Most of us have probably watched a holiday special of one kind or another. When I was a kid, that holiday special was always “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Okay, I’ll admit it, I still watch “Charlie Brown Christmas” every year, even now. There are lots of other holiday specials out there too. “Star Wars Christmas” comes to mind as a particularly… well let’s just say memorable to be charitable. The Muppets have a couple and pretty much every cartoon out there has at least one. I even saw “Ice Age Christmas” in the stores the other day. Yes, I bought it and it is pretty funny. All these specials got me thinking about why their creators did them in the […]
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Get Published Episode 71 – Brandy Rivers Talks Movies and Television
I haven’t really talked about my own personal journey to publication that much. That is primarily because I wanted to actually have something interesting to talk about. After all, you don’t want to hear things like, “got email from editor” or “publisher told me book is scheduled to come out in 2012”. As I have said and come to learn, publishing is very slow and no one wants to hear stories about waiting patiently. Well, now that I have received and finished the first round of major edits, I do have something to talk about. Specifically my own lessons learned. I’ll talk more about that in the tips and typos section of the show. I’m also very excited to share […]
Read moreEditing Update – My Transgressions Have Caught Up With Me
I have learned a lot in my current round of revising my “Mik Murdoch” manuscript. The very biggest lesson has been not to rush the story. I know I’ve mentioned this, but I sometimes find myself hurrying a story to finish it. It results in glossed over scenes, scenes that end too abruptly or just situations that are unlikely. As you might imagine, I’m getting tagged with more of those at the end of the book than I was at the beginning. So, I’ve been working for the past several days trying to get to that most sought after page, the last. Except, I keep getting tripped up with little comments like “Expand this” or “Ends too suddenly” or even […]
Read moreEditing Update – Lessons Learned at the Halfway Point
I’ve had the marked up manuscript for “Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero” since August and I have been making some steady progress. One of the things my editor, Robert Runte’ said to me before I even saw the edits was, it would be a lot of work, but it would save me a lot of time in the long run (i.e. future novels). Seeing the items he has requested for revision, I would have to agree with him. Three stand out specifically: 1. Rushing Scenes I’ve probably mentioned this before and I’m sure I’m not unique in this writing mistake. I have the bad habit of finishing a scene too quickly. I’ve really looked at it (and myself) to better understand […]
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