The Dawnwolf is back in stock with the second edition on its way!
The first edition will only be on Amazon and CreateSpace, but the second edition will soon be released to bookstores and libraries before the end of next month.
Thanks for your patience!
Wolf
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Truth About Self-Editing
Just recently got the corrected manuscript from my editor and plan to read it over soon. However, thanks to my free version of Microsoft Word 2010 I can't edit the comments and therefore can't manually fix my errors, so she offered to fix them for me if I tell her what I do and do not want to keep or leave.
Honestly, while I missed a lot of things and messed up kind of bad in some areas, I'm still impressed with myself... in the most humble way possible, of course. It's an accomplishment, right? Readers are still enjoying it. I've gotten three good reviews on the Amazon page, if you've noticed, and if you're one of the reviewers, thank you! Rest assured corrections will be made in the upcoming Second Edition. As a bonus, I'll add a behind-the-scenes summary at the back of the book, and for those of you who have the drafty-yet-still-moderately-awesome first edition, email me, and I'll send it to you. Hold your horses, though, because I haven't even written it yet!
I'm looking forward to the second edition because it'll be a load of my mind, and also, that will be the version you'll see in some libraries, bookstores, and of course, on Kindle, even though the formatting stinks, but hey, people be a-requestin' for them digital copies!
Anyway, on a more serious note, like I may have said before, you shouldn't always do what Wolfie does. Here's a writing tip: don't edit the whole novel by yourself! To some extent there are some things you should do in the editing field, like personal corrections to the plot and stuff and anything that you do happen to find, but if you decide to do the big job, don't rush, and don't expect to get all of the mistakes and errors and whatnot cleaned up by yourself. Get another person. Even if they're not a big-boss editor in a business suit, grab a willing friend who isn't a blind fanatic or too afraid to state their opinion/critique... or the opposite; waaaaaay too willing and downright rude. That wouldn't be a friend, right? Sure hope not.
Just find a trusted friend to read it and tell you what went wrong and what they do and don't like, even if they don't fix it for you. See, you can do the editing, but don't try all the finding like I did. As you can see, I messed up! I did it all myself and after all my hard work I kicked it out the door... it was well received, sure, and I'm happy about that, but the errors are still there!
Bottom line? Don't do it yourself-- it's not a good idea. Also, not even your friends will necessarily find everything either but they'll see more than you do since you're used to reading your novel the way you wrote it and often become desensitized to any mistakes. Happened to me, and others.
Also, like I said before, you should still do some stuff yourself. Like, my editor didn't notice that I had accidentally cut something out of a sentence. After you jot down what your homies want you to fix, tackle the manuscript little by little and clean it up. Take it real easy, don't rush. Take frequent breaks, too, but don't slack off the job!
We all learn from all kinds of mistakes. I know, this is only my debut novel, but considering what all went into it, and all the good reviews and compliments I'm getting from it, I'm pleased with the results... well except for the mess-ups, but I learned from it, anyhow, and that makes me happy. After all, even those big-boss editors in the suits slip up and miss things, too! I've seen it in bestsellers but fans don't seem to like it any less.
Keep at it, writers!
P.S. My plans for the 2012 NaNoWriMo might be changing... again. Stay tuned.
Word Of The Day
Undulation:
Honestly, while I missed a lot of things and messed up kind of bad in some areas, I'm still impressed with myself... in the most humble way possible, of course. It's an accomplishment, right? Readers are still enjoying it. I've gotten three good reviews on the Amazon page, if you've noticed, and if you're one of the reviewers, thank you! Rest assured corrections will be made in the upcoming Second Edition. As a bonus, I'll add a behind-the-scenes summary at the back of the book, and for those of you who have the drafty-yet-still-moderately-awesome first edition, email me, and I'll send it to you. Hold your horses, though, because I haven't even written it yet!
I'm looking forward to the second edition because it'll be a load of my mind, and also, that will be the version you'll see in some libraries, bookstores, and of course, on Kindle, even though the formatting stinks, but hey, people be a-requestin' for them digital copies!
