Top Writing Books of 2015 - 9 Day Novel Series

The 9 Day Novel Series by Steve Windsor is a must read for beginning and even seasoned writers. The methods gave me the boost to start my first adult book series. Mr. Windsor's books are fun, informative guides with solid, practical, and ultra-usable advice.

For my needs, I read series out of order, focusing on the topic that I needed first, rather than the number of the book in the series.

The first book that I read in the 9 Day Novel Series was Auhorphobia - Laugh at Your Fear of Writing: Suck Less for Author Success, which is a humor-filled take on addressing writing fears.

The second one was the 9 Day Novel - Writing: How to Structure and Write Your Novel Faster. To solidify the structuring concepts and to improve my grasp of the outlining concepts, I dove into 9 Day Novel - Outlining Your Novel: Plotting Your Way to Success. (The book gives the most straight-forward, easy-to-understand, relatable explanation of story outlining EVER.)

Currently, I am reading 9 Day Novel - Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: Write Better and Edit Faster. Again, another incredibly helpful writing resource.

Thanks, Steve Windsor, for a most fun and informative writing resource series. Highly recommend!

 

Notezilla - Sticky Notes for Windows

Notezilla Sticky Notes offers a 30-day, full-functioning trial of their sticky note software. As an author, to keep track of tasks, and then on top of that, those real-life paper sticky notes, I welcomed the trial period of the software.

Digital sticky notes for which you can add check list features, reminders, etc., with the ease of a click of the mouse...a most welcome tool!

On different notes, in different colors and in even in different styles (skins), I keep track of my To Do Lists. On one, I track my household tasks, while on another, I list grocery items and cleaning supplies.

With a busy schedule, I welcome tools that help me maintain focus, assist me with staying on target, and that provide a satisfying record of completion.

The non-cloud version of Notezilla for Windows is sold at a reasonable price and has been more than worth cost in helping me stay on task. It's a simple, visual method that mimics an old school reminder method in a new, elegantly digital way.

5 Down and 1 in the Hole

During the past few weeks, I dove into finalizing the Young Adult series that I've been working on for the past two years. Before I go back beneath the surface once again to focus on a new YA series, I wanted to touch base by posting on the Alexa Writes Books blog.

I have truly missed blogging and will focus on making a post every few weeks as I continued to write.

Since I have seen over the past few years that readers are hesitant to invest in an incomplete book series, I banked the entire series (which means I did not publish each book as it was finished) and intend to publish the entire series at the same time in the next few weeks.

Author Hugh Howey posted about the banking technique, or The Lilian Nirvana Technique, or as Author Lilian Nirvana uses the term, 5 down and 1 in the hole.

This YA series will be my 5 down, while the first book in the next series will be considered one in the hole.

I will also be banking a trilogy for release in February, as well as focusing on the series mentioned above for the next few months. (So, technically next year's first trilogy release will be considered 3 down, with the following book of the next trilogy equating to 1 in the hole.)

Thanks to Author Dean Wesley Smith workshops and shared Writing in Public challenge my production has increased, and I am looking very much forward to the months to come.

A Sad, Sad Day (NEO 2 is no more)

On a recent trip, NEO went with me, and I wrote on planes, in airports during layovers, in a tent by the light of a headlamp, sitting in the cab of a truck and outdoors on a log, at a table in a busy community dining area, etc. With effort each day during the trip, I finished 1/4 of a novel in those 10 days.

I even shared with someone about the NEO 2, which I blogged about in one of my first posts on Alexa Writes Books.

NEO is a digital typewriter that weights a mere 1.2 pounds and has 700 hours of battery life on three (3) AA batteries. Nothing on the market compares with the durability, accessibility, or the long-lasting ability of the battery life.

The NEO has been one of the primary and most-often writing tools I've used, yet when I returned home from the most latest trip, I discovered that the device is no longer being produced.

The writer's tool that had been pawed out of hands by eager boarder collies and dropped on concrete, banged on a carpeted floor, etc., and kept working so that I might keep writing had been discontinued in September 2013.

Supposedly, technology, such as the smart phone and ipads, has negated the need for a device like the NEO.

One of the most valuable tools that I have used as a writer, and the NEO is no longer being produced or sold by the company that produced them. Thanks to ebay, I was able to purchase a lot of three units, with software CDs and connector wiring, for a very reasonable price. Hopefully, these backup units will travel with me and/or be with me during the writing of many more books to come.

At this point, there is no similar keyboarding unit available with such extended battery life, durability, and flexibility.

Yes, a sad, sad day because the NEO is no more.

Simply Simple Writing Tool

After many months and much struggle, I am FINALLY progressing on the revisions to the series. In addition to feeling better physically, I attribute one factor for moving me forward: Progress Tracking.

With a simple spreadsheet, I track what time I turn on the computer to what time I wrap up my writing for the day.

With just a little info, such as:

• Day (Mon - Fri)
• Date (7-Mar, for example)
• Start Time
• End Time
• Time Spent doing What / Where / Distractions
• Total Daily Hours
• Total Writing Hours

I also track my daily progress.

On a second spreadsheet, I track, by chapters, HOW MUCH progress I make a day. Zero chapters, a quarter of a chapter, two chapters, etc.

At the end of the day, I tally how much time I spent writing and on non-writing tasks.

Using this simple method, I have produced, even with coming down with upper respiratory crud and being on cold meds, more in the last few weeks than I have produced in the past few months combined.THIS method is why I wrote my first drafts so quickly. No clue, why I didn't see the correlation before...for some reason, I separated first drafting and revision in my mind, as well as the processes I've been learning along the way.

I'm not sure why I tend to make thinks more difficult and challenging than they need to be...perhaps because I enjoy a good challenge, so I'm subconsciously upping the stakes... No clue, but at least I'm moving forward at a steady pace.

