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Welcome. Toss a blanket down, sit for a while under the willow, relax, and enjoy what's written below.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Interview With Allison Merritt
Today I have the honor of interviewing romance writer Allison Merritt here Under the Willow Tree. I hope you will find her interview as interesting as I did.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
OMGoodness I Dit It!
Today Gypsy Spirits was released on Amazon. com and Barnes and Noble. com. It was the #1 thing on my bucket list. After almost two years it is a good feeling to see it on sale. Now we'll see if anyone else likes it.
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon:
Barnes and Noble
Have a wonderful day.
Blessings,
Marianne
Thursday, April 12, 2012
WRITING, EDITING, WAITING?
Greetings from under the willow tree,
Which of the above three is the hardest? I suppose that question will be answered differently by everyone who reads it. For me, it is waiting. For a while I thought it was editing, but I find waiting is worse-much worse.
Which of the above three is the hardest? I suppose that question will be answered differently by everyone who reads it. For me, it is waiting. For a while I thought it was editing, but I find waiting is worse-much worse.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Out of Our Comfort Zones?
Hi from the willow tree,
We’ve all heard to read outside of our genre-our comfort zone.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Gathering Knowledge and A Book Review
Greeting from the willow tree,
My post today about gathering knowledge begins with a review of Toby Neal’s novel. In order to become better writers, we not only need to write we need to read. Reading in your own genre is a wonderful way to gather ideas. Reading outside of your genre is entertaining and you will learn ways of writing you may have over looked. Regardless of what you enjoy reading; I would strongly suggest you read “Blood Orchids.”
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Editing
Hello From Under the Willow,
I am here hiding. Yes, hiding under my willow-I wish. I did that when I was a child. I hid under the willow in our front yard thinking no one or nothing could find me. I was wrong. I know hiding will not help now. I have to come out and do the work-editing.
Ugg! I don't mind the second or even third draft when I edit my MS, but when you look at it and know you have to get in there and do the hard work, I am ready to hide. When I see entire paragraphs, scenes or pages that don't work and I have to tear them out and save them in my deleted file it gets to me. I worked hard on those original words. After I performed all the necessary rework this time and I read it again I see the improvement. That's when I know the work is well worth the time. Some of my deleted work can be reworked into my MS in a different place. All's well or is it. Hmm something sounds out of place and here I go again.
I'm not sure how many times I have written and rewritten the same words or scene. Each time I know it is better, but starting the editing process can be daunting.
I have found a few things that helped me in the beginning and I thought I would share them. Using the Word program is wonderful because it catches most of my spelling errors and some of the punctuation mistakes. For other things I have read blogs and checked out web sites and used some of their programs. Some are free. Some moderately priced. I prefer free. Search the web for other sites that may have help for what ever problem you are facing.
For one of my first problem solvers I used Auto Crit to help me find errors in my MS. I love blogs that offer help. This one Taking Out the Trash was helpful with a list of words we should try to avoid using and other suggestions. The last link is Better Writing through Cheap Technology with a list of links to other useful ideas to help you edit your MS.
I have printed pages out and read them out loud and had some read to me, but I found I can upload my MS to my Kindle and have it read to me. It amazed me how many tiny errors I read over but heard when they were spoken. If you don't have a Kindle there is a link in the Better Writing link above that will connect you to an on-line reader.
With all this help, editing has become easier, but I still miss all the words, phrases and sentences that I deleted from my MS. They all made sense and sounded good at some point. Happy writing to all of you and happy editing, too.
Blessings,
Marianne
I am here hiding. Yes, hiding under my willow-I wish. I did that when I was a child. I hid under the willow in our front yard thinking no one or nothing could find me. I was wrong. I know hiding will not help now. I have to come out and do the work-editing.
Ugg! I don't mind the second or even third draft when I edit my MS, but when you look at it and know you have to get in there and do the hard work, I am ready to hide. When I see entire paragraphs, scenes or pages that don't work and I have to tear them out and save them in my deleted file it gets to me. I worked hard on those original words. After I performed all the necessary rework this time and I read it again I see the improvement. That's when I know the work is well worth the time. Some of my deleted work can be reworked into my MS in a different place. All's well or is it. Hmm something sounds out of place and here I go again.
I'm not sure how many times I have written and rewritten the same words or scene. Each time I know it is better, but starting the editing process can be daunting.
I have found a few things that helped me in the beginning and I thought I would share them. Using the Word program is wonderful because it catches most of my spelling errors and some of the punctuation mistakes. For other things I have read blogs and checked out web sites and used some of their programs. Some are free. Some moderately priced. I prefer free. Search the web for other sites that may have help for what ever problem you are facing.
For one of my first problem solvers I used Auto Crit to help me find errors in my MS. I love blogs that offer help. This one Taking Out the Trash was helpful with a list of words we should try to avoid using and other suggestions. The last link is Better Writing through Cheap Technology with a list of links to other useful ideas to help you edit your MS.
I have printed pages out and read them out loud and had some read to me, but I found I can upload my MS to my Kindle and have it read to me. It amazed me how many tiny errors I read over but heard when they were spoken. If you don't have a Kindle there is a link in the Better Writing link above that will connect you to an on-line reader.
With all this help, editing has become easier, but I still miss all the words, phrases and sentences that I deleted from my MS. They all made sense and sounded good at some point. Happy writing to all of you and happy editing, too.
Blessings,
Marianne
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