Emily Dill

Writer and Blogger

  • Home
  • About
    • About Emily
    • Contact
    • My Testimony
    • Blog
  • Media
  • Poetry
  • Short Stories
  • Novels
You are here: Home / Archives for editing

Shoutout Sunday: Showing Some Love (03/08/15)

March 8, 2015 by Emily Dill 2 Comments

Annnnnd, we’ve reached the end of another week. Today marks the end of the first full week of March – I hope it treated you well! Here in Kentucky, Elsa wreaked more havoc on us, but the weather is finally warming up, and temps in the 50s and 60s are in store for us next week. Whoohoo! (Also, happy International Women’s Day! We should all love and support each other – no more gossiping and judging, okay? Okay.)

There was a wealth of relevant information this week in the blogosphere, and I had a lot of trouble narrowing down the links for today’s Shoutout Sunday. Just how I like it! 🙂

How to Read More Often AND How to Get More Out of Reading – This post is a wonderful article about reading that also happens to a) be written by my mother, and b) quote me. So naturally we’re leading with this article. 😉 I do stand by my tips in the article though – take notes and FOCUS.

Create a Call to Action for Your Blog – I feel like I linked to a blog post from Jenny last week…and I feel like I’ll be linking to her on a consistent basis. Her blog is pure gold for aspiring writers, so explore her site after finishing this specific article.

5 Ways to Help a New Author Out – I can’t describe to you how much I love this article. If anyone in your life is even considering writing in any way, read this. And then do everything you can to encourage them – ask them questions, retweet and like their social media statuses, tell your friends about your little fledgling writer. Everyone who is beginning a writing career should print out this article and then slap their friends and family in the face with it. Lovingly.

How to Write a Novel: A Simple Process for Beating Writer’s Block – This, friends, is fantastic material. Monica Leonelle describes how to start with the simplest tasks, and work your way through an outline, to a draft, and then voila, you’re almost done with your novel! Obviously, it’s not quite that simple, but she does make it seem a lot less difficult than most writers. She also references Harry Potter throughout the article, so 100 points to Gryffindor for that.

Tips For Blogging Success: The Basics Of Running A Successful Blog – This post from Career Girl Daily is great reading material for anyone considering starting a blog, or wondering how to make the blog they already maintain even more successful. Side note, this is one sleek and stylish blog.

I’ll see you back here on Tuesday for this week’s off-topic post. I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and fun week!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, editing, novel, reading, revising, writer's block, writing

Writing Wednesday: The NaNoWriMo Struggle, Months Later

March 5, 2015 by Emily Dill Leave a Comment

Riddle me this, Batman. (If you’re actually Batman, then I’m beyond stoked that you’re here. Big fan.) How is it that one individual can write over 50,000 words in 29 days, and then barely 2,000 in the 3 months that follow?

Please tell me I’m the only person whose writing hit the skids when November ended.

Oh, NaNoWriMo. You were delightful. Why did you have to end?

I’ve still been editing my novel a little, mind you. And I’ve written quite a bit of poetry, several short stories, and blog posts (obviously). But from the end of November to the end of February, my manuscript’s word count total moved from 50,000 to barely 52,000.

I’ve finally pinpointed two issues that I can blame for my writing coming to a halt, and I’ll be spending this month and the entirety of Spring (and Summer?) working around them.

1) Television is the devil. I mean, it’s fantastic. But still, very much the devil. Why (why?!) have I gotten so invested in these TV shows? Why did I have to start watching that delightful series Cops? Why is Netflix the greatest thing ever invented? My nights pretty much feel empty if I haven’t watched a few episodes of The Office or Family Guy. And I don’t necessarily think that having favorite television shows is a horrible thing – I love writing in all art forms, and relaxing is great for your mental health. But the TV time definitely has to be limited, and that’s something I’m starting to work on, especially since I’ve realized that I CANNOT write and watch TV at the same time. Nope. not working.

