Writing – Page 7

The One-Sheet

August 8, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I freely admit that I have a lot yet to learn about the publishing industry. Which is why I’m really grateful for the opportunity to attend the writer’s conference this week. For the two or three years before we left for China, I was actively working on my freelance writing, doing copywriting work for a local company, writing my novel, staying abreast of the latest books and news, and generally advancing a freelance writing career on the side while I homeschooled my kids.

Then we moved to China, where quite frankly, I cared about other things. Like negotiating the price of a garment in Chinese while three kids were tugging on my sleeve and speaking to me in English. Or keeping mold out of our belongings in mold season, and cockroaches in cockroach season–other things besides writing and publishing.

I don’t regret that. I just need to be aware of how much the publishing industry has changed while I’ve been out of the loop. So this weekend, I learned a new skill: the one-sheet. Thanks to the Writer’s Conference Survival Guide (there you go, another free ad), I figured out how to put mine together. Here it is, but since the one-sheet goes to an editor or agent, who want to know how you’ve rounded out the ending, I’ve hidden some information to prevent a spoiler.

I created it in Photoshop Elements with a stock photograph in the background from my favorite stock photography company, Pond 5.

July 3 in 30 Week 4

July 23, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

The biggest factor in our lives this week has been the heat! Sleeping has been difficult, and the days have been lazy. In spite of the weather, I’m doing great on two of my goals for 3 in 30. Exercise has been a challenge for me, since I just couldn’t bear to get any sweatier:

Bible in 90 Days – Got caught up at the beginning of the week and then lost a day one day this week because I just tried to do too many things in a day. But I’m caught up again, and really glad I decided to take the challenge.
Manuscript Revision – Posted my revision schedule in yesterday’s post. Feeling very good about this, although I can’t help getting a little nervous that I’ll actually be able to pull this off. It feels like I have A LOT to do in the countdown to the writer’s conference I’m attending August 10-13. You do know that’s only 19 days away, right?
Exercise – I’m really trying to cut myself some slack here. It has been crazy hot, and with the air conditioning on and fans blowing everywhere, the temperature on the lower floor of the house hasn’t gone below 27 all week. In the face of this, I’ve wimped out on exercise. I exercised three days this week instead of the four I hoped for, or the five to seven I was doing last month. Fortunately, with the heat, my appetite has been reduced as well, so I’m holding steady. Looks like there’s a break in the temperature coming up next week. Looking forward to that!

Revision Schedule

July 22, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Is it perverse that I’m actually enjoying the revision process? Because I’ve written with a giant three-year hiatus between the first half of my second draft and the second half, I can see how my writing has developed.

I’m also seeing lots of things I think need change. Which is why I picked up an old favorite of mine, a book called Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan. It’s the text from the very first writing course I ever took from what was then Writer’s Online Workshops, and what now seems to be Writer’s Digest University.

It contains so much wonderful advice, and her writing is such a delight to read, I’m enjoying the read all over again. And picking up tons of good advice about how to revise my manuscript. While I read last night, I made a list of things to revise, and tried out a few. Just searching out one word in my manuscript and editing the portions that contained it, already made for a much stronger story. I could see where I had been holding back, which was my instinct about the story, but I couldn’t quite identify why I felt that way.

So here is my plan for revision until the July 31. (Please don’t laugh, even if you know it’s completely unrealistic.) The end of the month was my deadline anyway, but I’m even more serious about it now because I’ve been given a scholarship to a writer’s conference, and need to get things in gear!

July 20 – Finish reading Word Painting

July 21-22 Make changes from list created while reading Word Painting

July 23-24 Edit based on reading and pen-and-paper edit of manuscript done July 7-16

July 25-26 I want to try out some editing software to pick up anything I missed

July 27-31 Read aloud as much of the manuscript as possible, submit to my faithful readers for feedback, and hope they can read fast!

July 3 in 30 Week 3

July 17, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

It has been a busy week. I’m not sure there were actually 24 hours in each of those days. Here’s how I’m doing on this month’s goals:

Manuscript revision – A little bit behind on where I’d hoped to be with revision, but sticking at it, and should still finish by July 31. This is a good thing, because I’ve just learned I’ve been given a scholarship to a writer’s conference next month. I have several goals for the conference, and getting this manuscript completed by then gives me a chance at reaching them.
Bible in 90 Days – I have had to fight a bit to do it, but I’m on track.
Exercise 4 times a week – This is not where I expected to have difficulty, but it was the first thing to fly out the window when the late nights began. I simply woke up too late to squeeze everything into my morning, and didn’t want to skip the Bible reading. I also counted on exercising using videos again when I was at my inlaws’ and at my parents’ and didn’t count on the challenges of other people’s schedules and the space limitations of so many people in the same space (there were 11 of us at my parents’). The rest of the month should be easier, as the during-the-week schedule is easing off, and just the weekends will be busy.

It’s been more challenging than I thought to reach my goals, partly because I was somehow thinking that most of the busyness would be over by the time the Bible in 90 Days started. Bit of a miscalculation on my part there.

But I’m not going to let myself get completely derailed. I intend to push through and do my best.

How about you? How are you doing?

Visit the 3 in 30 Linkup to check on the progress of others.

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