Last night I pulled out the laptop to work as I am in the middle of multiple deadlines.
Imagine my surprise when my three year old Dell refused to start up. Lights blinked, etc. but no image. I plugged in a monitor to see if it was the screen – no image. After hours of trying, nothing.
Did I freak? Well yes, because I really can’t afford to buy a new laptop right now.
Did I worry about the data or my more important programs? No.
If there is one thing that I am, it’s a stickler for doing backups and you should be as well in order not to lose valuable data when things go wrong.
How can you do backups? Here are some suggestions for you:
Use a thumb drive and do a SAVE AS of your work-in-progress as soon as you’ve finished any major changes. Keep that thumb drive in a safe and secure place.
Use an external drive to do daily/weekly/monthly backups of your data. You know best how often you add data to your drive, so that should determine how often you do a backup. Terrabyte drives are now in the $79 to $129 range at various locations and will store a mess of data for you.
Copy files to an offsite location. You may really really really need not to lose your data in case there is damage to your home. There are services which let you copy your files and hold them offsite. Carbonite is one of the more popular services. If you’re an Optimum Online customer, they have a backup powered by Carbonite which allows you to store up to 2 gigabytes of data offsite.
Those are all nice solutions for safeguarding your data, but what about your programs?
Make sure you store your CDs in a safe place and keep the serial numbers handy. I have one of those audio CD library cases with my programs and I write and/or cut out the serial number from the box and keep it with the CD.
f you’ve downloaded the program from the Internet, keep the program files in a DOWNLOAD folder on your computer and back it up with your data files. Be sure to keep a copy of the serial number information handy, either in a document, address book or other location where you will remember you put it.
If you can’t even bear the thought of reloading all the software, there are programs which will save images of your hard drive which can then be restored to avoid such reinstalls. ACRONIS has a number of backup programs including one that creates a hard drive image. The cost? Only 39.99 right now.
I hope you found this Tuesday Tip helpful. As for me, the Dell decided to boot this morning, so I am busy making a full backup of data and an image backup just to be on the safe side!
If you’re a published author and you want to learn about how to promote your book, I highly recommend that you sign up for the Author and Marketing Experts newsletter. The newsletter is chock full of tips and tricks for how to publicize your book. You can also check out their free online courses and podcasts at Publishing Insiders.
Of course by now some of you may be wondering, “What the heck is social bookmarking?”
Social bookmarking lets you share your favorite websites, pages, etc. with others. Sites such as Delicious, Digg and Stumbleupon are just some of the sites which store your bookmarks and share them with others.
If you’ve got the Google Toolbar, you can also post your content to Blogger, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Yahoo and a number of other services with just the click of a button.
What can you share? Articles or blogs that you’ve written, reviews for your books, videos, contests and basically anything that you have online and that you want to share.
These bookmarks are great tools for having people discover you and your work and will help drive people to your website.
You can also make it easy for others to share information you’ve created by using buttons such as these in your posts and on your website! You can get this simple social bookmark widget at Addthis.com.
I hope you enjoyed today’s Tuesday Tip.
Also, many thanks for all your help last Tuesday when I asked for suggestions for some upcoming contest. The lucky winner of the Valere! Please e-mail me your postal address so I can send your prize.
The other day I did a blog over at the Savvy Authors about Dealing with the Day Job and one of the things I mentioned was finding a place and time for your writing as well as how to recharge. I like to call it finding your creative center because it’s one of the most important things you can do as a writer or any other kind of artist for that matter.
For me, being near the shore energizes me. Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces, but there is something about the ocean and beach that I find invigorating. When I head down the shore, I know I am going to get a mess of writing done as well as a spiritual uplift.
Now I know I am luckier than some that I can pick up and take the hour, or two hour or three hour (there is a reason why it’s called the Garden State PARKway) trip down the shore. But even if you can’t get away, you should try to carve out a place and time where you can work more effectively and also a way to recharge when you’ve emptied your brain of all thoughts and need a break.
When I’m not down the shore, I have my office at home and I’ve filled it with things that I love. Family photos, useful books, my keeper and TBR collection of novels, candles, DVDs of my favorite movies and television shows as well as a comfy couch, sweater and comforter since I don’t like working at a desk when I write.