2) Some people *raises hand* NEED a deadline. Yep, I’m that person. I love structure, I like rules, and I keep a list for daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, etc. I was the college student who had homework done days before it was due, I did all the bonus work the professors assigned, and any test score less than 95 seemed like failure to me. So yes, I LOVE deadlines. I love feeling like I’ve reached a goal. And it thrills me to think that I’ve finished something ahead of schedule. Seriously, friends, NaNoWriMo was custom made for me. So I’ve decided I’m going to start giving myself new deadlines. Word counts each day, page totals for the week, and so on. I’m also interested in Camp NaNoWriMo next month, but I don’t really know much about it yet. Anyway, the fact that I wrote 50k words in 4 weeks should be a pretty big testament to the fact that I do my best work under pressure.

Obviously a LOT more goes into writing, editing, and revising than just the two topics above. But I’ve noticed that watching television and working without a deadline are pretty much toxic as far as my productivity is concerned. If you have any tips for me and other people struggling with these issues, please share below!

Filed Under: Blog, Novels Tagged With: editing, first draft, nanowrimo, novel, revising, writing, writing wednesday

Shoutout Sunday: Showing Some Love (03/01/15)

March 1, 2015 by Emily Dill Leave a Comment

Today’s Shoutout Sunday is dipping back into the archives a little bit. To be honest, I didn’t really find any new articles written in the past week that I wanted to share with you (except the last link to Jenny’s post), but the links below will take you to a few glorious, inspiring posts that will help you be a better blogger, writer, and planner!

Five Ways to Start Living an Awesome Life Worth Writing About – This article from Susan Shain is perfect if you’ve run out of inspiration for your blog or a work-in-progress. I can’t tell you how much I love the ideas listed in this article, specifically this one: put that phone down, people!

25 Blogging Tips for Newbies and Veterans – These tips from Jeff Goins are spectacular. Short sentences DO win, and word vomit should be avoided at all costs. This article is pure gold for new bloggers.

Top 10 tips for being a best-selling author – This article from BBC lists Sophie Kinsella’s ten tips for being a bestselling author. I love every single tip (seriously), but numbers 3, 4, and 5 are my favorites!

How To Write A Novel Outline (Like the Lady Boss You Are!) – That fantastic title alone would make me want to link to Kristen’s article, even if the article itself wasn’t any good. But guess what? It’s great. As is her whole blog, which I’m sort of in the middle of friendly-stalking. No big deal.

How to Personalize Your Blog in Three Easy Steps – I have read every single post on Jenny Bravo’s wonderful blog, and I recommend you do the same. The second step in this particular post talks about something that Jenny does perfectly: talk to your readers like they are your friends, and do so in your voice. That’s what will bring people back to your blog!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blog, book marketing, editing, outlining

Shoutout Sunday: Showing Some Love (02/22/15)

February 22, 2015 by Emily Dill Leave a Comment

Welcome, my lovely winter friends, to this week’s Shoutout Sunday. It’s a pretty good edition, if I do say so…LOTS of good articles for writers this week. I hope you find these links as informative and inspiring as I did!

Should You Sell Your eBook On Amazon? Pros And Cons This a pro/con list from Rebecca Livermore about putting your eBook on Amazon, vs. selling it on your own website. I personally plan on putting my works on Amazon once they’re finished, but I can see why authors would not do that. Very good read.

3 Tips on How Not to Stink at Writing – The title alone makes this article amazing. This is a fairly short but inspiring article from Robert Blake Whitehill about not totally sucking as a writer and a few ways to help yourself in that vein. Great gifs, too. 🙂

How to Get Serious About Social Media – What a surprise, another fantastic article from Regina. Seriously, this is GOLD. Read it, then read it again, then go get some coffee, then read it once more.

Instagram for Writers – This is a great read from Laurie Tomlinson. I’ve grown very fond of Instagram, and it’s actually the first social network I check in the morning now. I especially love the shoutout to Jenny Bravo in the post, because she’s one of the new authors I’m most enjoying following online.

Fatal Submission Mistakes – I LOVE this. It’s a faux-quiz from literary agent Wendy Lawton, and it assures paranoid writers (Hi! *waves*) that mistakes are okay and very rarely fatal.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: author, book marketing, editing, revising, writing

Shoutout Sunday: Showing Some Love (02/15/15)

February 15, 2015 by Emily Dill Leave a Comment

Hey, awesome person. Welcome back to Shoutout Sunday, during which I just shout things. Okay no, no actual shouting, but allow me to extend an invitation to you…an invitation to check out these awesome links that inspired me this week!

