Tag: deadlines

Categories
Mastering Middle Grade

Now What?

Last month I shared three things I’ve learned on my way to becoming a soon-to-be-published middle grade author.

I have about a year between now and my book launch, and there’s a lot that happens between now and then. I thought I’d give you a little glimpse at what’s going on behind the scenes, at least for the next several weeks.

Working on the story

Every publisher is different, but the hopefully the priority remains the same across all of them: make sure the story is as good as it can be. Right now, I’m working with the editorial director on revisions that will help bring our shared vision of the story to life.

I’m working toward a very generous but slightly intimidating deadline (aren’t all deadlines like that?). Throughout this stage I’m editing my story and defining my creative process at the same time.

You might have heard that expression about writing the book you want to read? It’s true, but not for the reasons you might think. It’s true because when you’re editing that book, you’re reading it over and over a gazillion times. If you don’t like it, you won’t enjoy this part of the process at all. #trustme

Growing an audience

The other thing I’m working on – and I’m not working on it as much as I should – is connecting with gatekeepers and influencers. This is tricky, because as we have talked about, middle grade writers really have three audiences. I’ve spent most of my time really focused on one audience as I’ve written the book. That’s the children themselves, the readers. That’s who we write for.

Now I need to shift a little more attention to the other two audiences. One is the primary gatekeepers- the parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles who buy books for the readers they love. And finally, we have the librarians/teachers/bookshop employees who make recommendations.

My book isn’t even on shelves yet, so why do I want to work on this now? Because even the best stories in the world don’t sell themselves. It takes time to grow authentic relationships both in real life and on social media. Even though I should have started working on this a long time ago, the next best time to work on it is today.

Continuous improvement

I’m still eager to learn and grow as a writer, so even though most of my effort is going into polishing the manuscript, I carve out time each week to read writing books/blogs or listen to podcasts. Right now I’m listening to K.M. Weiland’s ‘Helping Writers Become Authors’ podcast and loving it.

Gratitude

Not a day goes by that I’m not immensely grateful that I get to do this. All of it. I have loved every minute of trying, learning, failing, laughing about failing, and trying again. If you take away anything from this post, or this blog, please let it be this: If I can learn to write for children, you can too. Don’t give up.

See you next time.

When Kelli McKinney and her family aren’t exploring national parks, she can be found on the sidelines at her son’s tennis tournaments, brewing a cup of cinnamon spice tea, or chucking a toy across the backyard for her English Mastiff to chase.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and her graduate degree in radio/tv/film from the University of North Texas. She enjoyed an eclectic-yet-fulfilling fifteen-year career in corporate marketing before wandering off on her own to be a freelance copywriter.

Now, she is a part-time copywriter, full-time mom, and a children’s author. She lives in Texas but a huge piece of her heart belongs to Oklahoma. Her debut novel, JEFF PENNANT’S FIELD GUIDE TO RAISING HAPPY PARENTS is forthcoming in late 2022 with Chicken Scratch Books.

Kelli loves to hear from readers and writers. She can be reached through her website at www.kellmckinney.com or on Instagram @klmckinneywrites .

Categories
Blogging Basics

Hone Your Craft With A Blogging Challenge

Have you ever participated in a writer’s challenge? Did you know there are writing challenges for bloggers? Here’s how I made this discovery.

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month 2019 (NaNoWriMo). This challenge is open to all writers and happens once a year in November. The premise is to write daily and produce a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. It was a last-minute decision to participate, and I chose to utilize the challenge to write the first draft for my new book, The Handshake.

There are benefits of taking part in a challenge like this one.

  • Developing A Daily Writing Habit

Committing to writing every day helps you carve out time to hone your craft. For my first NaNoWriMo, I opened my laptop after my husband and son were fast asleep. There were a few nights; I was so tired, I typed with my eyes closed and then reviewed what I wrote. It went surprisingly well. During that first challenge, I created my soon to be released devotional called Triumphing Through Your Trials: Devotions of Miracles, Faith & Prayer.

  • Meeting Other Participating Writers

Writing is such a solitary craft. It’s you, your computer, and a cup of your favorite beverage. Your pet may stroll in while you’re creating that perfect sentence, but otherwise, you are alone. In most writing challenges you have the opportunity to meet other writers, often through a Facebook group. You can post questions, celebrate word count successes, and exchange writing tips.

  • Working With A Deadline

Knowing other participants are writing during the same time is motivating. A little voice will say, “Get your words in today.” Like a magnet, I’m drawn to my computer to meet the challenge knowing my fellow writers are also honing their craft during this limited time.

