Help Me Focus!

by Annette Lyon

First off: To all you NaNo-ers out there, keep pushing on this last day! Congratulations to all the winners out there; celebrate your accomplishment!

I have had a hard time focusing lately. That includes work on my writing, my editing, and even attention to housework and (worse!) to my family.

Many things can be blamed for it, among them the legitimate issues of ADD and chronic pain.

But life must go on. I need to write and edit. More, I need to make sure my family actually eats and has clean underwear.

I've found a some things to help, some of which don't make much sense at first glance. In hopes that some of them may help you, here's a list:

White Noise

Yes, Virginia, it really does help you focus. At least, it does for someone with ADD. My son (who inherited it from Mom, alas) discovered Simply Noise, which has several free options. The basic choices are all essentially what's known as "white noise" but which all sound slightly different. The variations are called white, pink, and brown noise.

Brown noise is my favorite (and my son's, too). I find myself able to focus on a project and get a lot more done in less time while listening to it.

The site also has other sounds, downloadable for a small fee, like ocean waves and a thunderstorm.

A To-do List

People who follow me on Facebook are aware of this one: I have a list of things I want to accomplish in a month. Yes, a month. Big-picture, yet concrete, goals are easier for me to handle than specific ones I have to get done today. With monthly goals, I can look at the list and decide what I can do now.

It's a hard-copy list in a notebook, so I have the bonus of using a bright orange Sharpie to cross out items as I do them.

Major sense of accomplishment!

Accountability

I have a writer friend who has also become my accountability buddy. At the beginning of each month, we email one another our progress on last month's goals and our goals for the upcoming month.

This provides an outside source of accomplishment (getting ego strokes from someone outside my brain helps a ton), and it's also an extra motivation to reach the goals I sent her before. Saying, "Yeah, well, I totally dropped the ball on all my goals" isn't going to cut it.

Meeting with my critique group helps here too. I need to have pages to read when I show up, so I'd better write some.

Minimizing Distractions

For me, that means the Internet. I can sit at my computer with great intentions to do X, Y, and even Z on my to-do list. Then I check email, Twitter, Facebook, and news links, and next thing I know, I've blown two hours.

There's a reason a product exists where you pay for it to disable your Internet connection for determined periods so you can focus on your work.

At one point I wondered if a smart phone would help. (For years, I have a simple candy-bar style phone that did nothing fancier than text.) I figured that if I got online updates while away from my computer, I wouldn't feel as tied to it. Then, when I did sit down at my desk, maybe I'd get more work done.

It was just a theory. Until now. Due to a set of unforeseen circumstances, I got to open my Christmas present early: a shiny new iPhone.

It's done exactly what I predicted: I don't feel the same urge to sit at my desk just to make sure I don't miss something. My kitchen is cleaner than it has been in a while. I got more reading in today. And more writing in. And research. Oh, and I wrote this blog post.

I think this is the most I've accomplished in one day in, well, a really long time.

A Timer

One element I didn't expect to help me on my iPhone, but which has: setting alarms. I'll set it 30 minutes out, and suddenly I can stay on task. When the phone rings, I get to do something else, if whatever I'm doing feels hard. Or, on the flip side, if I have only X amount of minutes to accomplish such-and-such, I'll buckle down and work hard. Great tool, and one I'm sure I'll be using more.

What helps you focus?

Monday Mania--Query Letter

One of our readers has submitted a query letter for critique. Please offer only constructive comments.

Critique Archive #51

Dear [Agent],

300 years ago Ciara Lovel refused to marry Giovanni Berlusconi to be with another man.

Giovanni, now known as Charley Bersley, wants her all the same after three long centuries. Relentlessly he seeks to get back at Ciara for not wanting him the same way he lusts after her.

Ciara is a talented violinist in this life. She desperately tries to find work after she took a break from playing professionally seven years ago. Though, performing is her calling. But after she witnessed the death of her father and her ex-agent Charley Bersley sexually abused her, an involuntary break was necessary.

Finally offered an arrangement in her birth city Vienna, Ciara flies to Austria and almost immediately after her arrival is sucked into a web of lies and mysterious incidences.

