire day to all three horses, which included four hours of "hair and makeup" for each horse, of all things. Julian said he just took his time and made sure that everyone involved had fun; it was all on his own time, so the money didn't matter and he wanted it done right while at the same time he wanted it to be a special memory for all.

It may sound like punishment for these horses, but it wasn't. I owned a show horse a few years back, and when we took her to the shows, she would have to stand in the cross-ties for hours while we braided her mane and tail, painted her hooves and all the other little grooming tricks that you do for the shows. I loved every minute of it, and believe me...so did she!

Here is a video of Julian Wolkenstein on the "Today Show" with Meredith Viera:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is probably the new wave of the future in horse competitions somewhere. I'm sure we'll see a horse or two that looks like this in someone's book...maybe even mine!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"The Dreaded Writer's Block!"

Let's say you're a writer that likes the basics, and you either have a sheet all ready in your typewriter, or a notebook full of paper, and it's blank and pristine; plus you have your sharpened pencils lined up; your favorite pen with two refills is by your side; and you have plenty of delete-o or white-out at the ready. You must have brought in five different beverages so you wouldn't have to get up and fix yourself something once you started writing; and you have snacks and a sandwich ready; yet still...that big, blank page is staring right back at you. Your forehead is starting to get moist, your heartbeat is accelerating, and you've noticed now that you've even started wringing your hands. This couldn't be happening to you, could it? Yes, it could. It happens to the best of us. What you have is a problem that is commonly referred to as the dreaded "writer's block!"

So what should you do? There are several tips to choose from, but let me list just three, and see if they appreal to you:

1.) Whip the paper out from your typewriter or the notebook, and just use a new piece.
2.) Scream at the top of your lungs, and pray that someone comes to your rescue.
3.) Simply give up! Your family and friends told you that you'd never make it as a writer anyway, so obviously they were correct.

Hmmm...actually, number one has some merit, especially if you change the color of the paper, but the others are ridiculous--unless you're looking for an excuse to get out writing anyway.

Let me tell you a secret: writer's block is not fatal. There are so many simple tips and tricks that writers keep coming up with, and they think of more all the time. There has to be at least one that will help you out of this predicament. Let's list a few and see what your favorites are:

• Take a walk - Change your scenery, get some fresh air, and stop thinking about writing. Take 10 minutes and hunt for squirrels or something silly!


• Take a shower; change clothes - Get a fresh, clean start.


• Stop blaming yourself - Getting writer's block is nothing unusual, and once you have conquered it, it won't be so scary the next time around, if there is a next time. It's no one's fault; it could come as a result of stress because you feel you don't have enough time to complete an assignment, you don't understand your task, or the topic may just bore you to tears!


• Give up and give in - Resign yourself to the fact that you have to write this assignment, maybe because it could mean the difference of whether you get promoted or not, but it's an important assignment nonetheless. Consult your boss, teacher or whomever has given you the task and find out exactly what is expected of you, then commit to doing the best job you can, with a good attitude.


• Talk to an animal (stuffed or otherwise) - You'd be surprised how receptive a stuffed friend is to your ideas. Furthermore, real dogs and cats are usually pretty good listeners, too. I've shared many a problem with my furry friends throughout the years, so why not work out this problem with one of yours? To the right is my cat, Momma Kitty, and she's the mother of all the feral cats that hang out around our home. Someone dropped her off out here about eleven years ago, and it took a long time to gain her trust enough so we could at least feed her and her little ones. We even find homes for the "tinies." (that's another story that I'll share with you some day--it's really good!), and now we are very close to Momma. Dion (my husband) and I are about the only ones that can get near her, but that's ok for now. I love her more than you can imagine, and she even rescued me from a snake, but that's another story, too. She's the one that I "talk" to about my stories, work out my plot twists with, get ideas from (hahaha), and generally confide in. She's my best (animal) friend, and I adore her! Back to the article...


• Listen to new music - Try some new music that is instrumental, so that your mind doesn't have to compete with the lyrics, then set it on repeat and start writing. The music will help you to relax so that your creativity can flow.


• Stretch - You are probably so tensed up that you aren't able to relax. Start by stretching as many muscle groups as you can, while you are still sitting. Then try relaxing each group afterwards. Take a deep, cleansing breath and fill your lungs to capacity and beyond, then hold it until you aren't able to any longer, and exhale until you think you have exhaled everything inside of you. After that, fill your lungs with fresh, clean air again, and you'll be amazed at how revitalized and refreshed you feel.


• Write a bunch of junk - Write a funny story about you and your husband "for your eyes only" or a spoof on something that you've always been wanting to write, but be sure to finish it.