Even if all you can do is carve out a small space down in the basement next to the washer and dryer, make it your own. Surround it with things that you love and will make you feel creative.
Also find a time during which you feel most creative. As I mentioned in that earlier blog, I discovered I was a morning person. My most creative time is from around 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and I take advantage of those early hours for some truly peaceful time because there are very few crazy people up at 5 a.m., especially down the shore!
What about when you hit a block? Well, a long shower or walk work best for me. There is something about those activities where you don’t have to be thinking about doing something and can just think that help me work through problems in the story line or visualize the next scene I want to write.
I hope you found this Tuesday Tip helpful! Good luck with the writing.
Having just come back from a fabulous conference with the Liberty States Fiction Writers, I wanted to offer up some tips on what to do after the conference!
First, if you enjoyed the conference, take a moment to write to the Conference Chair or President of the organization and let them know that you enjoyed it. If you liked something a lot, let them know so they can consider including it in future conferences and if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see, offer those up as well. It’s tough to run a conference and new ideas are always welcome.
If you’ve had an editor/agent appointment, make sure to make a list of who asked to see what while it’s fresh in your mind. Editors and agents don’t expect to have the material waiting for them the next morning, but they also don’t expect to get it months later. Send in any requested material within a reasonable time (a week or two) and in the format specified. If you’re not sure of the format, check the publisher’s guidelines at their website. Be sure to mention to the editor/agent that the material was requested at XX (conference name) and thank them for taking the time to consider your proposal.
Did you listen to an interesting workshop? Likewise, drop the presenter a quick note.
Finally, ask yourself – What did I do right at the conference? Did I meet at least one new person? Was my pitch solid or did I notice something that needed work? What goal do I have for the next conference I attend?
There are a lot of things that can drain your creativity as a writer, but one of the worst is trying to edit while you are writing.
One of the important things to learn in writing quickly as well as writing effectively is not stopping and second guessing yourself about choices of words, sentence structure, spelling or grammar. Those are all things that can be fixed after the fact.
When you are writing your first draft, let yourself run free. Put down what comes out of your brain immediately. It’s always possible to go back and fix whatever it is that you think is wrong.
If you stop yourself from running free, you may miss creating something really different and interesting.
I will often write vital scenes without stopping (or stopping only a little). I want to get that rush of fresh thoughts down on the paper, especially when it comes to dialogue. Having the right pacing and words in dialogue often come easier when you just let it flow. It’s easy to go back and fill in what may be missing if you’ve got a good rhythm to your dialogue.
So – shut down your internal editor for that first draft. Let yourself explore new things and pour your heart out onto the paper. There will be time enough to fix things once you’ve finished the scene.
Journals are a wonderful way to keep track of so many things. Whether it’s a diet journal where you keep track of the foods you eat, a workout journal to record progress, a personal journal for important thoughts or a travel journal to remind you of where you have been, journals rock!
So what’s the best way to keep a journal?
Like everything else, different things work best for different people. I’m a computer person, so for a lot of my things – like my travels for research – I jot down notes on my computer and upload the photos I take. But I also hang onto the tickets and pamphlets from the various places we go. My daughter and I will then often sit down and create a scrapbook for our trip to retain the memories for the future.
My daughter is very hands-on, so she keeps a paper journal with her where she writes down her thoughts and stories and adds pictures and other keepsakes.
Many writers keep journals of their personal thoughts or of ideas for new books. Some do it on paper, others on computers. Some even do it online via their blogs or websites. You can use blog sites to keep online journals, just make sure of two things:
If you want to keep it personal, make sure there is a way to set the blog as being private and not public.
Make sure there is a way to download or copy that journal to your hard drive or move it to another blog platform.
How often should you keep journal entries?
Again there is no right or wrong to it, except maybe one wrong – Not doing it.
Find the best time for you to collect your thoughts or the information you want to record. It may be private time or it may be out in public. At the gym I see a number of people with note pads to track their workout progress. They record the weight and repetitions that they do in order to have an effective exercise routine.
What do I get out of journaling?
As a writer, you build your writing chops with each writing exercise that you do.
Plus, it’s a way to keep track of important events or memories that might be lost if they are not recorded in any way. Many years ago I wrote down the history of how my family had come here for my nephew and it was amazing how much there was that he didn’t know and how much I had never really discussed with anyone. I thought it would only be a few pages when I got started and it ended up being more like 20. And that was just general information about the short two year stretch around when we left Cuba!
