Final editing of My Not So Normal Life 1

It is 7:05 a.m. I am exhausted. For the last few days I don't feel like I have stopped moving. Adding into my schedule of work, exercise, and enough sleep to get by I have been going over My Not So Normal Life: Spy Recruit over the phone with my editor. Finding time isn't easy when you consider I only have evenings. And the fact that I am getting over a bad cold doesn't help matters either.
Some may ask if this is worth it. They might encourage me to quit. Take my evenings and just relax and watch tv. That's not an option. Writing is a part of me. And I want to share who I am with the world. I could slap some words together and publish (something I did in my youth) but that'd be a disservice to my writing. No one can write something perfextly on the first try. Through revisions to story becomes better. I have worked on My Not So Normal Life for half of my life. I'll gladly give up my precious free time to work on making my book the best it could possibly be.
If only I could take naps at work.

2017 Resolutions

In January 2015, I created a list of resolutions for the first time in my life. I had never been one in the past to make silly resolutions that got broken by January 10th. But that year, I had been inspired by David to set forth some goals. I had two on the list: Get a new job and lose weight. By June of 2015 I had started a new job and by September 2015 I had lost 20 pounds. 2016 I did not make any solid resolutions (I think my only real goal last year was to acclimate to turning 30). So this year I decided to take a page out of 2015's book and write down what I want to accomplish this year.

1. Lose weight (through diet and exercise I want to lose one pound a week). I will track my progress periodically to let you know if this goal is going according to plan. 

2. Read 50 books. I have already read one book "More Than This" by Jay McLean. This is not that much of lofty goal on it's own, but does get to be slightly daunting when you take into consideration #3 and #4. 

3. Publish "My Not So Normal Life" 

4. Complete revisions on "My Not So Normal Life 2" and get it ready for publication. 

5. Get passport renewed (this *should* be an easy goal but you never know)

Side note: I really wish that for every book I read I lost a pound of fat. 

Wish me luck!

-Liz Laz

Three Years Ago Today

Three years ago I went on my first date with David. It was a very low key affair, a dinner and movie double date at my best friend's house. 2014 had been gearing up to be a bad year. I was in a crappy job that gave me little time to write and left me continuously exhausted. I had lost my grandmother (my childhood hero) a month earlier and my last remaining grandparent, my grandpa was in Intensive Care taking it one day at a time. I worried that I would have to cancel my date with David since my grandpa had been in such poor health.

Luckily, I didn't have to cancel and I don't think my date with David could have gone better. I am so glad that David and I were brought together. I cannot imagine my life without him.

Editing Tip: Beta Readers

So you've finished writing. You've gone over the manuscript for content development and grammar revisions. You have a version you are proud of and want to get someone else's opinion. Maybe you already have someone in mind. Here are a few things to keep in mind before giving your manuscript for someone to read over:
1. Make sure your readers are interest in the subject of the book. You may be such an amazing writer that you are able to make someone who hates fantasy love your book; but be mindful to select people who will want to read your book. Don't confuse this with selecting "yes" readers. Selecting readers who actually like the genre is not to ensure you get positive feedback, but to ensure you actually get good, quality, feedback.

2. Find readers who will provide constructive criticism. I once gave an early draft of My Not So Normal Life to a co-worker. I worked in publishing at the time and thought this might be the person to give me some feedback. In hindsight, the book wasn't ready and needed more work. What I got back from her was a simple "Don't quit your day job." It was soul crushing. I would later find readers who gave me more feedback and have helped strengthen my book. But I still hear those words echoing through my head.

3. Be diplomatic about asking and following up with your readers. Be polite, don't pester, give them time.

4. Ask multiple people to be readers. And if possible, let them see the other readers' comments. For My Not So Normal Life I allowed my Beta Readers to read the document in a file sharing program. One of my readers read the prologue and didn't like a paragraph, but she decided not to comment on it since she could see another reader's comment praising the paragraph. Being able to see the comment, reminded my one reader that some aspects of a book will not be universally loved.

5. Don't seek solely praise. If you get it, that's great. Congratulations! But remember, you're still in the editing phase. Meaning you want to have weaknesses pointed out now so they can be fixed. Don't be the Emperor with No Clothes.