Anyway, on a more serious note, like I may have said before, you shouldn't always do what Wolfie does. Here's a writing tip: don't edit the whole novel by yourself! To some extent there are some things you should do in the editing field, like personal corrections to the plot and stuff and anything that you do happen to find, but if you decide to do the big job, don't rush, and don't expect to get all of the mistakes and errors and whatnot cleaned up by yourself. Get another person. Even if they're not a big-boss editor in a business suit, grab a willing friend who isn't a blind fanatic or too afraid to state their opinion/critique... or the opposite; waaaaaay too willing and downright rude. That wouldn't be a friend, right? Sure hope not.
Just find a trusted friend to read it and tell you what went wrong and what they do and don't like, even if they don't fix it for you. See, you can do the editing, but don't try all the finding like I did. As you can see, I messed up! I did it all myself and after all my hard work I kicked it out the door... it was well received, sure, and I'm happy about that, but the errors are still there!
Bottom line? Don't do it yourself-- it's not a good idea. Also, not even your friends will necessarily find everything either but they'll see more than you do since you're used to reading your novel the way you wrote it and often become desensitized to any mistakes. Happened to me, and others.
Also, like I said before, you should still do some stuff yourself. Like, my editor didn't notice that I had accidentally cut something out of a sentence. After you jot down what your homies want you to fix, tackle the manuscript little by little and clean it up. Take it real easy, don't rush. Take frequent breaks, too, but don't slack off the job!
We all learn from all kinds of mistakes. I know, this is only my debut novel, but considering what all went into it, and all the good reviews and compliments I'm getting from it, I'm pleased with the results... well except for the mess-ups, but I learned from it, anyhow, and that makes me happy. After all, even those big-boss editors in the suits slip up and miss things, too! I've seen it in bestsellers but fans don't seem to like it any less.
Keep at it, writers!
P.S. My plans for the 2012 NaNoWriMo might be changing... again. Stay tuned.
Word Of The Day
Undulation:
1. A regular rising and falling or movement to alternating sides; movement in waves.
2. A wavelike form, outline, or appearance.
3. One of a series of waves or wavelike segments.
Wolf
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Dawnwolf Second Edition
Found out just yesterday that there were more mistakes in The Dawnwolf than I was aware of. However, with the help of my new editor, you should be expecting a Second Edition coming soon!
Keep your eyes peeled. I'll update here and on Facebook in the meantime.
Wolf
Keep your eyes peeled. I'll update here and on Facebook in the meantime.
Wolf
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Writer's Paranoia
Have you gotten your copy of my novel? Amazon seems to be working pretty quick.
If "The Dawnwolf" has any mistakes in its pages I am going to be very, very annoyed. I scoured the manuscript page for page and it had better be error-bug free! I am certain I squashed them all... but one can't help but get a tad paranoid at times. I've had all kinds of writer's paranoia since the moment after I officially published that little booger and kicked it out the door.
Even so I'm certain I did a good job. I'm seeing new flaws in it now, but every novel has its flaws. I kind of wish I saw them earlier so I could fix them, but for all I know, you might not even notice. I did my best!
We as the creators of art have a tendency to see more flaws than those outside of us who are viewing it. Critics, however, see a million more! You have the honor of criticizing my work, but probably most of what you say, if true, I probably already know or just found out. But it happens!
I'm kicking my writer's paranoia out the door and I just hope you all enjoy my personal masterpiece, my debut novel, and all of it's great gloriousness... you know, all of that good junk. :)
Look forward to further novels from me. After all, I still have the "Lirin Bahonan" series to work on, the development of "Noctivagous", and so many others.
Currently I've been writing a novella, the new "Midori Ookami", about Midori, a green wolf who was abandoned as a cub and went to live and grow up in a village by himself, but when he meets Tayou, an exiled princess of fairies, who tells him there is trouble in the land, he realized he must step out of his comfort zone and leave the village, which is all he's ever known, to investigate matters.
Just for kicks. I don't know what I'll do with it after it's done, but it'd pretty fun to write, anyway.
That said, I finally present to you another word of the day!
Lackadaisical:
Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
Wolf
If "The Dawnwolf" has any mistakes in its pages I am going to be very, very annoyed. I scoured the manuscript page for page and it had better be error-bug free! I am certain I squashed them all... but one can't help but get a tad paranoid at times. I've had all kinds of writer's paranoia since the moment after I officially published that little booger and kicked it out the door.
