The Writer's Voice: Guest author Rose Garcia on Writing, editing and Marketing

We are beyond thrilled to have Rose Garcia come and share some of her tips with us.To celebrate we are giving away 2 ebook copies of Rose Garcia's Final Life.

5 Things on Writing

Start. Now.
writing community
Be true to yourself and the story
goals and make a writing schedule
what happens AFTER you finish?

1. Start. Now. Too many people who want to write put it off for various reasons: school is almost over and I’ll be busy with the kids this summer, my office is a mess, I need to finish xyz project at work, I don’t know if I can do it, will anyone buy my book? Get out of your own way and just write!

2. Okay, now that you’re writing, you’re probably figuring out that it’s harder than it seems. LOL Here’s where you’ll need to get connected with your local writing community. Most writers groups offer seminars on the craft of writing. You can also find some great online webinars. I highly suggest Writer’s Digest.

3. Write what you love, and not to the trends. Be true to yourself and the story that’s inside of you. I promise if you do, the story will flow out of you much easier than if you forced a story onto the page.

4. So, now that you’re writing, and you’re connected with the writing community, and you’re staying

true to yourself, you may find that you’re all over the place with your writing. THIS IS NORMAL! But to see real progress, you might want to set some goals and make a writing schedule. I’m slated to release the third book in my YA trilogy in the fall and you better believe I have a schedule!

5. In my opinion, the hardest part about writing is what happens AFTER you finish. In other words, you may have slain the dragon, but the battle isn’t over yet! In other other words, writing is more like a marathon and less like a sprint, which leads me to my five tips on editing.

5 Things on Editing

1. Remember up above when I recommended that you get involved in your local writing group? Well, here’s where you’ll find your critique partner, and trust me when I say that you need one. This can’t be a friend who likes to read, or a family member you swear will help you with your book. You need someone who knows and understands the craft of writing and isn’t afraid to give you honest and constructive feedback. Your writing will be better for it.

2. There are four main types of editing: developmental, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Your critique partner can and should be able to help you to some degree with all of these, but let me briefly touch on the most important type of editing: developmental. (See below) Oh, and if you don’t think you need editing, then you’re not being honest with yourself. (Sorry!)

3. Developmental editing is the type of editing that involves things like plot, pacing, voice, and character development. This type of editing is BEYOND important. And sometimes digging into this type of editing may mean heavy revisions. Don’t be afraid to chop up your manuscript in order to make it better!

4. Line editing, copy editing, and proofreading focuses on everything BUT the broad story scope of your book. So here is where you’ll pay attention to grammar, punctuation, word usage, and misspelled words. This editing is important, too, but you can’t even get to this type of editing until you address and/or fix the issues that have arisen during developmental editing.

5. If you get to the point where your critique partner is not giving you the level of help you need, or maybe you need a second opinion, there are many great editors out there for hire. Just be sure to get referrals from people you trust because not all editors are created equal. LOL

5 Things on marketing

1. Large press, small press, indie published, or barely published, every writer should be marketing! At the most basic level, I suggest you have an author personal FB account, an author FB page, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Instagram. You will interact with a slightly different audience on each platform, so don’t fool yourself in thinking all you need is FB and Twitter, because you don’t! LOL (Oh, and you’ll also want a website and/or blog.)

2. For Twitter and FB, you can schedule your posts, and I highly recommend Hootsuite. You can also post to Instagram and at the same time to FB and Twitter. However, be sure to pop in and do some real interacting from time to time. People can tell the difference.

3. Don’t spend too much time on social media and marketing! It can be a real time sucker! Remember the schedule I mentioned earlier? I highly recommend you include marketing on that schedule.

4. Develop relationships with fellow writers! That way you can support them and in turn they will support you. It really is true that the more you do for others, the more they’ll do for you.

5. Have fun with marketing! Interacting with readers and writers should be a positive experience! If it’s a chore, take a step back. Remember that marketing really is another way of making friends. Then, rejoin the party!

Thanks for having me on the blog! I hope I’ve been able to help everyone out with their goals and where everyone is with their writing. After all, we truly are in this together!!

WIN!!!