Enter Giveaways! Win Books! (And of course, a Giveaway)

 Congratulations to Joyce Hostetter who won For To See The Elephant from last week's blog.

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Book Winner Extraordinaire!

I haven't counted how many books I've given away since I started this blog over ten years ago. All I know is that I love doing it and appreciate the authors and publishers who supply me with books and the people who enter the giveaways. You don't know how fun it is for me to put your names into random.org (a long way off from writing names on slips of paper for my mother to draw out of a hat) and see whose name is chosen.

Margaret Federlin picks a winner of Lisa Kline's book, Summer of the Wolves, 2012

One of my frequent winners is Connie Saunders. I thought that she'd won about 10 books, in fact, it's over 25!  Here's what she had to say:

Shortly after I retired as a public librarian in 2015, I discovered Carol's blog dedicated to books and literacy. Many of the books she features are for children and young adults and I was especially eager to stay informed since my granddaughter Isabella was born shortly after my retirement. Carol often shares a giveaway for the books that she features and I've been very fortunate to win several of these books. My latest win was Just Between Sam and Me by Cat Michaels and Rosie Russell. 

In May, I won Through the Wardrobe by Lina Maslo. It's a great introduction to C.S. Lewis's books.

Here are some of the other books that I've won for Isabella:

I urge all of you to read Carol's blog. She features outstanding books and gives you a chance to win some of them. You can earn multiple entries by sharing on other social media so you need to Read--Enter--Share!

What are Your Favorite Giveaway Blogs?

I win children's books from Kathy Temean's blog, Writing and Illustrating, and from Rosi Hollenbeck's blog. How about you? Where do you win books?

Giveaway

This blog wouldn't be complete without a giveaway. Today I'm giving away The Middle School Writing Toolkit by Tim Clifford; it will be an asset in every middle school classroom. If you're homeschooling (and who isn't these days?) and feel stuck on writing instruction, this book will help you plan and execute lessons. 

Leave me a comment by January 15 and I'll enter your name. MAKE SURE you leave me your email address if you are new to my blog. I've had several "Unknowns" leave me comments and I can't enter you without a name and email address. If you follow my blog OR share this on social media, I'll enter your name twice. 

Writing Tips #5: Nuggets of Wisdom on Editing & Revision

Congratulations to Kathy Weichman who won Beginnings Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress.  Thanks to all of you who contributed to the this series. You can find the previous posts here: Part I and II included General Advice; Part III was on Deep Point of View; and Part IV was on Story Making. 

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"During my time as a facilitator of various writing groups, I saw the tendency of overusing the words ‘that’ and ‘was’.

THAT is a word THAT should not be used THAT often. 

It is reasonable to say, eighty percent of that’s are not necessary.

"WAS is another overused word that takes away from the action.  I once had a writing assignment in college where the professor wanted a two thousand word story written without the use of ‘was.'  Almost impossible to do.  Try replacing 'was' with action words or dialogue.  If you use it more than ten times in a two thousand word story, you are abusing the word.   

"Misplacing a comma can turn the meaning of a sentence into something other than intended. Always place a comma before a person’s name when used in dialogue.   

 “Let’s go out and eat Nancy.”

 “Let’s go out and eat, Nancy.”

"In the first example, it looks like Nancy is dinner. 

In the second example, with the comma before Nancy’s name, the meaning isn’t so graphic."  Tommy Styles, short story writer.

"Editing will require you to kill phrases, paragraphs, maybe even entire chapters or characters that you love. Sometimes they’ll be the bits you think are clever and beautiful and certain to be the ones your fans will be quoting and sharing on social media. You must be willing to do it anyway. You must learn to become brutally analytical about your own work. If it doesn’t help the story, it is not necessary. Period."  Shannon Wiersbitzky, author of What Flowers Remember.

"I am beginning an extensive revision and working hard to cut what needs to be cut, but it helps to remember that what is cut doesn't need to be trashed. It can be saved to be used another day. Maybe it won't, but it's easier to cut when I have that mindset." Kathy Cannon Wiechman, author of Like A River.

"When you cutting, words, sentences, paragraphs don't just throw them away. That's too emotional for many of us. Open a "shards" or "discards" file for each WIP and save those cuttings. You'll be able to use them another day in another project." Jean Hall, founder of Write2Ignite.

"Writing and publishing is a long-term pursuit, so don't rush what you are working on, and don't submit before it is polished. Revision is the key to publication." Christine Kohler, author of No Surrender Soldier.

Found on http://madwomanintheforest.com/wfmad-day-18-revision-roadmap/ 

"Put away your work for a good while before revising." Rosi Hollenbeck, SCBWI critique group coordinator for Northern and Central California and blogger.

"There comes a time to put down the writing books, the notes from conferences and classes, the "he said she said" telling you what to do or not to do and JUST WRITE THE STORY THAT'S IN YOUR HEART. Sandra Warren, author of Arlie the Alligator.

If you need more inspiration, check out Janice Hardy's month of outstanding at-home revision blogs. Kathy Temean has an excellent list of things not to miss when editing your work. And here are some top editing and proofreading tips from the folks at Romance University.

Finally, here is advice from a fourth-grade teacher; I use this quote whenever I teach writing: 

  "The red pencil is your best friend." 

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Rosi Hollinbeck, one of my newest blog followers and the SCBWI Critique Group Coordinator for North Central Northern California. She won last week's giveaway contest and chose to receive a 10-page critique from Rebecca Petruck. 


Thanks to all of you who entered this contest. Since it was so popular, Rebecca has agreed to sponsor it again. She'll be back again in a few months with more advice for me and a 10-page critique to one of you. And for those of you who don't want to wait until then, contact Rebecca on her website for information on receiving your own professional critique.