Books – Page 41 – Jean's Writing

When do you turn loose?

Published on September 29, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell2 Comments

When do you turn loose of your story?

I’m wrestling with this very question.

I thought I was finished with my children’s book, but now I’m not so sure.

How do you know, enough is enough?

Late at night, new ideas and thoughts slip though my tired fogged brain. Doubts that maybe, just maybe I should rewrite or at the very least add more to the book before I turn it loose.

Sigh, letting go is harder than I thought it would be. I expected to feel a sense of accomplishment. Instead, I want to tweak it more and more.

When do you know to type “The End?”

Suw Charman-Anderson, CONTRIBUTOR at Forbes wrote, “the problem is knowing when to put the pen down and stop tinkering.”

When Has Your Book Finished Cooking?

This is so me!

I really like this suggestion by Shannon Deaton at

“When a writer can audibly read a draft from beginning to end without stumbling, choking, or otherwise crying, it’s okay to stick a fork in it–the writing’s done, and it’s time to enjoy the sweet desserts of publication.”

Yes reading the story aloud is important, but this made me think about reading as if I were performing. Hmm….

How To Edit Your Book Until It’s “Finished”

He also suggested sending the manuscript out to 30 readers.

paper_the_end

So, how do you know when it’s time to release your baby out in the cold, cruel world?

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Thank you!
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Are you staying current?

Published on August 25, 2015August 24, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell7 Comments

What’s current in your genre?

Do you know?

Want to write YA?

Find out what they are reading and writing. Stay Young at Heart

A good place to start is WattPad.

One of my granddaughters, a writer of fanfiction, turned me on to Wattpad. There you can see what’s trending with the YA group, find contests and even test the waters, if you’re brave enough.

Are you writing murder and mayhem? Romance? Hot XXX? Or Children’s books?

So maybe you need to find out what is trending in those genres. A good place to start is with the best sellers list. Check out what everyone is saying about the top ten on Amazon, Goodreads and Barns & Noble.

I don’t have a crystal ball, and I’m not suggesting that you try to guess what the next big thing will be. However, I do believe it’s good to stay current.

For instance, LOL is now old school. Sigh, I was just getting used to using it. LOL RIP

Reading and writing are an important part of my life and I’m always looking for ways to improve. Staying current and reading good writing, no matter the genre never fails to help.

Do you think it’s important to know what everyone is reading?

How do you stay current?

How do you keep your writing from getting stale?

Let me know in the comments section and then share this post with your Facebook and Twitter friends.
If you’re not already, I’d be much obliged if you would follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!

Do You Want Best Beach Read Ever?

Published on July 31, 2015July 27, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell9 Comments

Last week I took a much needed R & R. I enjoyed fun in the sun with the love of my life, and our wonderful family. Throw in good food, great books and I could not have asked for a better time.

Which brings me to this blog.

I’m having book withdrawal.

Withdrawal isn’t the right word.

Hmm, haunted is more like it.

Yes, I’m being haunted by Go Set a Watchman.

Have you ever read a book so good the words stayed with you long after the last paragraph?

I’ve started several books since I read Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, but I’ve finished none. Because, not one of them measured up to the high bar set by Ms. Lee. So haunted is a good word.

If you ever doubted the importance of a good editor, and what an editor can do for a writer, this book should set those doubts to rest.

It’s my understanding that when Ms. Lee first submitted Go Set A Watchman, her editor felt the book was too raw and real for the current time. However, her editor recognized a tiny gold nugget in the novel. She asked Ms. Lee to write more about one small passage, and believe me it is small. Her editor felt the time was ripe for a champion, but it could not be a young woman. So to To Kill A Mockingbird was born.

Let me say I love Go Set A Watchman! The prose of Ms. Lee transported me back to a time and place, that for some, might be as hard to imagine as frontiers visited on a Star Trek episode.

However, for those of us who lived it, we know she revealed the truth of how people lived, thought, spoke and often treated each other. Truth is not always pretty, it does not always set us free, but without it we live a lie. I find it sad that as far as we have grown as a people, there are still some who today live, think and say things that keep them ensconced in the old South.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful book out of concern or fear for the loss of a hero. To make Atticus Finch a crusader or a villain is to short change both the character and the author. He was simply a man of his time. Flesh, blood and human filled with flaws, fears and ambition. Atticus, like so many of us strived to just get along, to just get by in the world in which he lived.

Ms. Lee pulled back the curtain and revealed there was no great and powerful Oz, only a man. With Scout we watch the Godlike awe of her father crumble and fall away to reveal a mere mortal, flesh and blood man. We feel her heartache and love as she comes of age and comes to grip with life as it is not as she wishes it was.

Ms. Lee wrote some hard truths, but unlike a lot of writers she did it in real-time, not hindsight. What a wonderful gift to us, her readers.

I hope readers will embrace this beautiful literary prose with open arms.

In Go Set A Watchman, Ms. Lee held up a mirror and revealed life as she saw it and ask the question what do you see.

I will cherish and reread this book many times. I’m sad there are not more books hidden in her attic.

From one Daughter of the South who loved Go Set A Watchman.

5 plus Star Review!

Are ebooks here to stay?

Published on July 28, 2015July 16, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell2 Comments

I think ebooks are here to stay and one day self published ebooks will be available everywhere.

A while back I blogged about Self-e library service. [Post] As a followup I’m reblogging a post from Jane Friedman by Porter Anderson A Conversation With the SELF-e Team: Exploring Payment for Authors on July 14, 2015

This in-depth article explains a lot about the early stages of this program and its future.

Library Journal’s SELF-e Select is the curated collection of indie ebook submissions for the national library system.

I know this is not widely available yet, but I do envision Self-me or something very similar coming to our libraries in the future. Because ebooks are here to stay.

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