If you have a family elder that is still alive, it may be a good time to see about making a video journal of them with some of the stories of when they were younger. There are so many differences from then to now and in the future, all those stories and memories might be lost if don’t record them or if you don’t repeat those stories to the next generation.
I’m really lucky to have with me today my friend and fellow author Mary Kennedy. Mary is a national best-selling author, and a clinical psychologist in private practice on the east coast. She has sold forty novels, all to major New York publishers, and has made the Waldenbooks, BookScan and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists. Her early novels included middle grade fiction and young adult fiction for Scholastic and Penguin.
Mary is currently writing an adult mystery series, The Talk Radio Mysteries, which is set in a fictional town in south Florida. The first title, DEAD AIR, will be released in January, 2010, and the second, REEL MURDER, in June, 2010. The Talk Radio Mysteries was pitched and sold as “Frasier Meets Murder She Wrote.” The heroine is Maggie Walsh, a psychologist who closes up her Manhattan practice and heads to sunny Florida to take a job as a radio talk show host. And, yes, she solves a murder in every book!
Please join me in welcoming Mary and I hope you enjoy this very inspirational blog about resiliency!
When the Going Gets Tough
“When the going gets tough, the tough keep going.” This is the Cliff Notes version of a concept known as “resiliency,” the ability to bounce back fast from adversity. As a practicing psychologist, I try to build resiliency in my clients, helping them to withstand the stresses and disappointments of daily life. All of us possess resiliency, but how much? A lot depends on genetics, learned behavior patterns, personality traits and life experience. I’ve seen patients make a remarkable recovery from traumatic events; the death of a spouse, chronic illness of a child, even financial ruin. And I’ve seen other patients in tears over a bad haircut or a thoughtless remark by a relative.
Why is resiliency so important for writers? Because rejection is part of the game. Like all artists, writers put themselves on the line every time they send out a manuscript, leaving themselves open to judgment from editors and agents. So much of our identity is wrapped up in “being a writer,” that rejections are brutal, and go to the heart of who we are.
How can you build resiliency? I’d recommend four simple steps. Let’s take the example of an editor rejecting your manuscript.
First, take a cold hard look at the situation and determine if your first impression is accurate. Artists tend to “catastrophize,” meaning they put the worst possible spin on a situation. Does the editor really dislike the manuscript as a whole, or can you tweak it a little and resubmit it? Re-read her comments when you’re feeling calm and reflective. Panic can lead to cloudy thinking.
Second, ask a close friend for feedback. It’s always good to at least consider a situation through another set of eyes. Since your friend is less emotionally invested in the outcome, she may have a totally different–and more realistic–impression than you do.
Third, try to reframe the situation. Yes, the editor may not like this particular manuscript, for whatever reason. It may have nothing to do with your talent, or the quality of your work. It may be she’s just bought a book with the same theme or that the market is flooded with similar books. Let’s try reframing the situation in a more positive light. She’s not interested in acquiring this particular manuscript at this time. But is it realistic to say she never wants to see anything else from you? Ever? This is known as “depressive” thinking, or looking at something in a negative light. Reframe the situation and you realize that you can submit other projects to her, down the road.
Finally, immediately take action to seek a solution. Ruminating and drowning in negative thoughts will not help. Taking action will. List three things you can do–today–to get back on track. You can polish up another proposal, start something new or spend two hours in a bookstore, checking out the new releases. All these are positive steps you can take. Action leads to power, and a sense of control, which makes for a happier outlook. You will find that you are more resilient than you thought!
Mary Kennedy
For more information on Mary, please visit www.marykennedy.net
DEAD AIR (Penguin, January 5, 2010)
The first of the Talk Radio Mysteries.
“Frasier meets Murder She Wrote” in this entertaining new series by a real-life psychologist.”
There has been a lot discussion during the last week about the new Harlequin Horizons venture. For more on this venture and the response to it, you can click below on these links for comments:
In many of the above discussions, there has oftentimes been a use of the terms e-publishing, self-publishing and vanity/subsidy publishing interchangeably, but there are vast differences between those three types of publishing. In light of this, it seems as good a time as any on this Tuesday Tip blog to distinguish between e-publishing, self-publishing and vanity/subsidy publishing.
