Working Mom’s Tricks to Writing a Novel in Your Free Time

Trick #1: Write Longhand:

Even the most lightweight laptop is a tricky thing to take to the playground or gym. However, a notebook and pen fit easily into the most crowded diaper bag. (Always put an extra working pen in your purse, in case one does not work.)

“Write longhand while you’re sitting on a bench at the playground.”

Write longhand while you’re standing and rocking a stroller with your foot. Write longhand while waiting for your pasta to boil and while waiting outside of your first ballet class, for your 5 year old daughter. When entering your text onto the laptop later, will give you the chance to revaluate your work with a fresh eye, and fix the errors or edit what’s necessary. You’re that much closer now to a polished manuscript!

Trick #2: Get Your Kids Involved:

Experts say that reading to your children is the best thing any parent can do to bond, raise IQ and otherwise earn mommy or brownie points. Sure, toddlers and older children would probably rather hear “Winnie the Pooh” than “Mommy’s New Novel.” But, can an infant really tell the difference?

Nothing gives writers a better idea of whether a scene, especially one featuring lots of dialogue, is working, than reading it out loud. It can be an ego-crushing experience as you realize that the brilliance you heard in your head doesn’t quite match the nonsense you seemed to be articulating… but that which does not kill you, gets you ready for more editorial rejection later on. And that’s a good thing.

So grab that baby and that manuscript and read it out loud until the prose finally shines. Or your infant is old enough to start requesting a different title.

Writing Tips >>

Keeping Control in Self Publishing

In the self-publishing process you want total control from start to finish. You want to make the decisions, not Mr. Big Publishing House, Inc. You want to own all rights and have complete control of your book. By maintaining control over the editing and proofreading process, you have the ultimate say with what actually stays in and what is omitted. You are again “in control” of what the audience reads as the final printed version. With big publishing houses or publishing companies, they often will want to edit and omit parts of the book you actually want to leave in. These publishing firms sometime delete too much of the important parts out of your introduction or parts of chapters that you think or know will be important to your book.

You want to remain in control over your work. You want to keep control of the entire writing, printing, & selling process. Bottom line is you have 100% control when you self publish.

Self Publish >> How to Self Publish >> Advantages of Self Publishing >>