Working with a deadline encourages you to get words on the page. Editing can come later, but there is no editing if there are no words.

At first, I wanted to use NaNoWriMo to write one blog a day. This would create a series of blogs I could use for future posting. No more last minute, what am I going to post writing frenzies. However, with the novel-writing challenge, I could not be sure to find other bloggers like myself. Thus began the search for a blogging challenge.

  • Jeff Goins Blog Challenge

Jeff Goins is the author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, and You Are A Writer. Time Magazine voted his blog as one of the top 50 of 2008. While this free challenge doesn’t have a deadline like NaNoWriMo does, Jeff Goins offers the opportunity to learn the craft of blogging and connect you with other bloggers through a Facebook page.

  • The Ultimate Blog Challenge

Paul Taubman is an international Speaker, Presenter, and Trainer focusing on website strategy and marketing online. His blog challenge is offered once a quarter. For 30 days, he will email a daily topic to use as inspiration for your blog. Then you will post your created blog in the Facebook group and tweet it using #blogboost. The website shares the next challenge will be January 2020.

  • The 21-Day Blog Writing Challenge 2020

This new 21-day blog challenge is designed to help practice the craft of blogging by focusing on content and creating a treasure trove of future blog posts. A daily blog tip will be posted in a dedicated Facebook group, as well as sharing excerpts of your blog on Twitter with the following hashtag: #bloggerchallenge. The Facebook group is free and open to join now. The 21-day blog challenge will be hosted by yours truly and starts on January 1st, 2020.

If you have taken part in a blogging challenge, comment below. If you would like to try it out, join one of the challenges above, and watch your creativity soar and hone your craft.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Magazine and Freelance

The Five Ps of Meeting Deadlines

Deadlines can be overwhelming. But with just a bit of preplanning, they can be managed without taking over your life. Here are a few tips to make the struggling and juggling a little easier.

Pray

Make prayer your first step in meeting every deadline. Take time to ask God’s blessing and direction on every project you undertake. The time you take to talk to Him about what you are working on will be multiplied as you write.

Prioritize

Make a written list or keep it in your head, but make a list. Which projects have the closest deadlines? (Sometimes it comes down to a few hours difference in the deadlines.) Which can be pushed into next week? All are important so be sure you don’t let one fall between the cracks.

Plan

Are there any projects that could share research? Even if not, decide what you need to learn, then set aside a specific time for research. Doing it all at one time will make your writing time more efficient. Just be sure to keep good notes as to what information goes with which project.  Also, plan some family time in the schedule. Even an hour at dinner with your spouse, playing with the grandchildren, or walking in the garden alone will refresh you and make you more productive.

Partner

No, I don’t mean look for a coauthor. Writing is not a solo occupation. Your spouse, your family, and others are an important part of what you do. If you have a season of heavy deadlines, discuss it with your family. Ask them to take some of your chores or to cook a meal to free your time time to write. Talk to your close friends and your prayer team and ask them to pray for you during this intense time of writing.

Persevere

Whatever you do, don’t let major deadlines weigh you down. Stand strong, work according to your devised plan, and don’t give up. Even though you are alone when you write, you have an audience waiting to hear the wisdom of your words. You are making a difference. Your words can change the course of someone’s day.

Now head back to the computer and write the words that will make you a life-changer. Martin Luther said it well. “If you want to change the world, pick up a pen.”

Linda Gilden is an award-winning writer, speaker, editor, certified writing and speaking coach, and personality consultant. Her passion is helping others discover the joy of writing. Linda recently released Articles, Articles, Articles! and is the author of over a thousand magazine articles and 16 books including the new LINKED Quick Guides for Personalities. As Director of the Carolina Christian Writers Conference, Linda helps many writers take the next step in reaching their writing goals. Linda’s favorite activity (other than eating folded potato chips) is floating in a pool with a good book surrounded by splashing grandchildren—a great source of writing material! www.lindagilden.com

Categories
Uncategorized

Deadlines and Follow-up for Freelance Writers

If you want to impress an editor as freelance writer, I’ll let you in on a little writer secret. Meet your deadline with excellent writing. While it sounds too simple, writers are notoriously late to meet their deadlines. If you meet or even deliver the  article ahead of the deadline with excellent writing, you will stand out from the other writers.

In the “old” days, writers used to be able to fudge a little on the deadline. Without an internet, we had to mail our articles on disks to the editor. When the editor asked about the article, you could say, “My article is in the mail” and sometimes gain an extra couple of days to deliver the piece. Now with high-speed broadband, those excuses do not work. The editor expects the freelancer to send their material on time.

