Tracking My Time [CC]

Giving you the breakdown of how I spent my working time in 2021! #Authortube

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#TeaserTuesday

 

Tara knows that things are not what they seem...

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 [ID: A green background with sunflowers laid out, at the top with the title DYING THOUGHTS - THIRD WISH at the top and Out now in ebook and paperback just above it. The except reads:

However, that’s what the coroner had marked as cause of death, though why he was involved I didn’t know. Well, at least I didn’t until I touched the baseball cap that was with her file. To this day I don’t know what possessed me to do it. After all, I knew that there was a pretty good chance it was hers, which meant I knew what it would do to me, but like I’ve said many times before, hindsight? Yeah, wonderful thing.

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

Finding The Right Editor - The After Process

FINDING THE RIGHT EDITOR

I've talked about the importance of finding the right editor before on my Authortube channel (found here) but today I wanted to go through it on the blog because it just feels like a good thing to discuss. I've given you, in the past, details about editors and the like and how I work with my own team, what jobs they do for me, and how to go about working with an editor (found here and here).

While editors run the range from developmental/content, to line, to copy, and to proofreaders, you'll be starting at the first and working your way through them. Some editing companies will have a way for you to work with the same team. Others will only do one type of editing, and other still will bundle it up for one editor. Personally, I prefer not doing the latter because I know that it's hard to spot mistakes when you've read through the manuscript more than once or twice, but that's just me.

When you're looking to start the professional edit, it can be quite daunting to find an editor that works with you. You don't want a clash of personalities, or someone who doesn't really get what you're trying to do with this work, and you don't want someone passive who won't even tell you any plot errors along the way. Like with most things in life, it's a balancing act, and since the professional edit isn't cheap, you generally don't want to have to go from company to company to find a good fit.

I've been with the editing team I use for a number of years now. I fit well with all of them working wise, and they fit with me. For me, finding editors has always been a modicum of luck. I met my first editor elsewhere and then when I needed help, she offered to give it a read through. From there my team has grown, and I have to say that I'm really happy with the people I use now.

So how do you know when you're on the right path? What should you look out for as red flags? What can you do to protect yourself, your book, and also your wallet? Glad you asked, because I'm gonna go through them all now.

#1 SAMPLE EDITS ARE YOUR FRIEND
This is something a lot of editors will offer to prospective clients. They'll do a sample edit of your work, and then you have the chance to see whether you want to engage with their services. This gives you a glimpse into what they're picking up on, and how they are to work with. It's pretty common practice and I've not yet used an editor who didn't offer sample edits. You don't have to pay for this, and it's usually a set amount of pages, so be sure to take that chance.

#2 RED FLAGS
If the editor doesn't want you to sign a contract, that's a big red flag. If they don't list other clients and have been in the space for a while, that's another red flag. If the sample edit doesn't look like much, if anything, has been done, another red flag. If they push for a deposit at the sample edit, again red flag. If they don't communicate well whether that's through email or otherwise, that's something to be wary of. If they get aggressive in their posts, or edit, then again, that's another red flag.

There are others, but these are the ones I think are most common. Basically I'd say trust your gut. If you're talking to them and they promise to have it to you by a certain deadline and then drop off the face of the earth, that's a huge red flag. You want your editor to be talking to you about the editing process. I don't mean they have to be in constant contact, but you shouldn't have to send email after email to get an answer.

#3 SHOULD YOU COPYRIGHT AND MAKE THEM SIGN AN NDA?
I personally have never done this. I've heard of other writers who have, and while there should always be a contract between you and your editors, an NDA to me just feels like too much. If you're that suspicious of your editor, why are you using them? All the editors I have worked with have only ever had the best interests of my work at heart. They've been good at getting the book into shipshape condition.

As far as copyright goes, I don't know how it works in other countries, but here it's not a necessary step. You can defend your work as your own because once you write it, it's copyrighted. If it ever got to the point of having to defend it in a court of law, your own records will show that you are the original creator and therefore own the copyright.

So there we go, those are three things to think about when looking for an editor and what to watch out for, since unfortunately there are those who would gladly take your money and run. One tip I will give you is to google the editor, speak to other clients of theirs to see what they're like to work with. It's a lot of work, but this is your book baby and you only want the best.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments below!

Follow Joey here on her blog, or on Facebook or Tumblr to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books

Happy 40th Birthday, Joey! - Weekly Vlog - January 2022 [CC]

I did a weekly vlog for the week that I turned 40! #Authortube #WritingVlog

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Review of Insititue Of Magic by Tiffany Kahapea

Magic exists. Sounds unbelievable but it does.

I live in a world full of magic users. My mom and aunts are known to my kind as the Over Lords.

They’re most powerful magic users of our kind and they keep magic hidden from the humans.

Then there’s me, Danielle. Also known as a nopow which slang for no power because I’m powerless.

Going to school with powerful magic users makes me a target and my life a living hell.

I don’t even know why I still attend the Institute of Magical Arts. No matter how hard I try, I can’t produce an ounce of magic. It’s pitiful. Humiliating.

No one knows my relation to the Over Lords. I’m an embarrassment and a failure.

Or at least I thought I was.

I found out my birth brought on a vision from the ancestors, and they are scared. So, scared that they tried to kill me.

Luckily my mom and aunts kept me safe, but things are not what they seem.

I’ve been lied to my entire life. By everyone I know.

After one fateful event, the truth comes out and things become clearer.

They were right to fear me. Everyone should fear me, and they will pay for their lies.

I am Danielle Eshar and when I’m through fulfilling the ancestor’s vision, everyone will know my name.