Even so I'm certain I did a good job. I'm seeing new flaws in it now, but every novel has its flaws. I kind of wish I saw them earlier so I could fix them, but for all I know, you might not even notice. I did my best!
We as the creators of art have a tendency to see more flaws than those outside of us who are viewing it. Critics, however, see a million more! You have the honor of criticizing my work, but probably most of what you say, if true, I probably already know or just found out. But it happens!
I'm kicking my writer's paranoia out the door and I just hope you all enjoy my personal masterpiece, my debut novel, and all of it's great gloriousness... you know, all of that good junk. :)
Look forward to further novels from me. After all, I still have the "Lirin Bahonan" series to work on, the development of "Noctivagous", and so many others.
Currently I've been writing a novella, the new "Midori Ookami", about Midori, a green wolf who was abandoned as a cub and went to live and grow up in a village by himself, but when he meets Tayou, an exiled princess of fairies, who tells him there is trouble in the land, he realized he must step out of his comfort zone and leave the village, which is all he's ever known, to investigate matters.
Just for kicks. I don't know what I'll do with it after it's done, but it'd pretty fun to write, anyway.
That said, I finally present to you another word of the day!
Lackadaisical:
Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
Wolf
Friday, June 29, 2012
"The Dawnwolf" is Out!
Lo and behold! After about 8 months of arduous toil, my debut novel has been released!
You can only order it in two places right now, but it'll be distributed further in later time, and also put on Kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dawnwolf-Mary-W-Hills/dp/1478141964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340929753&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dawnwolf
https://www.createspace.com/3921302
If you want to be updated on Facebook, like my blog or "The Dawnwolf" page below!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Writing-Progress/179257148846147?ref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dawnwolf/213453918777409
I'll link to these on the sidebar there. Thanks for you patience and support!
Oh, and by the way, I'm back...
Wolf
You can only order it in two places right now, but it'll be distributed further in later time, and also put on Kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dawnwolf-Mary-W-Hills/dp/1478141964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340929753&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dawnwolf
https://www.createspace.com/3921302
If you want to be updated on Facebook, like my blog or "The Dawnwolf" page below!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Writing-Progress/179257148846147?ref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dawnwolf/213453918777409
I'll link to these on the sidebar there. Thanks for you patience and support!
Oh, and by the way, I'm back...
Wolf
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Vacation
Haven't been posting in the last couple of weeks, but I'm sure we all can understand I've been busy.
My deadline has been creeping up, and my novel has yet to hit the third edit, but at the same time, I'm nearly done. Right afterward, I'll take a nice long break, and then begin the full development of "Noctivagous". Or, perhaps I'll continue writing in one of the drafts I've put on hold. Maybe both.
For the moment, I won't be posting (probably at all) until "The Dawnwolf" is done, which I estimate to be about a month from now. Until then, ciao!
Wolf
P.S. I hit 60,000 words, but it dropped again, then rose... Who knows what it will rest at in the end?
Edit: The Facebook Like button seems to have vanished so I will attempt to get it fixed ASAP...
My deadline has been creeping up, and my novel has yet to hit the third edit, but at the same time, I'm nearly done. Right afterward, I'll take a nice long break, and then begin the full development of "Noctivagous". Or, perhaps I'll continue writing in one of the drafts I've put on hold. Maybe both.
For the moment, I won't be posting (probably at all) until "The Dawnwolf" is done, which I estimate to be about a month from now. Until then, ciao!
Wolf
P.S. I hit 60,000 words, but it dropped again, then rose... Who knows what it will rest at in the end?
Edit: The Facebook Like button seems to have vanished so I will attempt to get it fixed ASAP...
Monday, May 7, 2012
Continual Progress In My Week Long Absence
Oops, sorry, I haven't posted in a week! I was away for a little while due to some personal issues I had to attend to but now I'm back to give you a report on my progress.
