Hello everyone, This time last year I didn't pay attention and missed out on entering The Thief and The Demon into the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. This year I did. As of time of writing there are 163 entries into the competition, so if you have a self-published fantasy novel out there for sale which is …
Tag: Books
The Writing Life: It’s just 30 minutes…
I’m tired. I’d rather go to bed, but I’ve bargained with myself and asked for thirty minutes of writing, just thirty minutes and then bed. See what I can produce now (Wednesday night) to make it easier to get my blog out on time tomorrow, after another long day. I realized yesterday that I have …
The Writing Life: Momentum
Another rapid freehand blog today. Which means five plus edits after publication - my apologies to those of you who get version one mailed to you! My face is hot. I think because I've been talking for hours. To myself. I've been reading The Killer and The Dead aloud, and I'm here to say (thankfully …
The Writing Life: The Long Road of Line Editing
What is line editing? Well, if developmental edits are big picture issues looking at story, plot, character and setting among other things, and copy editing is getting down to the nuts and bolts of grammar, then line editing exists somewhere in between. Line editing is taking your manuscript to a spa: to sweat off the …
Continue reading The Writing Life: The Long Road of Line Editing
One Phase done. Ebooks on sale.
Once again, the title says it all. My developmental edit has been submitted. Much gladness and rejoicing has ensued, tempered by the knowledge that more is to come. A writer's life for me! Also - the kindle version of The Thief and The Demon is on sale! Catch it at the absurdly cheap price of …
Taking Stock
Sorry for the lack of blogs, I’ve been deep in the editorial jungle, hacking away with the machete of no remorse. Oh wait, this is the developmental edit – I’ve been adding more than subtracting, as is usual for me! Part of that is recognizing where I the writer take my own knowledge of the …
Editing as a cuesport
This is going to be brief, because I should be editing, not blogging. I refer you to this blog. It is far more true now for me than it was a couple of weeks ago! But, here's my quick thought. Anyone who is any good at cuesports, be it pool, snooker, or billiards; often has …
We’ll talk about this later…
But for now I'd like to say I'm "Today's Featured Indie Book Review" on Kirkus. Find it here. I'm pleased with what they have to say. Bottom left of the page. Check it out. EDIT: now that my day in the sun has passed, you can check out the review directly here. And if you …
The Writing Life: Gathering Your Thoughts, or Dealing with Developmental Editorial Feedback
So I received my developmental notes for The Killer and The Dead last week. These notes were a collection of thoughtful comments and suggestions on plot, structure, pacing, writing, setting, and character. Plus a ton of in-text comments on specific aspects of the book, good and bad, pointing out places where improvements could be made, …
The Writing Life: Reading Your Own Writing
Ah, my writing holiday is almost over, as I get the developmental edits on The Killer and The Dead back tomorrow. I have one more night of imagining I’ll get a note of stunned awe, and thanks for writing such a thing of searing beauty. And writers out there, you do hope for that kind …
Roderick T. Macdonald 