Someone breaks into her hotel room, sabotages her newfound career as a professional violinist, and attempts to drive her off the road. Ciara cannot get rid of the feeling that someone has deliberately been trying to lure her to Vienna and that she was now exactly where they wanted her to be.

To complicate matters, she is unwillingly attracted to the producer of the arrangement. A gorgeous subject of the male species, named Raphael O’Malley. She feels as if she knows him intimately, but laughs at her feelings because she doesn’t believe in stupid things like karma, fate and that kind of stuff.

Ciara’s own past is going to prove her wrong as she faces the product of the man that has been unknowingly stalking her for the past 300 years. She must protect her family from harm and this time around, keep the one man she has ever loved alive.

I read in Writer’s Digest that you’re interested in paranormal romance. BUTTERFLY is my 100,000 word debut novel and I think that it might interest you.

I’m a violinist and was born in Vienna, Austria. Currently, I’m living in Salt Lake City and working on my next novel.

I’d be glad to send you my complete manuscript for your review. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
[Author]

Making It to "The End"

by Annette Lyon

Earlier this week, I had the chance to speak to a high school creative writing class. One question I got:

What to do when you have several partial books, but keep running into road blocks, so you abandon the story and start another one?

This young woman had several partial books, but not one finished one. What to do?

Here's the advice I gave, plus a bit more (since I have more time here):

Two pieces of advice:

1) Read up on plot structure.

Chances are, the plot ran into a ditch because you don't know where it was supposed to go or how to steer it. That doesn't mean you have to outline everything, but it does mean understanding how plots work: their structure.

Some writing books I recommend:

Scene and Structure, by Jack Bickham

This book pretty much blew my mind back when I first read it in about 2004. It's a great resource for teaching structure on a scene/sequel level. (If you don't know what a sequel is, you need this book.) It goes into scene questions and the possible answers, how to fix wrong turns, and how to find the crux of the story. Fantastic.

The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler

Another book that had my head spinning. But when I finally got my bearings, it proved immensely useful. It's actually a screenwriting book that uses the classic Hero's Journey as a model. Many people think the archetypal Hero's Journey belongs solidly in fantasy and science fiction, but not so.

The first book I drafted after reading this book (a historical romance) was the easiest book I've ever drafted. I often looked at the plot and pondered what was missing or how I could improve this or that based on archetypal characters and Hero's Journey elements. And I always found a solution.

Story, by Robert McKee

A couple of years ago at a writing conference I attended, I heard this book referred to over and over again, so I finally jotted down the title and author and ordered it.

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks

I've heard mixed reviews here, some people saying it's their new writing bible, while others say it's stuff they've already heard (the latter is generally from writer veterans).

Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder

Yet another screenwriting book. I've found that learning about story structure through film is easier to grasp than on a book level: you can watch a movie in a couple of hours and watch the elements unfold. It's also easier for writers to refer to movies and have a good chance that the readers have seen many of them and therefore understand the concepts. Another writing bible here.

Read Industry Blogs

When I first started writing in 1994, most people didn't have e-mail addresses, let alone access to the massive amounts of information available on the Internet today. Now, you can consult Dr. Google to learn just about anything.

Need to know how to craft a query letter? How advances and royalties work? The difference between genres and markets? The answers are a search away.

A few great blogs to get you started (be sure to check the archives for questions that may have already been answered):

• Janet Reid
• Query Shark (A query critique blog run by Janet Reid)
• Rachelle Gardner
• BookEnds
• Nathan Bransford
• Steven Pressfield

Podcasts

Sometimes hearing it from the horse's mouth (from people already successful in the field) is more helpful than anything. Podcasts are typically short (15 to 30 minutes). I'll download several episodes to my iPod and listen as I clean house or drive.

Some particularly useful podcasts:

• The Appendix (About to take a hiatus, but it's got a great archive. Also: I've been a guest a few times!)
• Writing Excuses (With big-time writers like Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Mary Robinette Kowal)
• Word Play (Especially for MG and YA writers, with Nathan Bransford, James Dashner, and J. Scott Savage)

2) My other piece of advice is to plant your behind in the chair and write.

