The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

Debra

The Pandemic’s Menagerie: A Writer’s Adaptation in Chaos

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Geary Smith author

Today’s post is by author Geary Smith. Geary has been writing for children and young adults for over 35 years. His work has been published in such venues as Highlights for Children, Child Life, McGraw-Hill, ProQuest, Kids Imagination Train, and many other publications. He is the current mayor of Mexia, Texas, and President of Region IX of Texas City Councils. He has a B.S. in Psychology from Morehouse College and M.Ed. from Stephen F. Austin University.

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” -Bruce Lee

It was March 23, 2020, when I felt the painful sting of the pandemic stick my soul and spirit. My future plans, trips, conferences, and other social interactions to sharpen my writing skills were all cancelled one after the other.

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Creating a Series Bible for Your Fiction Series

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Author RJ Thesman

Today’s post is by RJ Thesman. Thesman is the author of 18 books (so far) and 800+ articles and stories. She is a certified life coach with a focus on writing, an editor, and a workshop presenter. Currently, she is finishing another novel, pulling weeds in the garden, and petting the cat during breaks. Connect with RJ on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, then subscribe to her channel Coaching for Writers.

Creating a Series Bible

When I first met my fictional protagonist Reverend G, I was certain I would never forget her. Yet as her story evolved into a series, I needed a tool to keep the details credible.

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The Ins and Outs of Book Layout

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Book layout options in MS Word

Have you finished writing your book but are now wondering how to do the book layout?

With self- and indie-publishing many more people are entering the world of book publishing. And many writers may find writing their book the easiest part of getting their book to the virtual bookshelf.

Today, I’d like to take a look at book layout. It’s not complicated, but can seem that way if you don’t know the process involved. Three parts compose the physical design of your book: the book cover, the book interior, the digital conversion.

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How to get your book from your head to the virtual bookshelf

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architect with tools of the trade

(Updated from a previous post)

Are you writing your first book?

Do you plan to indie-publish or seek an agent and traditional publisher?

Have you started building your author platform? Maybe you’re not sure what an author platform is.

I’ve heard many first-time writers say they want to finish their book first before they think about anything else. But if you do that, you are already behind in getting your book launched.

And often once the book is done, they don’t know what comes next.

If you’re planning on publishing a book, keep reading to discover what it takes to get that book from your head to the virtual bookshelf.

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What’s Involved in Publishing a Book?

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I am a writer. What's involved in publishing my book?

I just want to write. I hear that often from writers I work with.

That’s great, and it’s not hard to do at all. Simply sit down at the computer (or with pen and paper) and write.

But be honest with yourself. You want to publish that book. And now we enter the arena of what’s involved in publishing a book.

What you really mean to say is you want to write and let someone else do the work to get your book published and marketed.

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To Capitalize or not to capitalize

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To Capitalize or not to capitalize

When should I capitalize the word mom? What about sir or ma’am?

Today, I want to address some of the most common capitalization errors I see in the manuscripts I edit. When you know the basic rule, capitalization becomes much easier.

When to Capitalize Mom and Dad

We all know that proper names are capitalized. No one ever wonders whether to capitalize their name. But what about mom and dad? When do I capitalize them and when don’t I?

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Going from traditional to indie publishing

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Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to my author friend Kathy Nickerson.

This week Kathy launched the last book of her Glory Circle Sister series. I’ve read several books in the series (some more than once!). They are very entertaining and carry wonderful messages about life. I have featured her several times here on TheMotivationalEditor.com. Be sure and read her author interview with me over at my author blog.

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How Do Plot and Scene Work Together, Part 3: Moving from Scene to Sequel

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Moving from scene to sequel is easier than trying to jump a ditch.

Updated October 12, 2020

Last time we looked at scenes and how to build them.

Most writers don’t have trouble writing scenes, and moving from scene to scene can be accomplished with as simple a statement as “Later that day…” However, there are times when you want to provide your reader with more. The sequel is your answer.

Moving from scene to sequel is much easier than jumping that ditch above. But first let’s define what a sequel is because I’m not talking about book 2 of a series.

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