Present Tense: Breathlessly Waiting to Read About What’s Already Happened

Present TenseAs an editor, I’ve made no bones about my preference for past tense in both fiction and memoir writing. And I know I’m not alone. Yet there seems to be a movement toward writing in present tense, and there have been some passionate blogs written about the past versus present debate. In a blog titled “Does (or Did) Tense Matter?” D. Thomas Minton wrote:

“Stories in the present tense feel more urgent and immediate to me—I feel like I’m there with the characters, instead of listening to the story after-the-fact, while sitting in the cozy comfort of a coffee shop.  In contrast, the temporal distance that comes with past tense removes this immediacy, but past tense is more conducive to reflection, as if the narrator has had a chance to digest what has happened to him or her prior to telling me.”

Do you find present tense engaging or off-putting? #writers #authors #writing Click To Tweet

So maybe I prefer the reflective aspect of writing? Or perhaps I’m just an old dog who doesn’t want to learn new tricks—the author of The Singularity Sucks blog suggests it’s an age thing:

Continue reading “Present Tense: Breathlessly Waiting to Read About What’s Already Happened”

How and Why to Start Blogging in 4 Easy Steps: Every Writer Has a Story to Tell

Today I welcome guest blogger Liam O’Dell, who caught my attention several months ago with his enthusiastic and entertaining blogs about his writing and his many passions. I hope you’ll enjoy “meeting” him and will make a point to visit him at The Life of a Thinker.

How and Why to Start Blogging
Image courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hello everyone, it’s nice to meet you. I am a fellow blogger and writer. I thought that for this guest blog that Candace has kindly let me do, I shall talk about an element of writing with the hope of inspiring you and making you think.

Some of this blog post involves me making presumptions,  the main one being that some of you aren’t bloggers yourselves. This is the same as me: I have a blog, but have only done it since August of last year, so I’m still a “newbie,” as it were. So, I thought I would provide advice on how to start blogging. Why? Because it has greatly improved my writing. So, here we go!

How can blogging improve your writing? #writing #writers #amwriting #bloggers #blogging Click To Tweet

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Are You Missing Great Content?

Twice a day I check Twitter and WordPress for information I think my followers will appreciate, and when I find valuable content, I post links to articles and blogs on my Facebook page. The information on that page is quite different from my blog posts, and if you’re not there, you’re missing some great stuff!

Image courtesy of tungphoto at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of tungphoto at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you’re reading this and you haven’t already “liked” my Facebook page, please do so now–I know you’ll find valuable content there, and I try not to duplicate what you’ll find on my blog. Thanks for the follow! And please tell your friends! 🙂 Click here to join today–you’ll be glad you did!  —Candace

From Humble Beginnings to Achieving the American Dream

Maureen FranciscoSeveral months ago I held a drawing for free editing—one winner came from this blog and another from my Facebook page. The Facebook winner, Maureen Francisco, was a previous client of mine: I had the privilege of proofreading her debut self-help book, It Takes Moxie: Off the Boat, or Out of School, to Making It Your Way in America. Maureen wanted to submit a couple of articles related to her for publication, so she used her prize to have me edit them for her. (Stay tuned—one of them was picked up by a major source and will appear later this week!)

It Takes Moxie offers the tools, strategies, and principles Maureen used to achieve her own success (see details below) as well as the stories of immigrants who achieved the American Dream in a big way, including Dr. Connie Mariano,the White House doctor; Richard Cho, the first Asian-American GM of a major sports franchise; Amy Chua, author of the New York Times bestseller Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom; Teddy Zee, executive producer of The Pursuit of Happyness and Life or Something Like It, and many more.

Check out It Takes Moxie (and all the five-star reviews) on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Update May 2013: It Takes Moxie has been selected as a winner in the Multicultural Non-Fiction category of the 2013 National Indie Excellence Awards. Congratulation to Maureen!
Continue reading “From Humble Beginnings to Achieving the American Dream”

The Happiness of Working with an Editor

You write for many reasons, but whether writing is your passion, your vocation, or something you are just beginning to do, I’m willing to bet that you write because it makes you happy.