• Find a new spot to work - Remember when you've stayed at the lake or you slept upside down on your bed, and you've always slept better than you've slept in months? Relocating and finding a new spot to write works the same way. It will make you feel like you've gone to a writer's retreat, plus it's guaranteed to spark something inside you, and you'll feel like you've been given a fresh start.


• Try word association - Write out five completely random words. Then write five more words. Study the words and see if any of them associate with each other or you can make a sentence out of them. If that starts you going, then you're writer's block has ended. How cool is that?!


• Write a different section of your story - If you developed writer's block while working on the beginning of your story, try working on the middle. If you were at the middle when you got stuck, why don't you try working on the end? If the end of the story made you draw a blank, then do some editing or work on your title or a cover email--anything other than the part that you would have been working on.


• Do a single chore - Try doing a household chore (nothing overly physical--just something that gets you in touch with your physical side), such as sweeping the floor or cleaning out the refrigerator.


• Make yourself adhere to a senseless rule - Making a pointless rule that you have to think about and stick to within your writing, such as: no eight letter words in the last sentence of the paragraph or you can't end sentences with words that begin with vowels, makes you focus and changes your perspective.


• Try freewriting - Sit down and write whatever comes to mind, even if it's gibberish, for about 10 minutes to start, and don't stop for anything! Don't go back to correct misspellings, incorrect grammar, the wrong word or anything. Just keep on writing! As long as your hand is moving, your brain will think it is writing...and it is!

I hope that these tips have helped in some way. I do have a few more up my sleeve if you ever need one for a rainy day. Just visit me again and ask me if you ever need one, but you know what? I don't think you will!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed

Great Friends, Great Advice!

As a writer, one of the best assets that you have in your writing arsenal is your group of writing friends. I can't begin to explain to you the comfort that it gives me to know that there are people out there that understand and sympathize with what I am going through. Your family members may love you, but they don't really know what you're talking about (with the exception of my husband, of course!) when you try to explain about plot twists, writer's block, prologues, query letters, and all the myriad phrases that mean something to us in the writing world, but are nothing but words and meaningless phrases to them.

Throughout my cyber-travels, I have met several friends that I have come to know quite well through emails, reading their blogs, and a choice few I have even written snail mail to and called on the telephone. The friends that I have made, I believe, will be lifelong friends.

Some of those friends' blogs I have favorited and their blogs are listed in "My Blog List," which is to the right of this column. One such friend is Jean Henry Mead. She has several incredible blogs that I follow, such as: The Logan & Cafferty Mystery/Suspense Series; A Western Historical Happening; Make Mine Mystery; Mysterious People; and finally, a Monday through Saturday blog that she co-hosts, (she's responsible for Fridays) called: Murderous Musings.

Each of these blogs is a jewel in it's own right, and you really ought to take the time to visit them. I visit them for several different reasons. First, and in no particular order, there's the fun factor. I enjoy the stories, the guests and most of all, Jean's writing. Next, I glean a lot of valuable, useful information from her blogs. There is a wealth of information in them, and I bet you will find the same in your friend's blogs, too, if you start following them. Last, but not least, I do it because she's my friend and I want to support her. She is a wonderful writer and an amazing friend--everyone should have a friend like Jean. She's one in a million!

I have favorited some other authors whose blogs I thought were exceptional, so I have started following them as well. One in particular in Rob Parnell. His blog, The Easy Way To Write, is full of great information, useful links, you can sign up for his newsletter and...I have even signed up for some of his free writing courses that I can take at my own pace. I'll have to let you know how that goes, since I still have to finish my course at The Institute Of Children's Literature (ICL).

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde
Please visit my other blogs. They are:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed

Read, Read, Read!

I have come to the conclusion, after taking specific advice from several renowned and well thought-of writers, that in order to become a good writer yourself, you first must become devoted to the task of committing to read, read, read!

Within the Blogger community, I have found many published authors and aspiring writers that have "blogs" (please refer to my "Blog List," below - right and my "Complete Profile" for list of blogs that I follow) that are filled with excellent advice, guidance, stories, and just about anything in the line of writing, editing or even publishing information that a writer could ask for. All that information is free for the taking, and the only commitment they ask of you is that you glean by reading, then spread the word. In fact, that's all that any writer asks of a reader, except that maybe we purchase a book a two in the process, so they can continue to making us happy while they make a living doing what they love?

From what I have seen, I would have to say that writers are among the most giving of all the professions. Instead of charging for every little course that they write, many of them offer their courses free in their blogs and newsletters. They also explain to their fellow writers how to perfect their craft, knowing full well that this is a competitive market. I'm proud to be a part of this profession.

Now, I must get back to the business at hand. If I ever plan to attain my dream of becoming a published author, then I need to read, read, read!

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all!