Amazon

My Review: 3.5 STARS

I picked this up because the blurb and cover drew me in, and was happily jumping into a world where magic is hidden, but very much real. Dani seems to be a nopow, and she’s made up for this by training hard in every other way. While the world building and the plot was engaging, I found myself wishing there was more time dedicated to some aspects. I enjoyed the story, but found it hard to like the build up to the ending, and all that went with it. It stretched my disbelief just a little too much and I felt like Dani was very immature. That said, it was a good read.

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here.

Questions From Readers - Janaury 2022 [CC]

Answering questions from you today for the first time in 2022! #Authortube

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#TeaserTuesday

Lynne is sure that Hope must've damaged the sample, everything else wouldn't make sense...

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 [ID: A pale pink background at the top with the title LYNNE & HOPE at the top and Out now in ebook and paperback just below it. The except reads:

Thinking about it, Hope couldn’t have done anything to contaminate the sample because she hadn’t been anywhere near my lab and it has a lock on it that only Adam and me know the code for. Anyway, if she had it would have come up as unknown or as someone closely related to me. It wouldn’t have been my photo in front of me, would it? Not with the words ‘MATCH FOUND’ flashing at me in green.
I ended up leaving Jack a note explaining that I’d been so tired I must have contaminate the sample and I’d swab for a new one in the morning and re-test it, along with the search form showing him that apparently I was a match for the blood on a knife used to kill two old ladies.
I locked up and headed home, trying to convince myself that that had to be the only explanation.
Didn’t it?

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, in the bottom left corner is the Readers' Favorite Review seal, and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

Writing Your Story - The Creative Process

WRITING YOUR STORY

Last week I talked about writing for yourself (found here) but this week I wanted to expand on writing your story. I mentioned in last week's piece that I'd gotten a good piece of advice from another writer who said that only you can tell your story, and it's very true. There are so many different ideas out there, but also so many that follow along a similar basic plot. Even if you were given the same writing outline as five different people, all five would write very different ways of executing the idea.

So while there's always this fear that things have been done before, which I've talked about in the past (found here) it's simply not true. I know some writers are fearful of sharing their ideas because they worry that another writer will steal said idea, or that someone else will write it and then they're stuck. The problem with that is, there are pretty much, no original ideas when you break things down to a plot level. It's the execution of those ideas that make each and every story unique in its own way.

Why is it important to write your own story? Because only you can tell it, and that writer who gave me the advice, also added an extra point. The world needs your story, which is very much the truth. There are so many different types of story, whether that's genre or tropes or age category, and there will always, always, be readers out there who resonate with your words. There will always be some who need your story more than anything else. It's important to remember that, and important to keep it in mind when you're writing, whatever story that may be.

There have been times over the past twenty-odd years I've been writing, when I've started to doubt whether the world as a whole does need my work. I've published nineteen books, drafted nearly forty and I sometimes just feel like I'm shouting into the void, that my words, my stories, my books and the like aren't needed. When that happens, I go to my random praise folder and read letters from readers, read reviews and the like that remind me that yeah, my books resonated with people. They reached soon teens, some older, and they were the story they needed at that point in their lives.

I wrote those stories to be heard, to showcase the tales that had come to me. I wrote them because they needed to be told. Whether that's because I personally needed to tell them, or because I felt like readers needed to hear them, and the same is always going to be true of your own stories. There are readers out there for you, and some of them need that story more than you realise. It will resonate with them, lift them up, and bring them the joy that a lot of us feel for the written word.

So writing your story is very much important. It matters, it counts, and while I know it can be hard to sometimes keep going when it feels like everything is against you, you need to keep putting those words on the page however you can. It doesn't matter how long it takes, it doesn't matter if it's a year or ten, or even more than that. You need to tell your story just as much as other people need to read it.

Keep writing, that's all you can do.

Any questions? Lemme know the comments below!

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Review of The Ghost Junkies by Elizabeth J. Rekab

An escape like no other. Can Mel discover the truth of her abilities before the ghosts claim her as their own?

Melissa Lowery is failing physics, shunned by the cheerleading squad, and crushing on her best friend, Aaron, who has an annoyingly beautiful girlfriend. Oh yeah, and she sees the ghost of her dead father. Talk about screwed up.

Soon, a fellow ghost seer named Seth convinces Mel to test her abilities in a haunted cabin where he introduces her to a whole new world. Literally. He teaches Mel how to slip into the realm the ghosts come from—a vivid, euphoric place called "The Veil" that sure as hell beats Jaxonville. But when the living in town start going crazy and the dead whisper about a mysterious Shadow Man, Mel realizes that the Veil may hide more secrets than she realizes... secrets that she must uncover before the whole town is consumed by darkness.

Amazon

My Review: 5 STARS

Having read Rekab’s books before, when I saw this one then I had to pick it up and give it a read during the spooky season. I adore her way of setting the scene and making it all seem all the more real. Mel was a likeable character from the start and that opening line and chapter had me hooked on wanting to know more about the characters and the plot. I adored all the twists and turns the story took, and that ending almost killed me. I very much enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone who loves a good paranormal story. A great book!

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here.

Author Tag: If I Weren't An Author [CC]

 Doing a tag video today! Talking all about what I would do if I wasn't an author! #Authortube

IF I WEREN'T AN AUTHOR

Author Anne Sophie's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yScsCgL-JhU

Celeste Joan's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBLTEQJD9iw

QUESTIONS:
1. What would be your new creative outlet?
2. Would you still do Youtube? If so, what content would you produce?
3. What would your new dream-job be (assuming it currently is to be a full-time author)?
4. Would you still consume author content?
5. How many friends would you not have made?
6. Would you still read as much as you do now?
7. Which part about being an author would you miss the most?
8. How different would your life look, in general?

TAGGING ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO IT!

 

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