Tag: Better Writing

7 Steps to Editing Like a PROfessional!

blue stream, silver mining pan, swishing rocks while mining for gold nuggets

Editing is part of every writer’s job. Finding the time, and more importantly, making that time count is how the PROfessionals edit. Read on for the 7 editing tricks to enhance your writing. 1) Find your editing groove. For some this is EARLY when eyes are the sharpest and focus is the clearest. For others their peak time might be mid-to-late afternoon. Caffeine kicks in, morning rush dies down and – again, this is about focus – the brain settles into a rhythm. I caution against late night editing. Eyes are slower from all the image bombardment of the day. Eagle eyes are needed for effective editing. If, however, evening is the ONLY quiet time […]

How to Make the MOST of your Writing Weekends: WORDfest 2019

Be a Better Writer for K.M. Saint James teaching tips

WORDFEST.org Saturday, March 23, 2019 — a day spent with writers, bloggers, authors, playwrights, educational specialists — in essence, a day to grow and learn as a writer. Like most conferences, there were seminars designed to encourage growth of basic skills to the next level, those for writers who’ve been around the proverbial publishing block, ones to maximizing online presence and even specialty sessions for groups wanting to grow their membership. Visual demographics leaned heavily toward the female gender, but there was a great blend of young and old. “Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. Writing is for the tenacious . For those who can stand the solitude. For those who are willing to […]

HARM’S WAY AVAILABLE ON KINDLEUNLIMITED – tips for TheImageApothecary.com & Canva.com

Be a Better Writer for K.M. Saint James teaching tips

HARM’S WAY NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED! As I push for completion on the second book in THE DONOVAN LEGACY, CHASING DESTINY, I have moved HARM’S WAY to Kindle Unlimited. I’ve spent the past several days on THEIMAGEAPOTHECARY.COM downloading multiple images for book release ad-building. Special thanks to FLIP-FLOP SISTER, and fellow author, Mary Karlik for the author & marketing friendly insight into THEIMAGEAPOTCHECARY. I downloaded the images into my local PAINT folder and then moved them into Canva.com for actual manipulation. I’ve designed several ‘work’ graphics and brochures on CANVA.com so I had a basic understanding of the graphic design site. Again, user-friendly, and there is a FREE version so you can check it […]

How to entice Readers . . . 5 Writing Tips to Building Book Teasers!

How to write better book teasers

Writing . . . writing . . . and writing. The book is nearing its end. What’s next for the author? Before you go crazy considering ALL the things to do for a book launch, focus on something closer to your current writing mind-set. Every writing day is about producing new words. But it is also about editing what’s on page. You polish scene consistency, authentic characters, snappy dialogue, and just enough narrative to set any scene. So, while completely enmeshed in the writing and rewriting, here is the perfect opportunity to search out book teasers for the upcoming book launch. Remember, writing as a PROfessional requires authors to hone their craft, daily. Teasers — […]

A Writer’s Magic – as close as fingertips!

Harry Potter used a wand. Bewitched twitched her nose. Harry Dresden wielded a staff. Writers come with their own special form of magic. Whether it’s pen to pad, stylus to tablet, or keyboard to PC . . . a writer’s magic is as close as fingertips. New writers often feel that they must pursue fiction writing as they don’t carry a bag of non-fiction writing tricks. Don’t allow the concept of non-fiction writing to intimidate. Consider the 3 easily defined categories: Educating: How-to-manuals, directions, historical explanations, or scientific explorations fall into this category. Influencing or persuasive: Every sales brochure, each editorial, even academic critiques are designed to persuade the reader to a certain conclusion. Narrative: […]

Marketing Plan of Action – how to start simple and build to great!

Marketing Plan of Action tips by K.M. Saint James

Tim Grahl, author of Your First 1000 Copies and founder of booklaunch.com believes that Marketing doesn’t need to be a ‘eew’ prospect. So, I’ve read over a few of his techniques and decided to break-it down into a Plan of Action. New Year . . . New Goals . . . and all that. More importantly, it’s about finding a way to market that doesn’t make the author in me cringe at the idea. READ ALONG & SEE IF YOU AGREE According to Tim, MARKETING is about creating long-lasting connections. I’d say this is sound business whether you’re selling books, artwork or cars off the used lot. None of us want just the ONE-AND-DONE customer. […]

Snapping Photos?? Breathe LIFE into Writing . . .

Breathing Life into Writing

I’m old enough that Kodak still means cameras to me. Instant camera was our phrase from the 60s & 70s. Of course, considering today’s technology, it’s ludicrous to think those were instant pictures. 1) First to film – The lucky owned a 35MM, which meant loading the camera was always a treat. Lining it up – perfectly – to catch the leading edge of the film reel (and hoping like crazy that you’d really accomplished that feat so you’d be taking pictures instead of just turning the hand crank). For the novice photo buff, it started with a Kodak Instamatic: a pop-and-click camera. 2) No do-overs — As you shot the roll of film, it […]

Teaching an Old Dog (writer) New Tricks. Secrets to Better Writing.

The Donovan Legacy (HARM’S WAY – current release) actually started with a prequel. CHASING DESTINY CHASING DESTINY was written a year in front of HARM’S WAY and then promptly buried among all my floppy disks. Yep, that long ago.  Having recovered my earlier works, I realized the characters of CHASING DESTINY (Garrick & Jaycee) deserved their own release. To that end, the rewrites began. The process has been enlightening: good & bad. And that tenuous, often painful, process deserved to be shared as well. Producing better writing is hard work. Short cuts are not generally the answer, but you can learn to be a smarter writer by following some of these writing tips. New eyes […]

Writing It Right with Wordle.net

Chasing Destiny by K.M. Saint James

Breathing new life into an older manuscript (Chasing Destiny) brought me to Wordle.net Writers . . . do you want to know your most commonly used words in a chapter? Writers . . . Do you know your most common words in your blogs, newsletters, query letters? Here’s how to find out: DIRECTLY FROM THE WORDLE WEBSITE: ‘WORDLE is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, […]

Grammar – A necessary evil to writing well.

Be a Better Writer for K.M. Saint James teaching tips

I have been re-reading ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’ by Lynne Truss. Glutton for punishment? Hardly. Like most authors, I must constantly refine my skills. There is no ‘quick grow’ method to sound writing. No short-cut or easy season. Study time, butt-in-chair effort to learn basic and advance grammar is the most effective method for a good crop of sentences. As to EATS, SHOOTS, AND LEAVES: if you haven’t read Lynne’s witty take on grammar and its sad decline, you are in for a treat. She entertains and educates – no easy feat. If you’re new to writing, then best advice: learn the grammar rules. A past critique partner, albeit a brilliant woman, continually brought her […]