E-publishing
With e-publishing there is no monetary outlay of funds by the author. The e-publisher will do editing, create the cover and arrange for distribution of the book through their various channels. The author does not typically get an advance as is done with traditional print publishing, but will receive a royalty based on sales, usually in the neighborhood 25%-35% of either the cover or net price. The e-publishing model shares the reward between the author and the publisher, but the risk is borne by the publisher.
Oftentimes e-publishing will allow for books that don’t fit a niche to find a home and it has proved financially sound and rewarding for some publishers and houses.
Self-publishing
With self-publishing, the author will pay for the printing of the book and any related design services (such as the artwork on the cover). The author will own the ISBN, copyright and be responsible for marketing, distribution and sales. The author usually keeps 100% of the sales made, so all risk and reward is with the author. Self-publishing is a riskier move. Many bookstores will not stock self-published books. While there have been some success stories (such as The Shack and The Celestine Prophecy), for every one of those success stories, I suspect there are thousands of tales about books sitting in garages or the trunks of cars. According Bowker, although more ISBNS were handed out for self-published books than for traditionally published books in 2008, the average self-published book sells less than 100 copies.
Vanity/Subsidy Publishing
With vanity/subsidy, the author pays for “publication” of the book as contrasted to the printing and design of the book. For the fee, the vanity/subsidy publisher will provide X number of copies of the book as well as suggest marketing, editing and other services in order to achieve “publication” and make sales. In addition, the publisher may also retain a portion of the sales for offering the book through their distribution channels. For example, you may pay $600 for the basic vanity publishing package, but you may also need to pony up 50% of the either the cover or net price of each sale to the publisher. Therefore, you will only receive 50% of the cover/net price as a royalty. Please remember that the net price could be substantially less than the cover price, drastically reducing your “royalty.” For example, Amazon takes approximately 35% of the cover price as its share for listing the book, so as an author, you would only receive 50% of the 65% left from the cover price. In the vanity/subsidy publishing model, 100% of the risk is borne by the author but not 100% of the reward.
So what is an aspiring author to do? There is a difference between being published and being in print that is being blurred by today’s print on demand technology and the advent of the Internet. For starters, remember the first rule: Money should flow from the publisher to the author. Then, remember the second rule: If anyone asks you to outlay money to publish your book, seriously reconsider that “publication.” There is a reason why AAR and other organizations have a code of ethics that prohibits literary agencies from charging fees to aspiring writers. As a writer, you should consider applying that rule to any publishers that you are about to consider.
My friend Rayna Vause and I headed to Georgia at the beginning of the month on a new adventure – the Moonlight & Magnolias Conference!
It was a fabulous conference run by the Georgia Romance Writers and many thanks to all the wonderful organizers there for a great event.
You must wonder what that has to do with Tuesday and Tips of any kind and here it is – You’ve heard me say it before and I’ll say it again – Networking!
One of the most important things you can do both before and after getting published is to get out and about and expand your horizons. Meet new people. Make new friends. Gain more knowledge that will help you not only write better, but also learn about the publishing business.
Some people go to the same conference every year. Sometimes that’s good if it’s a solid conference that brings in new blood and new possibilities. But it’s also important to allow room (and funds) for different conferences and adventures.
I’m glad I took my little adventure to Moonlight & Magnolias! It was a great group of people and there were some wonderful workshops and events. Thank you Georgia Romance Writers!
Here are a few photos for you from the conference. If anyone out there has more (I know I posed for bunch of photos), please send them to cpsromance at att dot net.
Last night I pulled out the laptop to work as I am in the middle of multiple deadlines.
For me, being near the shore energizes me. Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces, but there is something about the ocean and beach that I find invigorating. When I head down the shore, I know I am going to get a mess of writing done as well as a spiritual uplift.
There are a lot of things that can drain your creativity as a writer, but one of the worst is trying to edit while you are writing.
Journals are a wonderful way to keep track of so many things. Whether it’s a diet journal where you keep track of the foods you eat, a workout journal to record progress, a personal journal for important thoughts or a travel journal to remind you of where you have been, journals rock!
I’m really lucky to have with me today my friend and 
