Compassion, loyalty…and crime
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
There was a peculiar confluence of events in my life today. First was the weekly Mysteristas chat, which I missed because I was working. But today’s topic was “how do you find books,” and the topic of being drawn to a cover came up. Continue reading “Confusing the Wrapper with the Product”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
I’ve been seeing some tweets about how e-Readers are “reading” us and how that is another sign that they are evil. The logic, as it goes, is this. An e-Reader can tell what you buy. It can tell what you buy next, and whether you purchase the next book in a series. It can tell if you stop reading after two chapters and delete it. And this all informs the publishing industry so that the only successful books will ever be published, therefore forcing authors to only write in popular genres. Continue reading “Your eReader is Watching You – Is That Bad?”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
Today was an important milestone in my writing career.
I got my first rejection letter. I think I’m going to throw a party. Continue reading “I Is an Author Now!”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
As a new writer, I hear a lot about establishing my “brand” and my “platform.”
No, I am not building anything nor am I working with cattle. Continue reading “Brands and Platforms, Oh My!”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
Note: I am using Scrivener for Mac. If you are using Windows, please allow for differences.
So here we are, the end of my Scrivener musings. I want to talk briefly about two remaining features: importing documents and compiling output. Continue reading “Scrivener Step 4: Importing & Compiling”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
Note: I am using Scrivener for Mac. If you are using Windows, allow for differences.
I finished the tutorial. I created a project, and set up my character and location sheets. Now I’m ready to write. Continue reading “Scrivener Step 3: Starting to Write”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
Note: I am using Scrivener for Mac. If you are using Windows, please allow for differences.
So having completed the tutorial, I set up a new project. I decided to use something completely new and not convert something existing (you can import Word documents into Scrivener, but I’ll save that for later). Continue reading “Scrivener Step 2: Setting up a New Project”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
Note: I am using Scrivener for Mac. If you are using Windows, please allow for differences.
I downloaded the Scrivener trial from the web site, and installed it. I’m not going to say too much about that except it was pretty easy (I anticipate that will be the case for any OS). Continue reading “Scrivener Step 1: The Tutorial”
There are many tools in a writer’s toolbox, but none quite like the applications we use for our craft (unless you still write long-hand, in which case God bless you). Like many writers, I have always used just a word processing application to do my writing. I use Microsoft Word, some people may use Word Perfect, but same concept: open application and type. That means you have to find another way to keep track of all those pesky things that writers of fiction must have: character notes, plot synopses, scene descriptions, etc. I used Evernote. Some writers use Microsoft Excel, some just use a separate Word file. Continue reading “Expanding the Toolbox”
by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73
So, most of my day today was spent revising, but I stumbled across this gem of a post from Jungle Red Writers – the ins and outs of social media.
If you’re like me, things like Facebook and Twitter can be a total time sink, taking valuable time away from your primary goal – for me, writing fiction. For you it might be something else. Continue reading “Navigating Social Media”