The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

writing

How to Track Your Article Submissions

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Whether you submit with regularity or not, it’s important to track your submissions. How else will you follow up if you have no record of the magazines and editors (or agents/publishing houses) to whom you have submitted your work?

I keep a simple Excel file with the following info:

  • Date submitted
  • Magazine name
  • Editor’s name
  • Editor’s email
  • Editor’s phone number
  • Name of article submitted
  • Date to follow up. Most publications state a period of time to allow for review of your submission. Follow up with an email to the editor only after the stated time for review has passed.
  • Status (accepted or rejected)
  • Payment due. If accepted you need to know when your payment is due because some publications pay on acceptance and some on publication.
  • Payment rec’d date.  If you record this date as soon as the payment comes in, you won’t be left wondering later on if you got paid.

Not all of us are uber organized. I take advantage of the tools someone else has designed to help me. I just adjust them to suit my needs and circumstances.

Design whatever works for you, and be diligent to use it.

Writing Good Dialogue

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“Bloated, chunky, dull dialogue is a five-alarm warning to the reviewer that you can’t write salable fiction,” says James Scott Bell in his book The Art of War for Writers.

Dialogue, like any other part of your novel, must move your story forward.

An important part of good dialogue is the distinctive voice of each character. Even if your characters grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same schools, they have different parents, siblings, and perspectives on life. Those things will affect the way they speak.

Discover your character’s voice by creating a voice journal, a stream of conscious writing you write from a character’s POV. Start your character’s journal by having her or him respond to the questions “Who am I and what do I want?” Then write for about 10 or 15 minutes.

I recommend creating a journal for each main character of your story. Utilize these journals throughout the process of writing your novel, especially when you feel stuck.

What tools do you use to create compelling dialogue?

Debra L. Butterfield © 2013

15 Keyboard Shortcuts to Make Your Writing Faster

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writing challengeI want to accomplish as much as I can when I’m writing, so I utilize keyboard shortcuts. Many of these MS Word shortcuts translate over to other word processing programs such as Scrivener (the one I use).

Here is a list of MS Word keyboard shortcuts to help you save time as you write your stories.

  • Copy selected text = Ctrl key + C
  • Paste selected text = Ctrl+V
  • Cut selected text = Ctrl+X
  • Save document = Ctrl+S
  • Undo action = Ctrl+Z
  • Redo action = Ctrl+Y
  • Select all text within a document = Ctrl+A
  • Move to beginning of next paragraph = Ctrl+down arrow key
  • Move to beginning of previous paragraph = Ctrl+up arrow
  • Move cursor to beginning of next word = Ctrl+right arrow
  • Move cursor to beginning of previous word = Ctrl+left arrow
  • © using Word = Ctrl, Alt + c ( symbol appears immediately), Alt+0169, using Scrivener (symbol appears after you release the Alt key)
  • ® = Ctrl, Alt + r (Word, symbol appears immediately), Alt+0174 (Scrivener, symbol appears after you release the Alt key)
  • Select a portion of text from cursor to wherever you point your mouse = Shift key+left mouse click
  • Display Help = F1 key

Have some fun while in Word. Experiment with the Alt key and number combinations and see what you get. 

Do shortcuts help you save time or just confuse you? Leave your comments below.