Editing Tip #3: Dialogue

Have you ever read a book and thought "that's not how people talk"? I get this a lot with some children and young adult books. When editing, make sure to pay close attention to the dialogue. Read the dialogue aloud. Hearing how the character speaks will help. When reviewing the dialogue, keep a few things in mind:

-does the words, grammar, sentence structure fit in with the character's personality. (Ex. a British character will say "Mum" instead of "Mom" and a small child may not have perfect grammar or big words)
-does your character have any distinguishing features with how he/she speaks? If the character stammers (occasionally) consider "P-p-p-p-please," over "Please"
-Does the dialogue give too much away. Don't have a villain who explains everything including his/her motivation. You can allude to backstory, but be mindful of saying everything.

When you are done reviewing it, ask a trusted friend about any sections you still aren't sure about. In the editing process, as many set of eyes as possible is always helpful.

Writing Tip #2: Development

Probably the most common problem I see in writing (both my own and others') is not telling enough of the story. I have the vision of my character in my head. I know who she is. I know what she looks like. I know why is acts the way she does. Some stuff is obvious to me. But it's not to my readers if I don't describe it. I can be a very rushed writer. I have the ideas and need to get them out as fast as I can. That's not bad, but it means that I need to go back and add in any missing information. Then, when I have a draft I have read over, I give it to David and my sister. They read over it. David will ask me questions about character development and tell me how he envisioned certain characters. Katie will tell me where I rushed over the description of the book and give me suggestions for how to enhance the story. To the writers reading this, find these people. The ones who will not passively read your manuscript and tell you it's good. I have read too many published books where I have felt the book needed another set of eyes. Ones where the motivation for a character was lacking or where support characters had not unique features and were interchangeable. 

My advice for this week: Make sure the story and characters in your head get on the page. 

Do that by the following: 

-get a pack of note cards. Each time a character or place is introduced, write the name on one side. And on the reverse side, write the words used to describe that place or character. Might seem tedious, but it will help with consistency and as a check that you described everything. 

-when reading ask why this is happening. Why does the hero continue on his quest and not go back home when conflict arises? Why would two characters be friends if they seem to be an odd pairing? How would a character react to hearing certain dialogue? These are questions readers may be asking themselves when they are reading. When you ask the questions, make sure your book answers them. 

-get readers to read your book and concentrate on development. Yes, typos will annoy the reader, but so will an underdeveloped story. 

Writing Tip:

Writing Tips:

Welcome to November, hopefully everyone who had been participating on NaNoWriMo was successful. My post today is for everyone who has a draft of a manuscript and has the question: Now what?

When I began writing novels as a teenager I got so excited about finishing a manuscript that I'd immediately give it to my sisters to read. They were interested in reading it, if nothing else just to see what I had created. Looking back, my mistake was a big one: I didn't self-edit. Now, I HATE, ABHOR, and LOATHE editing. It can be tedious and is a lot of hard work. You  as the writer go from finishing a book, thinking it is awesome then have to turn a critical eye to it. It's not fun. But you have to do it. I was lucky my sisters were supportive and kept reading through the sentence fragments and undeveloped plot (commonplace in a first draft) and gave me constructive criticism to develop and edit my book.

Give your unpolished manuscript to someone with less constructiveness and you'll get the advice I got from one unnamed family member of "don't quit your day job." Next week I'll discuss the importance of having second or beta readers, but this week I want to focus on how to edit what you've just written.

Here are my 5 tips for how to edit your book:

1. Print out the book on paper. You'll find a lot more mistakes on paper than on a computer screen. Also, it is the first time you'll be able to hold up your book and show it off and get to talk about it.

"What are you doing?" someone asks while you edit your book.
"Just editing my book," you respond nonchalantly, with a tilt of your head.
"What? You wrote that? What's it about?" the person asks.
"It's a epic adventure story set in the wild west."

2. Use a colored pen and write on the manuscript. Use post it notes if there isn't enough margin space. Don't keep the pages clean from marks. Marks are good, they mean you're improving your book.

3. Write legibly. I had a professor who loved to bleed over everyone's papers. She had sloppy handwriting and used a felt tip pen. The only way her writing could have been sloppier is if she used her foot to write. Inputting the edits became so much harder. And with editing the easier you make it on your self the more likely you'll actually get through it.

4. Take some time between finishing writing and editing. Read a book. Then another. And maybe one more (depending on your time schedule and how fast you can read). Pick some books with a similar genre or theme to yours. Don't copy from the books, but see if there is anything those writers did that you liked or didn't like.

5. When your editing, ask yourself questions.
Why is the character acting that way?
Why does the setting look like that?
How does the character feel at any given point?
What is the purpose of the chapter?