 Excellent Writing Is Appreciated

Editors have been trained to recognize excellent writing for their publication. Does your article have a great beginning paragraph that draws me into the article? Does it have a solid middle with detailed information targeted to the reader? Does it end with a single point or takeaway for the reader? If you can answer each of these questions with “yes” then you have probably written a solid article for the publication.

Also make sure you write your article several days before it is due, then you can leave  the article and return to it with fresh eyes. Pick up a pencil as you read the article fresh and make any adjustments that is needed.

Follow-up Is Important

In our tech driven world, we have grown dependent on email for our communication. Yet email doesn’t always get through or get answered. Today I remembered an article I had turned in for a publication yet the editor never responded. It had been 10 days with no response—which is long enough for that editor to have been on vacation and be back at their desk. I sent a short follow-up email with the article to make sure they got it. You can follow this same pattern if you don’t hear from the editor. A simple reminder asking if they got the submission is professional and acknowledging that things get missed in the process. It also shows the editor you want to deliver excellent work in a timely fashion. The key with your follow-up is to ask straightforward and polite questions with short emails. Editors spend a lot of time answering emails so in general the short emails get answered.

 

As you meet the editor’s deadlines with excellent writing, you will become a part of their stable of writers. These writers have proven their dependability and are the go-to people that the editor uses when they need to assign a feature or special writing  assignment. It’s a select group and you want to be part of this elite group.

To write for Christian magazines, you need to be pitching ideas through query letters and writing full length articles then reaching out and connecting with new editors and new markets. As you take consistent action to meet deadlines with quality writing, you will be published in multiple publications.

Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor, Whalin has written for more than 50 publications including Christianity Today and Writer’s Digest. Terry is the author of How to Succeed As An Article Writer which you can get at: http://writeamagazinearticle.com/. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. His latest book is Billy Graham, A Biography of America’s Greatest Evangelist and the book website is at: http://BillyGrahamBio.com Watch the short book trailer for Billy Graham at: http://bit.ly/BillyGrahamBT His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/terrywhalin

Categories
The Picky Pen

How to Think Like an Editor

Writing is a funny art, isn’t it? Agents and editors (freelance and publishing house) tell us to write, write, write . . . and also make sure that our manuscript is edited well. “Edited well?” But what if we don’t like the word editing because it’s too daunting? What if our minds turn to jelly or we seize up when an agent or mentor tells us to edit our manuscript?

Well. Editing may seem daunting and scary and intimidating, but it’s really just one piece of the writing process. Editing doesn’t have to be so intimidating. Every writer should have an editor, but before sending a manuscript to a personal freelance editor or mentor (or even critique group), we need to make sure that the manuscript is fluid. Simply put, editing is just going through a more detailed process to make sure our manuscript is ready for the public eye. So . . . how do we think like an editor when we aren’t one? I’ll give you some quick tips for thinking like an editor. Ready?

Three Rules for Thinking Like an Editor

1. Am I a one-book author?

Now this is a scary question because agents especially want to ensure that the author seeking representation has more than one story or book idea. If you only have one story idea now and you are finding it hard to come up with another one, please don’t panic.

That’s what your critique group or mentor or friend(s) is for. That’s why you see questions on social media, “Would you read a book about flying saucers in the Carribean?” The author is trying to get feedback on their idea. If you aren’t an idea person (but rather someone who runs with an idea after it’s been fleshed out), you may want to sign up for coaching sessions or find a friend who will listen to your idea strain and then ask you questions about it to get you thinking.

If you have a handful of exceptional one-sentence hooks, that’s a good indication to an editor that you’re not a one-book author.

2. Will my book sell?

Another big question, but an important one. As the author, you will have done your research on other books in the market in the past year that are similar to yours in subject, theme, timeline, and content. If you find many like yours, that’s good. It only means that your idea is being published. Now the trick is to make sure that your hook is ear-grabbing enough to catch an agent’s or editor’s attention. Hooks like “A woman struggles to sell her house but can’t because there’s a hippie living in her basement who refuses to move out” might work. Doesn’t that raise all kinds of questions?

On the other hand, if you can’t find a book like yours out on the market, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it may mean that your book isn’t ready for publication quite yet, or that your genre or subject is too narrow. That said, consider broadening your subject focus or story question. And keep writing!

