Posts
First a few things worth pointing out in the blogosphere:
- My dear friend/Critique partner Julie Musil has an agent!!! Congrats to one of the nicest, most talented people I know. We started this journey together, and we will continue it together as well.
- Ebony McKenna's Books (of which I had the pleasure of interviewing her characters here) are NOW AVAILABLE IN THE US THROUGH PURCHASE ON YOUR KINDLE. Here's the link for The Summer of Shambles and The Autumn Palace.
- Martina from Adventures in Children's Publishing blog and I are doing a first five pages workshop each month. If you visit the first Saturday of the month, you will have an opportunity to be one of the first five to get in five pages you'd like critiqued, and each weekend we will post your revisions until, hopefully, you get it just right. :D Come down and see what it's like, and comment on others work as well. We all help each other out, right? Just be COURTEOUS, but I know you all are!
- Finally, I'm sure you all know, but registration is open for SCBWI LA!!!
NOW TO THE POST!
Mistakes. Without them, our characters would be a bit too perfect, no? But what about us as writers? When should we be extra careful not to listen to that little devil on our shoulder? What mistakes should we take care to avoid?
- Hitting Send too quickly. Don't be trigger happy, make sure you've got it right first, because you only get one shot with an agent or editor for each manuscript.
- NOT hitting send! Ha, I am so confusing, aren't I? If you've done all the work, revised, gotten critiques, revised again, and you keep changing the word "cry" to "sob" you probably are just scared. But if you never try, how will you ever succeed?
- Losing it. You don't want to say anything you'll regret later. Period. If you say something online, it does not disappear. And those things we wish we hadn't said have a way of going viral. Not to mention this is a small community, where agents, editors and authors know each other and talk. So if you are rude to someone, chances are she won't be the only one to be offended.
- Being afraid to jump in. I've said it a hundred times, but this is the most amazingly supportive community I've ever seen. Don't be intimidated. Speak up! Ask questions! Get involved. Chances are you won't be disappointed in the response. But if you never try...
What other mistakes do we make, and how can we avoid them?