So! "The Dawnwolf"'s edit is almost done. I had previously taken multiple scenes out of my novel, thus dropping my word count considerably, but now I've reached the point where I have, in fact, surpassed my previous record-- nearly 59,000 so far. In case you didn't know, that's 9k more than it was right after NaNoWriMo. 9k. 9: that's 3 3's, that's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9! Otherwise known as nine!
Okay, okay; it's not that huge of an accomplishment (and yet it is) so let's be on with it! I won't be crowing until I'm at 60,000...
I'm almost at the point where my new scenes will meet ends with the older scenes which I will correct to align with the plot change. I'm noticing new holes appear in the storyline so I'll go back and patch them as soon as possible.
I'm having some trouble creating a cover image right now... Can't decide on a layout! The deadline is two months away, sure, but I want it out of the way soon.
Bottom line? The second edit is almost finished. Instead of saying I'm on the "second half" I'd say it's more effective to say "last half".
The third and final edit is almost in reach...!
And this year's NaNoWriMo, as you know, I'm writing a brand-new novel-- "Noctivagous". I decided that "ELDENDOR" will most likely be a trilogy for later on. If it interests me, I might do "The Primal Blue" next year, or the one about the Galwyrns.
"Noctivagous" is currently in the development process. I've come up with names for multiple locations in Jadina and a few new characters, but I'm probably only on square 3 out of 10.
That's about it!
Word Of The Day:
Precipitation:
1. The action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution.
2. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.
Character Of The Week:
Myra Kamar:
Myra is a 16-year-old female Jadinan who is a little younger in her mind and her appearance. She has long, straight black hair that extends to her mid-back, roundish facial features, and twilight blue-colored eyes. Despite being a race of the Dark World, her element is Light, and she bends its power at her will. Along with that she carries a pair of daggers on her belt.
She's sweet and friendly, but also a bit naive and often spaces out. She isn't very well educated and therefore has no idea how to behave formally. Even though she's had a hard life from the start and plenty of trauma she always stays optimistic and hopeful for a chance at a better life.
She's the protagonist of "Noctivagous", a novel yet to be written, and also known as the "Girl of Light".
Wolf
So! "The Dawnwolf"'s edit is almost done. I had previously taken multiple scenes out of my novel, thus dropping my word count considerably, but now I've reached the point where I have, in fact, surpassed my previous record-- nearly 59,000 so far. In case you didn't know, that's 9k more than it was right after NaNoWriMo. 9k. 9: that's 3 3's, that's 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9! Otherwise known as nine!
Okay, okay; it's not that huge of an accomplishment (and yet it is) so let's be on with it! I won't be crowing until I'm at 60,000...
I'm almost at the point where my new scenes will meet ends with the older scenes which I will correct to align with the plot change. I'm noticing new holes appear in the storyline so I'll go back and patch them as soon as possible.
I'm having some trouble creating a cover image right now... Can't decide on a layout! The deadline is two months away, sure, but I want it out of the way soon.
Bottom line? The second edit is almost finished. Instead of saying I'm on the "second half" I'd say it's more effective to say "last half".
The third and final edit is almost in reach...!
And this year's NaNoWriMo, as you know, I'm writing a brand-new novel-- "Noctivagous". I decided that "ELDENDOR" will most likely be a trilogy for later on. If it interests me, I might do "The Primal Blue" next year, or the one about the Galwyrns.
"Noctivagous" is currently in the development process. I've come up with names for multiple locations in Jadina and a few new characters, but I'm probably only on square 3 out of 10.
That's about it!
Word Of The Day:
Precipitation:
1. The action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution.
2. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.
Character Of The Week:
Myra Kamar:
Myra is a 16-year-old female Jadinan who is a little younger in her mind and her appearance. She has long, straight black hair that extends to her mid-back, roundish facial features, and twilight blue-colored eyes. Despite being a race of the Dark World, her element is Light, and she bends its power at her will. Along with that she carries a pair of daggers on her belt.
She's sweet and friendly, but also a bit naive and often spaces out. She isn't very well educated and therefore has no idea how to behave formally. Even though she's had a hard life from the start and plenty of trauma she always stays optimistic and hopeful for a chance at a better life.
She's the protagonist of "Noctivagous", a novel yet to be written, and also known as the "Girl of Light".
Wolf
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