There's nothing like actually finishing a manuscript, even if it's not the best. Coming to the end of a story is an accomplishment unlike any other, and it gives you the vision that yes, you can succeed. And do it again.

If you need a kick in the pants to keep yourself writing, order, read, highlight, and keep at your fingertips for further reading Steven Pressfield's The War of Art.

You'll thank me on that one.

Monday Mania--Query Letter

One of our readers has submitted a query letter for critique. Please offer only constructive comments.

Critique Archive #50

Dear [Agent],

Seventeen-year-old Julienne White arrives in the town of Luray on a stretcher. At the hospital, she discovers the bone-deep gash in her leg is gone. Dresden, the boy who saved her from the horrific car accident, claims she was never hurt. She can’t decide if she’s crazy or he’s hiding something.

Julienne is afraid to fall in love and struggles with her increasing feelings for Dresden. When Dresden keeps materializing out of nowhere to save Julienne’s life, she discovers that he has unique powers. She has no idea that Dresden is part of The Trinity, a trio that is destined to guard her from Zamir.

Zamir is stealing powers from people like Dresden and turning everyone into his slaves by giving them magical necklaces that promise the power they’ve always wanted, but their powers come at a price, instead, they become his slaves.

A world unknown is opened up to Julienne when she finds that she’s the only one who can yield the Silvian necklace, a necklace that can countermand the spell that keeps Zamir from dying. Everything rests on her shoulders.

TRINITY is the first of a YA Fantasy Romance trilogy. The first completed novel of 82,000 words is available for your review.

Monday Mania--Query Letter

One of our readers has submitted a query letter for critique. Please offer only constructive comments.

Critique Archive #49

Dear [AGENT]:

She loves him, but he is in love with a ghost.

In Shadows, a young adult paranormal romance, high school senior Samantha Bell is falling hard for her best friend, Mark Baxter, but complications from his past begin to haunt them as Mark’s former girlfriend, Kate Duncan, appears. Oh, and Kate is dead.

Sam (Samantha) soon experiences the frustration in dealing with a spurned ghost who can appear at any time and interrupt any moment, but then the real dilemma unfolds.

Sam learns that Kate, who died in the mid-eighteen hundreds, was cursed by someone she once trusted. Kate is stuck in the mortal realm, never to cross over and be at rest, but she was promised that her true love will die and join her before he turns nineteen. Kate thought this could never happen since the living can’t even see her, let alone love her—until she met Mark who can do both. Mark will turn nineteen next year.

Now Sam, jealous of a freaking ghost, is forced to endure the heartbreak of doomed love but keep Mark in the dark about his impending demise. She must do this as she juggles school, friends and family who can’t see the irritating Kate, and figure out why an attractive guy named Peter is stalking her.

When Sam learns Peter is also a ghost and is trying to protect her, Sam’s world shifts even more as the isolated situation with Kate opens up into something Sam isn’t sure she wants to be a part of; a world where ghosts aren’t just harmless specters who slam doors and throw dishes.

I believe Shadows, completed at 78,000 words, would be a good fit for you and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

[AUTHOR]

Writing Retreats

by Annette Lyon

Last week, from Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning, I attended a writing retreat.

The group consisted of twenty writers. Under the direction and coordination of Danyelle Ferguson, we rented out a cabin in the mountains and wrote out hearts out. Imagine: a three-floor cabin virtually silent, save for the tapping of keyboards. We took breaks for meals. We had several competitions where we did 20-minute writing sprints, cranking out as many words as we could. There were door prizes, laughter, great talk, and lots and lots of words.

If memory serves, we wrote more than a combined 266,000 words. That's more than 5 NaNoWriMo books. The retreat overlapped with Precision Editing's own write-a-thon, so several attendees hunkered down to write even harder during that period.

Part of my personal success on the retreat (I ended up just shy of 26,000 words) was thanks to advance preparation.

A few things that helped:

• A list of upcoming scenes with brief descriptions. And by "brief," I mean less than a sentence. I had 10 or so scenes planned out. That way, I could hop around and write whatever section hit my fancy (and jump to a brand new one when we started a sprint).
• A novel in progress. I think that starting a manuscript from scratch at a retreat might be challenging. But by showing up with nearly half the book already written, I didn't have to flounder around, trying to find my characters' voices or what the major conflicts were. Instead, I hit the ground running.
• Scrivener. This is my first attempt at writing with the software (which is now available for Windows, booyah). The program made the retreat really easy, because I could swap from one scene to the next with (literally) a click or two of the mouse. I stamped my scene cards on the program's cork board with labels like "To Do," "Partial Draft," "First Draft," "Revised Draft," and "Done."
• Find your way to focus. Whether that's silence, music, or something else (chocolate?), use it.
• Breaks. You can't write for twelve hours straight, several days in a row. Your (or, at least, my) brain can't handle it. Some attendees set timers for regular breaks. You'll be more productive with a few well-timed breaks than trying to plow through more words when your brain has turned to mush.

Every retreat is a bit different. Some may require attendees to take turns cooking. Others may include speakers (we had a set of speakers during lunch Friday) or workshops. And so on.

I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year (although, for inspiration, I wore the hoodie I bought myself when I won last year), but it was a great kick-off for those doing it.

I got a ton accomplished on my WIP, and I had a great time getting there. If you ever get the chance to attend a retreat, I highly recommend it.

**Side note: Check out Larry Correia's plan for the ultimate Book Bomb at Amazon on Thursday, November 10th. Help us help Robison Wells!***

Six Free Reference Books on How to Write

By Julie Wright

We've been talking a lot on this blog about education. What price would you pay to write a GREAT book. We've talked about self editing, about taking the time to go to conferences and read books on writing. We've talked about being willing to fork over a few dollars so that you can LEARN.

But that's not what I'm going to talk about today.

I know Tuesday is almost over, but this is good news, and I was afraid to wait until next Tuesday because the opportunity might be gone.

Right now you can get SIX FREE books on how to write. Seriously. FREE. I've already downloaded mine onto my Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle, that's okay because you can download a PC Kindle app.

Here is the link to start building your reference library for

FREE

If you are at all serious about writing, then you need to learn your craft. This little gift takes all your excuses taken away. Take the time to download a few books that can help fine tune you from an adequate author to a great author.

Happy reading!

Monday Mania--Query Letter

One of our readers has submitted a query letter for critique. Please offer only constructive comments.

Critique Archive #48

Dear AGENT,

Abbey Long believes her only option after shooting her mother’s boyfriend is to run away. Not only does she run away from home, her memories, and the past—but from the law as well. What Abbey doesn’t know, is she’s a schizophrenic, who hears and sees what others do not. Making her way from town to town, Abbey travels further from help and deeper into a false reality.

Inside Abbey’s troubled mind, four distinct voices are guiding her to “the real world,” a place as mysterious as Abbey's mental condition. Abbey believes the only person who will know where and what it might be is her father. After three days of travelling with extreme paranoia, Abbey truly begins to question her decisions and the companions which dwell within her head, but by then, “the real world” is just around the corner.

Abbey shows up on her father’s doorstep, only to discover that he isn’t home, and hasn’t been for some time. Then, completing Abbey’s delusion, it suddenly all makes sense. “The real world” is death, to join her father would mean to use the very gun that began the journey. A choice will have to be made, one that will change her life forever.

VOICES UNSPOKEN, my first novel, is an edgy young adult novel complete at 43,000 words.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

AUTHOR

Write-A-Thon Winners!

What a fabulous night! We hope that you were all able to get over some hurdles wherever you were in your manuscripts. We had 28 writers participate; some were starting page 1, and others were well into their books. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you block out a section of time and hyper-focus.

And even double fabulous, our combined word count for the night was: 110,448 words

We’re excited to announce the winners . . .

Word Count Winner: Michael Young @ 9,424
(this is a few hundred words more than last year’s winner, so Michael’s 9,424 is the new all-time high)
*Michael wins either the $50 Amazon Gift Card or 30 page edit. Congrats, Michael! Amazing!

