Hello lovely people.

I last wrote about character death. It’s not going so well. It’s not so much the writing as it is my anger. Sometimes writing out your personal anger/issues is very therapeutic (not to mention, cheaper), and sometimes it is distracting to the point where you find that you spent 20 minutes organizing magazines for your guns, and that you did it in order of caliber. 9mm, .40, .45. I chose to leave everything else on the side. I even organized by Glock, Sig Sauer, etc. I was told you should have at least 5-7 back-ups per gun. I find myself appalled that I have exceeded such expectations. I have no idea if I’m prepared for a person, or a bear. Is it better to be prepared and never need them?

I don’t get true writer’s block, but I do get annoyed. I find that the best thing to do is walk away from whatever it is I am writing once I’ve reached annoyance level. There is always time to re-visit what you’re writing. Coming back refreshed helps rid me of my annoyance, and it helps the words flow much smoother than they would if I had “ridden it out”. I’m absolutely NOT going to sit here and stare at the screen unless I’ve got words to type. It’s not going to happen. I can take a break, drink some water, and do other things. It need not be forced. If I force the work, it will show, and I’ll have to scrap it any way, so I have learned not to push. One of the benefits of 27 years of writing experience is that I know when to back off and give myself some space. I trust my instincts implicitly. In turn, I’m shelving the deaths and will re-focus my attention on book 1 re-writes.

Recently someone asked me how many times they should re-write and/or revise a manuscript before submission. They’d done four revisions, I believe. I strongly encouraged them NOT to say “This has been revised four times.” in their query letter because absolutely no literary agent wants to hear such a small number. I did not say to lie, but I did say “Get someone you trust to look it over with a discerning eye.” (If you’re a writer reading this, I would also encourage you to hire someone via Elance.com to do a full-on edit, and be open to their ideas for changes, but do not for a single second think that you can throw $50 at someone and that the end result will be perfect. You get what you pay for, I know because I’ve been editing for about 19 years. Come to the table with a really solid budget. $400-$500, at the very least, and select someone who has, at minimum, 10 years of editing experience.  If you want to pay hourly, you can certainly come to the table with a smaller budget based on how many chapters you have, but in order to know you’re making the right choice with someone, I’d only send them the first two chapters. If that doesn’t come back solid, find someone else to finish the job.). They want to hear that you’ve put YEARS into writing this book and that they’re not simply looking at a first draft you’ve been playing around with for six months. Essentially, they will be the determining factor for so much, so respect their position and bring your A game.

I will be back soon with some interesting topics of discussion. Enjoy the rest of your week.

copyright © 2014 by Lisa Marino & Blackbird Serenity LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED