Category Archives: All about writing

A blog about the topics of writing, All about writing

Do you order a proof of your book prior to releasing it?

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Do you order a proof before you release your book out into the world? How confident are you in your critique group, editor, and beta readers?
How confident are you in your ability to get your manuscript in the best shape possible?

Because that is what it comes down to, getting as near perfect as you can. You won’t ever get it 100% right. Sorry, get that thought out of your head. You just won’t. We are human and imperfect.

When Squirrel Mafia was on the cusp of being released, my editor suggested I get one. Thank goodness she did.

Yeah, this was the first book I had done the graphics for and went with pictures I had taken. It was a hot mess. The images were all over the place, except where they belonged.

The format of the pages and chapters was slightly off. Others had the title of the chapter on a different page and a few other issues.

It is hard to break into this business. Well, to break into it and do halfway decent. Ordering a proof could help your book look better and head it in a better direction than if you hadn’t.

A blog about the topics of writing, All about writing

Your writing Voice: Do you know it?

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As writers, do you know what your voice is?

According to Margaret Maron, creator of Judge Deborah Knott: “Voice is the most important ingredient in a successful book. The plot may be clever, but if the voice doesn’t engage us, how can we care?”

According to John Morgan Wilson who writes the Benjamin Justice mystery series: “There is difference between voice and style though it is difficult to get at. To me voice is closer to attitude and the emotional quality of the prose, reflecting the personality of the author.”

According to Chris Roerden:” The first step in developing your voice is not to add something but to identify the ineffective writing habit and techniques you’ve picked up over the years and get rid of them.”

My Character Development instructor said he knew my voice and I did as well. Funny I thought to myself for my last instructor told me the same thing. This is a trend for people out of my writing groups who concur with these teachers. How come everyone knows what my voice is but me? I have read numerous articles on this topic. But I try hard not to think on this and just write. Apparently I am accomplishing the voice subconsciously.

Jason Pinter , former St. Martin’s Press editor states: “Voice is the conversational quality of your writing, the way you “talk” to your reader. It’s as important in writing as it is in conversing aloud with someone or speaking to a group. If your voice isn’t confident, assured, authoritative, natural, and appropriate for your characters and story, the writing will feel stilted, forced, ragged, weak, awkward. Just as speaking aloud is ineffective if one is halting, hesitant, lacking in confidence, and so on.”

This one makes sense to me since for now I can’t verbally express my definition of the voice. One good way is to read your story aloud. It may sound silly but it is a good way to hear one’s errors, pace and flow. Perhaps a writer will discover their voice.

Will I ever be able to describe this important ingredient to others? I do not know. Hopefully though my voice is being written loud and clear in my writings.

A blog about the topics of writing, All about writing

Do children’s book need to be researched?

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When I mentioned to someone how much research I was doing for my children’s series what I received in return was a blank stare.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?” I asked.

What unfolded was frustration on my part that someone thought that children’s book should not be researched on their topics. This blew my mind. It was sadly not the only time I’ve heard this.

My series is based on our rescued and adopted parrot, Jasper, who’s history is from the rainforest. While I know about birds and my birds in particular I certainly only knew the bare minimum about where he was from.

So, yes I researched it. One key example I toss out at people is this. I was looking for a new animal to introduce to the story line. A friend suggested an elephant and how cool that would be. I ran off with this. I ended up writing almost four pages for the scene to unfold.

It only hit me after. Are there elephants in the rainforest? Well, no. So that was wasted time and energy.

I want my readers to enjoy the book and to learn from it. But to do that work is needed to make it accurate. Our children deserve that in my opinion. An author should put as much care into this genre as any other genre. Why is it important for the adults and teens but not them? That is a disservice to children in this age group.

Anyone who writes in this genre are getting the children ready for future reads and genres. Giving them false information just to get the story done, being to lazy to make it worth the time by researching, not feeling they deserve a well rounded book like any other genre and don’t need the attention to detail like others is something I don’t subscribe to.


This is why I research all my genres, the adults and especially the children.