2nd Place Word Count Winner: Heather Justesen @ 9,059
*Congrats, Heather! You win a signed copy of Pumpkin Roll by Josi Kilpack (either audio or paperback, your choice)

Random Winner #1: magicalbookworm @ 2776 words
*magicalbookworm wins a signed copy of Variant by Robison Wells (hardcover)

Random Winner #2: Diana @ 5,153 words
*Diana wins a signed copy of Hazzardous Universe by Julie Wright (illustrated by Kevin Wasden)

Again, huge congrats to everyone! And have a great weekend!

Winners please email Heather Moore to coordinate details: editor (at) precisioneditinggroup (dot) com

START NOW: Write-A-Thon

Ready? It's time to get this party started!

Here's a repeat of the rules-and-or-processes for tonight's write-a-thon:

1-Enter your starting time and starting word count in the comment section of this blog. Contest is open from 4:00 pm Friday, November 4 (MST) to Midnight (we'll accept word count submission in the comments until 12:15 am, November 5th.)

3-Write for four hours--set a timer if you need to! (You can take breaks, but track your time!)

4-When finished, come back to this blog and put your end time, end word count, and total words written in those 4 hours in the comment trail.

5-All "end time" posts must be posted by 12:15 a.m., Mountain Daylight Time (we're giving you 15 minutes to tally your numbers). To calculate your times based on where you live, go HERE and educate yourself about time zones.

6-Please be honest. You are your own time/word keeper, and we are trusting that none of our dearly beloved readers would sell their integrity for $50 or 30 pages :-) You must post a start comment AND an end comment to be eligible to win and have your words counted toward the total.

7-The winner--whoever has the most words written in their four hours--will be posted Saturday, November 5th here on the PEG blog. The winner will receive their choice of a $50 gift card to Amazon.com or 30 pages of a content edit from one of the Precision Editing Group editors ($60 value).

Ready, set, go...

Write-A-Thon TODAY!

Today at 4:00 p.m. MST, Precision Editing Group will be sponsoring our 3rd Write-a-Thon and we're inviting writers to show us how many words you can write in 4 hours! This will also be a great kick off for those of you who are doing NaNoWriMo.

The contest will open at 4:00 Mountain Daylight Time and end at midnight (You choose the best 4 hours during that period of time, or break it up and track your time). The person who writes the most words will receive their choice of a $50 Amazon.com gift card OR a 30 page content edit by one of the Precision Editing Group Editors (value $60).

Here's how it will work:

1-The Write-a-thon will officially begin at 4:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.

2-The blog titled "Write-a-Thon Starts Now!" will post at 4:00 pm MDT--you need to enter your starting time and starting word count in the comment section of the blog when you begin.

3-Write for four hours--set a timer if you need to!

4-When finished, come back to the PEG blog and put your end time, end word count, and total words written in those 4 hours as another comment on the blog.

5-All "end time" posts must be posted by 12:15, Mountain Daylight Time (we're giving you 15 minutes to tally your numbers). To calculate your times based on where you live, go HERE and educate yourself about time zones.

6-Please be honest about your word count and use your time to write REAL words. You are your own time/word keeper and we are trusting that none of our dearly beloved readers would sell their integrity for $50 or 30 pages :-) You must have posted a start comment AND an end comment to be eligible to win either of the prizes.

7-The winner will be posted on Saturday, November 5th here on the PEG blog.

We'll also be adding up everyone's words, think we can hit 100,000 words in one night?

Feel free to spread the word to other writers (Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs), wherever they may live--send them here to read up on the specifics. This contest is open to anyone, anywhere. While the prizes are a perk, the true challenge is to see how much you can do in a four hour period of time dedicated to writing. Order pizza for the kids, turn off the phone, TIVO Letterman, and let your fingers go.

*Please ask any questions here, we'll answer them as soon as possible.

Write-A-Thon is Tomorrow!

Join us for our 3rd Write-A-Thon TOMORROW, November 4th.

Prizes include $50 Amazon Gift Card, 30 page edit, and various bestselling novels.

All the details can be found on our previous post.

Conjunction, Junction: Real Functions

by Annette Lyon

First, an important item of business:

For those doing NaNoWriMo (and for anyone else needing a writing boost), Precision Editing Group is again doing a write-a-thon to kick off the month.

