Blog posts

Home > Blog posts (Page 35)

Posted on 12 April 2016
In Guest blogpost, Novel writing, Scrivener

In my last blog post, I recommended you take up the offer of free video training courtesy of Joseph Michael. I'm hoping you've had time to look at Video 1: Setting up Scrivener for Your Success. One thing that crossed my mind was that, while Joseph explained what the Binder is all about, the editing space was blank. Joseph imported a file that had already been written - easy! But what if...

by

Posted on 6 April 2016
In Scrivener, Training

Some folks don't sign up for courses. They tell me the price is too high. What about a zero-cost course? All you put in is your time. Twenty minutes of your time - watching a video. Don't miss this! Joseph Michael, the Scrivener Coach, has published a three-part video series, to take you step-by-step through some of Scrivener's amazing secrets. Setting up Scrivener for your success Organizing your writing for complete control How to print,...

by

Posted on 31 March 2016
In NANO, Novel writing, Scrivener

For the uninitiated, CAMP NANOWRIMO is 30 days of writing, just like NaNoWriMo, except it's in April, and - as the name suggests -  this challenge involves escaping real life, holding yourself up in an internet-based cabin with other 'mad' writers with the express aim of completing a writing project. You don't have to write a novel. Or conjure up 50K words. You set your own goals, track your own progress and, in the process,...

by

Posted on 22 March 2016
In Guest blogpost, Scrivener

I'm delighted to have as my guest today, Alinka Rutkowska, a fellow Wrimo and a huge Scrivener fan. Alinka's first novel, published under her pen name, Ally Capraro, is due out a week today, on 29 March! How important is Scrivener for you, Alinka? I couldn't have written my novel without Scrivener. I'm a children's author, I mean, I used to be, until I started dreaming of writing a novel. And when I...

by

Posted on 15 March 2016
In RedPen Editing, Scrivener, Training

On my new Recommendations page, I recommend - inter alia! - Joan Dempsey and her various courses for writers, having attended her Revise with Confidence course and being mightily impressed with her material and style of delivery. Joan also publishes a free monthly newsletter to which I subscribe. The March issue included an interesting - and new to me - editing tip: use a different font so as to shift your...

by

Posted on 8 March 2016
In Novel writing, Scrivener, Training

In the post before last, the (mysterious to some of you) tag <$p> appeared. I go back a long way with various computer codes, so anything within the triangular brackets < > is 'normal' to me. But, in answer to those of you who were puzzled and wrote asking for an explanation, here's the lowdown on tags. What is a tag? A tag is a string of characters which starts with < and ends...

by

Posted on 26 February 2016
In RedPen Editing, Scrivener, Training

A week has flown by and I've been busy 'editing' the Admiral's memoir. Having tackled the structure - and awaiting instruction - I'm now reading for real, fixing punctuation and typos as I pass, and annotating the text with my queries. To provide my Admiral with a taste of how the finished book might appear, I compiled the material that I've worked on so far. There are so many formats to choose from: Kindle I chose the...

by

Posted on 17 February 2016
In Novel writing, RedPen Editing, Scrivener, Training

I can't remember the last time I edited a book written by someone else. Mostly, I write or mentor writers so that they can edit their own masterpieces. However, I have a friend - let's call him the Admiral - and, the other day, he twisted my arm and persuaded me to help him to complete his memoir; it's the only thing left on his bucket list. I received an electronic copy of the manuscript, saved in Pages, and...

by

Posted on 7 February 2016
In Novel writing, RedPen Editing, Scrivener, Training

I love learning. I'm addicted to courses and I've just recently signed up for a 'Revise with Confidence' course with Joan Dempsey. I'm enjoying every minute. In my Red Pen Editing cycle, there's a place for drilling down to word level - it's in step 9. But with Joan's method - she recommends a process called translation - and she challenges me to go deeper still. Marvellous! The task is to select one...

by

Posted on 29 January 2016
In Marketing

January is almost over and I'm taking stock of 2015 already. If  you're anything like me, you made several New Year resolutions: To get that novel finished To self-publish said novel Crack the code for social media exposure To market your novel to the world To retire, wealthy, to a desert island! I wonder which of these is your highest priority. Highest priority: Building an audience Yes, for me, it's building an audience. Then,...

by