3. Will I work with an agent or editor to meet deadlines, manuscript edits, and other details?

While the other two questions were super important, this one probably outranks them. Why? Because agents and editors crave for authors who are easy to work with and who aren’t afraid to make necessary changes for the book’s best interest for the needs of the readers. I am not saying you should make every single change that an agent or editor want you to make, for you know where your book stands as far as its core message, and there will be things you will not want to change. However, you can graciously explain why a change cannot be made but keep an open mind in case the suggested change is a good change. A good change will enrich your story, grow you as a writer, and really wow your readers.

If an author can meet deadlines, make clear edits, work with the publisher’s marketing team, and do their part in getting the book into readers’ hands, then that’s the author an agent or editor wants to work with. That’s exactly what thinking like an editor is all about, and chances are, you’ll never be without a writing project or a published book available on your favorite bookstore shelf.

Next month, I’ll share some more tips on how to think like an editor.

But for now, please join in the discussion! I’d love to hear from you!

Take a few minutes and ruminate. What are some other ways you can think like an editor?

About Tisha Martin

Tisha Martin is a writer and editor, and she lives to encourage authors and editors to bridge their relationships and work together for the publishing industry cause, where readers will treasure books for always. With a bachelor’s in Professional Writing, a master’s in English Education, and an editing certificate from the PEN Institute, she has equal passions for writing and editing. Active in ACFW and The PEN, she appreciates both communities. She is the former Assistant Director of PENCON, a conference for editors, where she was instrumental in seeing attendee growth in 2018, up 150% from 2017. She’s also a contest judge for Writer’s Digest. Connect with Tisha on her website www.tishamartin.com and on social media. She looks forward to the conversation!

Categories
Child's Craft

Overcoming Obstacles

Obstacles. Disguised in various ways, they reveal the same evil – blocks to what we want to achieve or to where we want to go.

When I first began running, I recall my first 5K race. As I struggled up a grueling hill, an old woman (probably younger than I am today, but old to my young eyes back then…) flew up next to me, slowed her pace even with mine for long enough to say, “Child, lift your knees just a little bit higher to get up the hills and focus on the pavement, not the top of the hill.” With that, she soared on past.

Since that day, I lift my knees just a little bit higher and focus on the pavement with every hill I face. That was over 30 years ago. Hills are not grueling obstacles for me anymore. While I can’t say I enjoy them, I know how to manage them.

I wondered if I could apply this sage advice to other obstacles in my life. So I broke down the elements of her tactic.

Lift knees higher. This might equate to working harder. Seriously? Sometimes I work like crazy and still face obstacles. I can’t work any harder. Maybe it equates with trying something different. If the same stride isn’t working, try something new.

Focus on the pavement. Perhaps I should stay focused on the task at hand. Don’t keep my eyes on the seemingly impossible goal and all the hard work it takes to get there, but enjoy every step of the way and I’ll eventually get there.

So, what obstacles are you facing in your writing? What prevents you from getting to your finish line? Do you have writers block? Impossible deadlines? Can’t find the right word to fit your cadence? Can’t find the time? Too many words for your children’s book? Having trouble finding an agent or a publisher? Today I’ll offer a few suggestions.

Run. I think running fixes just about everything, but if you don’t run, then try walking, biking, or exercise to get your positive endorphins flowing. There are numerous studies backing up God’s amazing endorphins and the creativity linked with them. Here is one you can read. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10491702/Lacking-inspiration-Exercise-found-to-boost-creativity.html. Some of my best writing ideas were inspired during my runs. Check with your doctor first if you haven’t exercised in a while.

Get away from your computer and get out into God’s world. Sit outside. Breathe in the fresh air. Running outside takes care of this one too. Get the fresh oxygen flowing through your veins to fuel your body and your brain. This change of scenery, may ignite the imagination and get your creative juices flowing. It may clear the mind to start fresh when you return to your task. Even if you’re struggling with making a deadline, getting fresh air and exercise may be just what you need.

Write in a different place. Don’t trap yourself in your office, no matter how peaceful or productive it has been in the past. If it isn’t working for you at the moment, try a different location. Go to another room in your house, Starbucks, or Panera.

Keep writing. Thankfully that lady didn’t tell me to quit running and go home. She wanted to help me through the obstacle of what I was already doing. So keep writing.

In future blogs, we’ll discuss other ways to manage the obstacles we face with writing. But for now, keep lifting those knees a bit higher and focus on the pavement, not the obstacle looming before you.

Share what obstacles you may be facing below and if you have the solution for another’s obstacle, share that below as well.