Stop Stopping Yourself with Premature Edits (Guest Post by Rosanne Bane)

Posted on by Joel D Canfield
Please welcome Rosanne Bane, author and writing coach and one smart cookie. Since I’m not here to beat this drum she’s gonna do it for me.

Trying to edit while drafting is like trying to polish your shoes while walking. Actually, it’s more like trying to polish your shoes while trailblazing over rough and unmapped territory. It takes longer to get where you’re going, you can’t possibly get a good shine and you’re almost guaranteed to lose your balance and fall.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1110158 by Michal Zacharzewski http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mzacha” width=”444″ height=”145″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-3080]

“Short Cuts Make Long Delays” – J.R. Tolkien

Your brain stem and limbic system can do more than one thing at a time, which is why you can walk and chew gum and still notice cars in the crosswalk. But your cortex, your creative brain, simply cannot multitask.

… more … “Stop Stopping Yourself with Premature Edits (Guest Post by Rosanne Bane)”

Housesitters for the Blog

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1426694 by Bas van den Eijkhof http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mistermast” width=”200″ height=”363″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-3070]Today’s my last post until the new year.

But you didn’t really think I could just ride off into the sunset without leaving a trusted deputy to take care of law and order while I’m out of town, did you? A whole team of ’em, in fact.

Watch for some guest posts here and there throughout my 3 week sabbatical.

No schedule. No warning. Serendipity.

Be kind to them. Comment, even a little more than y’all kindly do for me.

Everything You Need to Know About Self-Publishing & Marketing and I Didn’t Write It

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

This is the book you were looking for.

Write. Publish. Repeat. is the book I was writing, in fact. Except I didn’t write it. A couple even more experienced and successful guys beat me to the punch.

Barring my note below, this is the book I was writing. Mine was going to be called Commonsense Zero-Cost DIY Marketing for Authors.

Try as I might, I can’t find a reason to invest the time and creative energy into duplicating a book that already exists.

… more … “Everything You Need to Know About Self-Publishing & Marketing and I Didn’t Write It”

A Fractured Fairy Tale and a Moral Guessing Game

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: Howard Pyle illustration from the 1903 edition of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights]Once upon a time in a place you’ve never heard of, a young man seeking fame and fortune and a beautiful wife had the bad fortune to get sucked into a Ponzi scheme which left him penniless.

Rather than die of starvation and exposure, he agrees to marry an ugly crone for her money. He pretends, of course, that this is a noble act; that he, in fact, is giving her a gift by overlooking her hideous countenance.

On their wedding night, he returns from his dressing room to find a beautiful maiden in his bed. Immediately, he leaps into bed with her, whereupon she wallops him in the noggin.

“Hey! Aren’t you curious where your wife is?”

… more … “A Fractured Fairy Tale and a Moral Guessing Game”

Rice Lake Public Library Presentation January 18 2014

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

We’ve arranged with our local library to present in person “Taking the Pain & Mystery Out of Becoming a Writer”.
[image: Rice Lake Public Library Event January 2014]
Date: Saturday, January 18, 2014
Time: 2:00 pm CST to 3:30 pm CST
Where: Rice Lake Public Library, Friendship Room, 2 E. Marshall Street

This is no charge to attend!

Details and more information can be found in our Events section.

For more information please contact:
Sue L Canfield 715 296 0347

Lost Days, Lost Time; Or, You Can’t Fill a Black Hole

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

I have struggled with depression my whole life. During the past 10 years it has improved immensely, especially the past few. I now consider myself a happy person, a content person. The black days which used to be the norm are now rare.

But they’re not gone.

… more … “Lost Days, Lost Time; Or, You Can’t Fill a Black Hole”

Hankering for Hunkering

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

I need to force myself to take some time off.

I am an obsessive person. Choose your personality type terminology: INFJ, 4 with a 5 wing, or Catalyst. That means I only have two settings: off, and AS MUCH AS THERE IS.

I don’t start a book unless I know I can finish it in one sitting.

When my entire music collection was vinyl, I listened to albums all the way through. I never, ever, skipped songs I didn’t like.

… more … “Hankering for Hunkering”

Are You Going to Get Your Novel Out of the Someday Box in 2014?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: end of the rainbow]You’ve always dreamed of writing a novel and you still haven’t done it. It’s time.

I know the 2 things that are stopping you — this class sweeps them away.

Your novel will be finished by the end of 2014. No gimmicks, no shortcuts, no nonsense.

Just a reminder about the class Get Your Novel Out of the Someday Box in 2014.

… more … “Are You Going to Get Your Novel Out of the Someday Box in 2014?”