Working with an Editor
I love my editor!

Think about the way you feel when you know you’ve nailed a page of dialogue . . . or your article is accepted for publication in a national magazine . . . or you’re offered representation from a literary agent.

H-A-P-P-Y!

These are the moments a writer lives for, aren’t they? Continue reading “The Happiness of Working with an Editor”

The Procrastination Station

I recently had to write some copy for the back cover of a client’s book, and I avoided this writing for days. Sound familiar?

As writers we often find ourselves at the mercy of the ideas that one day flow faster than we can type, yet the next day apparently have a strong desire to hide like dust bunnies under the bed—they scatter as soon as we get close to them.

writing procrastination
Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When the latter happens, we find a million and one things to do other than write (I see you nodding!). I’ve noticed many bloggers writing recently about NOT writing—and I totally get it. Whether you dabble at writing as a hobby or you make your living this way, you’ll always have days when you reach The Procrastination Station* and just can’t get going.

(*Thanks to my good friend, Angela Rose, founder of PAVE: Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment for the use of this phrase. Learn more about Angela and PAVE here.)

The Procrastination Station Click To Tweet

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FREE Book with 5 Easy Steps to Becoming a Published Author (This Weekend Only)!

From Friday, January 11 through Sunday, January 13, you have a chance to download a free Kindle version of What’s Your Book?, an aspiring author’s guide to completing the dream to become a published author. This comprehensive guide gives you the best info from innovative publishing professional Brooke Warner, who is one of my personal heroes in the publishing world; learn more about her here.jpeg_WYB_cover_image_320

In five chapters, What’s Your Book? will help you discover how to:

  • embrace the art of becoming an author;
  • get over common hurdles that prevent you from finishing your book;
  • challenge counterproductive mindsets;
  • build an author platform; and
  • get published.

These are just a few of the many tips you’ll find in What’s Your Book? Most important, you’ll learn about the three paths to publishing so that once you complete your work, you commit to yourself that you’ll bring it to your readers. Continue reading “FREE Book with 5 Easy Steps to Becoming a Published Author (This Weekend Only)!”

What Can a Traditionally Published Author Learn About Book Promotion from Self-Published Authors?

I have an editing client whose book will be traditionally published. Her publisher took care of promotion with her earlier books, but she’s discovering that having a traditional publishing contract in today’s world means she needs to learn about book promotion—FAST!

book promotion
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici @freedigitalphotos.com

This got me to thinking about how similar her dilemma is to those faced by self-publishing authors: ultimately, she will be responsible for the lion’s share of promoting her newest book. True, she has some support from her publisher, but nothing like “the good ol’ days” of having a team assigned to help her. Her (small) publisher has limited staff, limited resources, and limited ideas. As the publication date draws near, she’s beginning to realize that the world of traditional publishing has changed. Continue reading “What Can a Traditionally Published Author Learn About Book Promotion from Self-Published Authors?”

3 Ideas for Better Writing

From Candace: Here is some great advice about writing from fellow blogger Oliver at Literature and Libation. I hope you’ll check out some of his other posts–you’ll be glad you did!

I Love Bloggers!

I’ve had SO much fun since I began blogging a few months ago! The best parts are receiving comments on my posts and connecting with fellow bloggers, many of whom I would never have met any other way. One of my favorites is Cynthia at Wicked Green Smoothies, because she shares the most amazingly healthy green smoothies several times a month, and no kidding, they make me drool! Cynthia is also an author of paranormal romance (hope I’ll have the privilege of working with her one day!) and you can find out more about that on her other website, http://cluhrs.com.

So imagine my surprise today when I received a notice that she’d nominated me for the Reality and Shine On blog awards! Continue reading “I Love Bloggers!”