The 5 Most Important Myths and Truths for Hiring an Editor – I’m not quite at the stage of writing where I’m starting to look for editors, but I’m sure a lot of you are (and I will be at some point in the next few months). This article from Lauren Wise at Midnight Publishing outlines some of the myths (and truths) that surround finding an editor for your project. Something writers have to remember: the editor is not trying to destroy your darling work, kill your favorite sidekick, or make you feel bad about your writing. They’re there to help.

Pep Talk: How to Deal with the Siren Call of the Shiny New Idea – Susan Dennard is an author who also shares wonderful advice for other writers, and this is an article she wrote for Write All Year about getting distracted by “shiny new ideas”. We’ve all been there. I know I have (and don’t lie, you have too). Do you abandon your work-in-progress, or do you keep trudging on, even though this new idea seems so much more attractive and smells so good? Susan tries to help you out with this dilemma.

The 5 Major Reasons People Procrastinate + How To Overcome Them – This article from Mind Body Green isn’t specifically about writing, but it’s about procrastination, so I think every writer out there will agree that it applies to our beloved activity.

21 Book Marketing Tips for Authors – Again, I’m not at the stage of my book where I need this yet, but I’m bookmarking for the future, because this article by Heather Hart is FULL of great marketing ideas.

All right, I’m off to prepare for the snowpocalypse we’re expecting here in Kentucky…stay safe and warm out there, friends!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: author, book marketing, editing, revising, writer

Shoutout Sunday: Showing Some Love (02/08/15)

February 8, 2015 by Emily Dill 2 Comments

Welcome to my first ever weekly Shoutout Sunday, where I throw some love to the posts/articles that inspired me in the past week.

SEO for Bloggers: The Non-Techie Guide – If you’ve never visited ByRegina.com, I’m thrilled that I’m the one to introduce you. She has so much information for bloggers and entrepreneurs, but her posts are never boring, technical, or confusing. She’s uber adorable, and this particular post is full of fantastic SEO tips.

8 Reasons to Write Outside Your Genre – I’m a new visitor to Denise’s site, and this was actually the first post of hers that I read. But it’s very informative, and I completely agree with the concept. There are times when I feel burned out while working on my novel, but the words come easily when I start writing poetry. After a day or two of strictly writing poetry, I’m ready to work on my manuscript again. Denise also has a great series on finding your voice as a writer.

How to Write a Novel, 15 Minutes at a Time – Interesting post from author J.P. Choquette about squeezing in your writing time whenever you can. While some high-and-mighty writers would probably scoff at sitting and writing in 15-minute increments, I say, more power to people writing when they can fit it into their day (or night). And then stopping when they feel themselves losing interest…and then going in fresh again the next day. This method wouldn’t work for everyone…but if it helps even one author finish their book, it’s done enough. 🙂

How To Edit Your Book Until It’s “Finished” – And I know this last one from Bryan Hutchinson wasn’t written in this past week. However, it’s way too good not to share. I read it last night, bookmarked it, read it again this morning, and will probably re-read it again in the coming week. I’m editing/revising right now (still on my first draft, boo), and I’ll take all the advice I can get.

Don’t forget to come back by on Tuesday, for my first ever Off-Topic Tuesday, and then the next day for Writing Wednesday. Have a wonderful week!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blog post schedule, editing, revising, writing

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Let’s Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

News and Updates

  • For 35 Years
  • Fear Is A Factor
  • The Easter Bunny Is Here.
  • Fire and Ice.
  • Weather.
  • Verbatim, library journal featuring my story, released!
  • “Relationship Add Vice” released!
  • Short story anthology featuring “Intuition” coming soon!
  • Me.
  • Short Story Collection featuring “Samantha” published!

Search This Site

Tags

100 voices anthology author blog blogging blog posts blog post schedule book marketing centum press comic books disney disney world editing fables fairytales first draft intuition micropoetry nanowrimo novel off topic outlining pinterest poem poems poetry prose rambling reading revising self publishing seo short stories short story snow telltalegames video games wolf among us writer writer's block writing writing tips writing wednesday xbox one zombies