So you’re submitting your manuscript Here’s the usual expected formatting: http://marycmoore.com/index.php/2016/01/09/how-to-format-your-fiction-submission/. But how do you get Word to do that? Level 1: Padawan I have Office 2016 on Windows 7, so your setup might look a little different. Try searching the term I give you and the version of Word that you have (e.g., “font…
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Ingredients for a Successful Writers Retreat
How to have a successful writers (writers’? writer’s?) retreat, if you’re me: A low-distraction location. My author friend and I rented an AirBnB with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room—perfect for us, because it was exactly what we needed and no more. Bonus: it was decorated with tons and tons of…
How to finish the draft: maybe you need a deadline
I did it! It’s done! I wrote a decent draft of a whole novel! I would have celebrated, but I was too tired. You see, I was writing to a deadline—an honest-to-goodness deadline with money on the line and someone waiting to receive my manuscript. I almost didn’t make it, but, as it turns out,…
At least I’m not alone
As we’ve already established, I’m a terrible boss for myself. But at least I’m not alone.
How cheap do you need “Cars as a Service” to be?
So this is off my usual topic, but I found it interesting! I wrote a thing for my friend’s technology blog on how much I could afford to pay for Cars as a Service and still break even with my current spending. You should go read it! (Takes less than 5 minutes). Here’s a public…
Getting readers hooked (and stringing them along)
Trying to unstick myself while drafting my current work-in-progress, I was drawing a timeline of my story (an adaptation of the idea in this post). My main plot is a question that’s (hopefully) raised in the reader’s mind on almost the first page and that doesn’t get resolved until almost the last page—the main dramatic…
Throwing shade since the 1600s
I recently learned an awesome (if you’re a word nerd) bit of trivia. I was looking up “umbrage” for reasons that I’ve now forgotten, and discovered that its original meaning was “shadow” (as from a parasol or umbrella). To quote the Oxford Dictionaries, the etymology of the word is: Late Middle English (sense 2): from…
Review: “This Savage Song”
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was lucky enough to read this book all in one day (long day of travel), and boy does it hold your attention! I loved the setting, modern day but with a twist, and the monsters are unique and interesting, both what they’re…
Like a Boss: Writing a Book is (and isn’t) Like Writing Software
The other day, I was feeling bad about not getting enough writing done. Despite having written more than 45,000 words in just over two months, I wanted to have written more. Contrast that feeling to when I worked at a big tech company. As I grew in my career, I could put in a hard…
Forcing yourself to be honest…and realistic
Since I’ve been working on my novel full time, the first draft has grown from 0 to 33,000 words. Not bad! But that took two months, and I feel like I can do better (especially since this is the first draft and I’m working from a pretty good outline). I’ve been keeping track of how…