It'll be held THIS Friday, November 4th. Win books, or write the most words and be the grand prize winner, receiving either a FREE $50 edit or a $50 Amazon gift card.

Details HERE.

And now for today's post!

Sometimes it's the small things that make all the difference, and it's one of those things we'll discuss today.

A common issue I see in my editing work is awkward use of conjunctions. You know, those little words that, to go all School House Rock on you, hook up "words, and phrases and clauses."

Let's refresh our memories:

Okay, so to review a list of common conjunctions. You know them: AND, OR, FOR, NOR, YET, BUT, SO.

For our purposes, we'll focus on three: AND, BUT, SO

We'll also mention a couple of other connector words that aren't technically conjunctions but are often used in similar awkward ways:

WHICH and THAT

AND

This conjunction adds two things together. Any time you use it, the text should be saying this PLUS that.

For example: Jane at an apple and a banana.

Here, Jane ate, and she ate two things. AND works.

This also works: At school, Jane took a test and worked in the science lab.

Again, we have a single action: Jane went to school. While there, she did two things. This AND that.

The problem I see often is when writers combine two things that don't go together in a natural addition:

Jane wanted to try and talk to her teacher.

I've mentioned this one before. TRY should jump out at you and demand a TO after it. AND implies two things, but here, Jane's doing ONE thing. She is attempting to speak to her teacher. That's it. But the phrasing says she's doing two things: TRYING and TALKING. That's not what we mean. It reads clunky.

While the reader may understand, there's always the chance of confusion, or at least getting yanked out of the story.

Another example:

Jane went to the police station to report the crime and ate lunch.

Here, it sounds like Jane ate lunch at the police station. Unless she's eating in the detectives' break room, I suggest adding THEN or adding a new sentence altogether.

BUT

This word implies a reversal. We start out with A and then B gets thrown at us instead.

This works: Jane hoped she did well in her audition, BUT she didn't get the part.

We get the set-up in the first half (she hoped she did well) and then the reversal (she didn't get the part).

I often see writers using BUT almost like AND, where there really isn't a reversal.

Another, even more common, mistake is where a writer uses AND (which, remember, implies an ADDITIONAL item) where we really have reversal and BUT should be used:

Jane hoped she did well in her audition, and she didn't get the part.

Can you see how AND in this case doesn't flow like the example with BUT? We aren't adding something to Jane's actions or desires; we're describing an action with an expectation, and then a reversal. We need BUT, not AND.

SO

This one implies causality. THIS causes THAT. In many cases, AND could be used, but very often, SO is more effective and conveys the meaning so much better.

Consider the difference between the examples below.

This could work, but it's not as strong as it could be:

Jane didn't get the part, AND that night she ate a bunch of ice cream.

But this one connects the two thoughts clearly with cause and effect:

Jane didn't get the part, SO that night she ate a bunch of ice cream.

WHICH and THAT

These words elaborate on a thought or clarify a subject:

Jane tried out for the play, WHICH would run during December.

Here, WHICH gets attached to thoughts with an explanation that isn't necessary to understand the sentence. In the example above, it's nice to know when the play would run, but it's not critical to understanding the point.

Jane auditioned for the part THAT she felt she had the best shot at.

In this sentence, THAT restricts the meaning to something specific, here, to a specific role: the one Jane tried out for. Maybe the play is Into the Woods, and she tried out for Cinderella, not the Baker's Wife or Little Red. In this case, THAT makes the sentence specific, and it's needed.

It's easy to throw in lots of useless THATs. But there are also cases when the word is needed, and restrictive clauses are one of them.

For the grammar nerds: remember that these two words aren't conjunctions, so you use them in situations where one clause can't stand on its own as a sentence rather than between two independent clauses.

I've said it many times, but it's a truism that remains: Getting the small things right will set your work apart from the rest of the pack. Something as simple as clunky conjunction use can signal to an agent or editor that you don't have a solid grasp on writing mechanics, relegating your submission to the circular file.

The great news is that this particular issue is easy to fix. Look at your conjunctions to see if they mean what you intend. Change them out as needed. You'll be glad you did.

Tip: Watch the School House Rock clip again. Pay close attention to how the conjunctions are used, especially AND, BUT, and SO.