Tracking my time, like I did back when I had to keep tabs on specific project work on my former day jobs, has turned out to be quite an inspiring tool for me. Reminder: Keep It Simple.

Ever Learning with WMG Publishing

WMG Publishing Online Workshops offers video class instruction with direct instructor feedback, via email and a more generalized video, on submitted assignments. The learning opportunities in these courses are are interactive and the assignments geared for practical learning.

For the last couple of months and into the new year, I have been and am fine-tuning and practicing my writing skills in an active way via online workshops featured by WMG Publishing. The instructors of the courses include Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

The course I participated in last month was Strengths and Weaknesses, while this month's includes Pacing and Pitches and Blurbs. Next month's (January's) includes Character Voice / Setting, while the workshops on Promotion and book design (print and ebook) are also intriguing.

As I continue with the revision of Series #1, these are skills and writerly tools that I need to take my writing to the next level.

These more intensive, in-depth workshops than the courses I've taken previously. They take the writer to the next level of their abilities by adding to skill-sets, not just requiring homework submittals. Thus far, my interaction has been with Dean Wesley Smith, whose shoot-straight feedback both challenges and enourages.

Well worth the effort, time, and money in this always challenging, ever learning world of writing.

WMG Publishing Online Workshops, Highly Recommend!

Show, Don't Tell (Really? Show Me!)

Writers hear Show, Don't Tell more than any other writerly advice, and in my humble opinion, learning to show and not tell is one of the most powerful tools in the writer's toolbox. Showing versus Telling means the difference in a book reading like a blah-blah documentary rather than gripping fiction.

Please note that my comments in brackets are my reader reactions.

"Was" Statements

In most cases, "was" statements tend to show.

Telling: He was delighted. [He was, was he? Ho-hum. Yawn.]

Showing: His pulse ramped, and his heart thumped a jig in his chest. Yeeesssss! [Now I can get excited for and with this guy.]

Author Intrusion

Eliminating author intrusion filtering (experience filtered by author) by not using words such as felt, thought, and the like (sensed, experienced, figured, considered, realized) goes a long way in allowing the reader to connect with the character.

Telling: She felt sad and lonely. [Thanks for telling me, but...]

Showing: Everything around her grayed. None of the vibrant colors of fall stirred her. How could she go on? Tears clung to her cheeks as if refusing to abandon her to the empty ache in her chest. If only her father still lived. [Having lost love ones, I can relate to this experience.]

Telling: I thought about my childhood. What glorious memories. [What childhood? What memories? I don't know, so how can they be glorious to me?]

Showing:  When I was aged five or six, in a cardboard box from an estate sale, six musty lady's hats hid beneath a tarnished washboard and a rusted cheese grater. Fake flowers, thick blocked lace, and felt, in faded reds and blues and greens, were smashed flat like fallen cakes. First, I straightened the rough lace and bent flowers, then reshaped the head part of the hats with rolls of my fists. Each hat took me to a different time, to a different place. I traveled, in my imaginings, and found a aspects of myself I had not before known. [Although this is backstory, I am intrigued to find out more about this person.]

Using Began and Started

When the words began and started are used, we are taken out of real-time in the story.

Telling: It began with a scream. [What scream? What about a scream?]

Showing: A high-pitched scream ripped her from sleep. [Ah, a scream! Who's? Why is someone screaming? I'll read on to find out.]

Telling: She started to scream. [A person either does or doesn't do something. If they perform an action, they may stop or be interrupted.]

Showing: A scream erupted from her throat. She clamped her mouth closed, and the yell bounced off the back of her lips. She swallowed it whole. [Why is she holding back a scream? Is there worse to come? I have to know!]

Visceral Reactions

Lack of using visceral reactions tends toward telling. (Breaking into a sweat, increased heart rate, ache in the tummy, or the physical, non-thought based responses to what is happening.)

Telling: An explosion boomed. Marco ducked and ran for cover. [An explosion might nudge my interest, but I'm not being pulled into the story.]

Showing: An explosion boomed. Marco's heart stopped for one long shocked beat, then ramped like a machine gun in his chest as he ducked and ran for cover. From where he lay in the brush, sweat coated his face and neck thick and clammy. His grip on the detonator eased and trembled. A shrill tone of nothingness stuffed his ears. Could they smell his fear? [Visceral responses or reactions include: Heart Rate, Sweating, Trembling, Tone in ear from concussion of explosion.]

Varied Senses

Telling: An explosion boomed. Marco ducked and ran for cover. [Same example as above for Visceral Reactions. An explosion might peak my interest, but I'm not being pulled into the story.]

Showing: Barroom. The ground shook. A bright white flash burst outward and knocked Marco's head back like a hard right slam to the jaw. A stab, icepick thin, jabbed his eardrums. Lungs locked. He pounded his chest, gulped a sour, scorched breath of air.  [Senses include: Hearing, Seeing, Pain, Breathing, Taste, Smell.]

Bonus Example (Combined Visceral and Senses)

A combined example of Visceral and Senses:

Barroom. The ground shook.

A bright white flash burst outward and knocked Marco's head back like a hard right slam to the jaw. A stab, icepick thin, jabbed his eardrums. Marco's heart stopped for one long shocked beat, then ramped like a machine gun in his chest.

Lungs locked.

He pounded his chest, gulped a sour, scorched breath of air. He ducked and ran for cover.

From where he lay in the brush, sweat coated his face and neck thick and clammy. Could they smell his fear? His grip on the detonator eased and trembled.

A shrill tone of nothingness stuffed his ears.

Objectivity
 
A writer being able to step back and really look at and assess their own writing is a must. No right fighting and defending what is. None of that "my writing is good" stuff. If your writing is, then why not SHOW, instead of TELL that it is. (See examples above.)