yankee bedroom set image
Illogicolo
Answer
I do not agree with locking the doors and smashing the TV at all. Life is all about diversity. You have to set yourself specific "office hours". During that time, you write every day for a specific length of time in a specific place. I watch a little TV now and then. I never miss a Yankee game. I go shopping. I do a lot of things. I read daily. If you lock yourself away and do nothing but write, you will not succeed. How can one write about life when one shuts themselves away from it?
Most successful authors follow the "office hours" approach. Hemingway had a little building behind his house in Key West. Every day at the same time, his manservant locked him inside for a set number of hours. You need to determine which hours work best for you. For me it's 1 - 5 am. I have learned to adjust my lift around those hours. I write in the same place every time. This week, I officially moved into my new office in my house. Writing in a bedroom is a really lousy idea - you will never sleep. Finally, I moved my home office out of my bedroom into a beautiful room of my own. You should read Virginia Woolf's essay called A Room of Her Own. When you decide on your special place, it should be a place without distractions and a place where people know to leave you alone. My office is off limits to everyone during office hours. Of course, most people are asleep then.
My other advice to you is not to jump right into the writing. Work on the prep. In the young authors I have worked with and taught, most neglect that phase. Work on your character development. Work on your plot analysis. From there, subplots and backstories should develop. And I cannot stress RESEARCH enough. I recently read a lovely book called The Fig Eater. In the acknowledgments, the author talks about how the book came about. If nothing else, go pick up that book and read that part. She spent NINE MONTHS researching before she wrote a word! But when you read the book, you see how it paid off. You actually can feel you are in turn of the century Vienna.
Lastly, editors!!!! Again, most novice authors think they write a book, toss it in an envelope, send it to a publisher and get money for it. It doesn't work that way. Expect to do at least three drafts of your book. Then send it to a professional editor to be edited. Editing doesn't mean checking your spelling and punctuation. Editors give you margin notes that tell you how to make your book better. They tell you where to trim, where to add, where to speed up, where to slow down, etc. They have been through this hundreds of times and they know what publishers want. They cost between 3 and 5 dollars per page based on 250 words per page, but they are worth every penny. As you begin to write, begin saving for that editor. They will turn a good book into a great book.
Check with my profile. I star all great Q and A on publishing and writing. Many successful authors have posted valuable information here. Go throgh them and find some that are useful to you. Print them out and study them. Check back too, I add more all the time as I read them here. Yours is now starred.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax - C
I do not agree with locking the doors and smashing the TV at all. Life is all about diversity. You have to set yourself specific "office hours". During that time, you write every day for a specific length of time in a specific place. I watch a little TV now and then. I never miss a Yankee game. I go shopping. I do a lot of things. I read daily. If you lock yourself away and do nothing but write, you will not succeed. How can one write about life when one shuts themselves away from it?
Most successful authors follow the "office hours" approach. Hemingway had a little building behind his house in Key West. Every day at the same time, his manservant locked him inside for a set number of hours. You need to determine which hours work best for you. For me it's 1 - 5 am. I have learned to adjust my lift around those hours. I write in the same place every time. This week, I officially moved into my new office in my house. Writing in a bedroom is a really lousy idea - you will never sleep. Finally, I moved my home office out of my bedroom into a beautiful room of my own. You should read Virginia Woolf's essay called A Room of Her Own. When you decide on your special place, it should be a place without distractions and a place where people know to leave you alone. My office is off limits to everyone during office hours. Of course, most people are asleep then.
My other advice to you is not to jump right into the writing. Work on the prep. In the young authors I have worked with and taught, most neglect that phase. Work on your character development. Work on your plot analysis. From there, subplots and backstories should develop. And I cannot stress RESEARCH enough. I recently read a lovely book called The Fig Eater. In the acknowledgments, the author talks about how the book came about. If nothing else, go pick up that book and read that part. She spent NINE MONTHS researching before she wrote a word! But when you read the book, you see how it paid off. You actually can feel you are in turn of the century Vienna.
Lastly, editors!!!! Again, most novice authors think they write a book, toss it in an envelope, send it to a publisher and get money for it. It doesn't work that way. Expect to do at least three drafts of your book. Then send it to a professional editor to be edited. Editing doesn't mean checking your spelling and punctuation. Editors give you margin notes that tell you how to make your book better. They tell you where to trim, where to add, where to speed up, where to slow down, etc. They have been through this hundreds of times and they know what publishers want. They cost between 3 and 5 dollars per page based on 250 words per page, but they are worth every penny. As you begin to write, begin saving for that editor. They will turn a good book into a great book.
Check with my profile. I star all great Q and A on publishing and writing. Many successful authors have posted valuable information here. Go throgh them and find some that are useful to you. Print them out and study them. Check back too, I add more all the time as I read them here. Yours is now starred.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax - C
What was Obermann's Ratings...?
Jean R
...in bed. Not very good she says.
KEITH GETS LOW RATINGS IN BED
October 9, 2006 -- A BROWN-haired beauty who claims she had an unsatisfying one-night stand with Keith Olbermann is getting her sweet revenge - she's launched a blog to warn other women about the acerbic MSNBC commentator's boorish bedroom habits.
The bitter babe, who calls herself KarmaBites1, says she doesn't want others "to fall into the same trap . . . and I want him to feel some remorse for what he's done . . . He sets his mind on a woman, lures her in, and once he gets what he wants, he refuses to ever speak to them again. And I don't think he understands the damage he's caused."
A 30-something office worker of Caribbean descent, KarmaBites1 said she struck up an e-mail friendship with Olbermann, whom she admired, and agreed to fly to New York to meet him last May. She says he came to her hotel room and opened a bottle of Merlot which he "spilled all over." Then, when "sexual activity began [in] less than an hour," Olbermann had difficulty. "I pretended he knew what he was doing," the embittered blogger writes. "I adored the guy. I didn't want him to think he was a dud in bed," so she faked experiencing ecstasy.
Next, he piled on excuses as to why he had to leave. "He told me he's an insomniac and that it's hard for him not to sleep in his own bed. He also mentioned he hadn't had 'company' in a while. [He said] he had an early meeting with the Yankees [and] he might be allergic to the pillows in the hotel bed."
Six days later, she claims, Olbermann e-mailed her to tell her never to contact him again. "I practically begged him to explain what I did wrong. I told him I deserved some kind of explanation for such a dismissal, but I never heard from him again." She said she's since heard from six other women who say they had brief sexual relationships with Olbermann.
She named her blog forthisreliefmuchthanks.blogspot.com, after a line from "Hamlet" she says the perennial bachelor quoted.
Olbermann's spokeswoman said she'd get back to us, but didn't.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/10092006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm
Arvis, are you serious. O'Reilly has been No. 1 for a long long time and olb. has been last for a long time. Check the ratings the next time they come out.
Answer
I am amazed that anyone even watches that idiot.
I'm surprised he even has a show. Rumor is, that MSNBC is thinking about cancelling MSNBC due to poor ratings
I am amazed that anyone even watches that idiot.
I'm surprised he even has a show. Rumor is, that MSNBC is thinking about cancelling MSNBC due to poor ratings
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Title Post: Do you have any advice for writing a first novel?
Rating: 94% based on 1258 ratings. 4,3 user reviews.
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Rating: 94% based on 1258 ratings. 4,3 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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