Wednesday Special Spotlight
Shines On
The ever difficult process of getting a book published.
Writing is full of challenges, from the perfecting the actual craft to getting the book published to mastering marketing. Along the way, if you’re like us, you’ve probably had your share of writing mishaps-things you hate to see happen.
Here are ten of our We-hate-when-that-happens moments.
1. When we miss the wrong word in a sentence that spell check didn’t catch and send the piece to the editor for publication. Sliver and silver—both are spelled correctly but can’t be used interchangeably.
2. When we see the transposed letters of a word in our blog comments AFTER the comment has been posted and you can’t get to it for a do over.
3. When our hero’s eye color changes mid-book because somebody forgot to check the character sheet. (No we won’t identify the “somebody”)
4. When the find and replace option in Microsoft Word replaces ALL the spaces between the words, instead of the one extra space after every sentence targeted, turning the manuscript into one loooooong run-on sentence. Yes,ithappenedtous. That’s why we don’t recommend using the replace all function.
5. When everyone in the critique group hates our favorite part of a scene. That usually means there’s going to be a lot of rewriting.
6. When your finger finds the delete key instead of the save key. Thank goodness for the UNDO function!
7. When you realize the whole chapter you just finished doesn’t go anywhere, doesn’t move the plot forward, and that chapter has to be slashed from the book.
8. When the critique partners love the secondary characters more than the hero or heroine. Ugh!
9. When we love a secondary character more than a hero or heroine. (One solution is that means a second book.)
10. When you close down the computer and it crashes the next time it‘s opened. This is why Catherine prints out a hard copy every time she creates new pages and stores them in a three ring binder. Paper is her friend. (She has the file drawers full to prove it. 20 at last count.
Do you have an I-hate-when-that-happens moment? We would love to hear it. Please share in a comment below so we don’t fell so inept. 😉
You can find our books on our book page, under the menu at the top of the page or on our Amazon Author Page
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C.D. Hersh 