e-publishing

[lizbeth]

Welcome!! I don't have a blog though....

[Humi]

right on u guys! i started this ms abt year and half ago. its a two part series and we're only able to complete the first book as in we've read and reviewed and edited about 3 drafts of it and now i'm getting it ready to send it a pro aka my ex-mentor here cant wait to have ur feedback on it!!!!

and yes. LR was the best thing i did for my writing. it taught me lots

[lizbeth]

Maybe when I'm famous and rich Spellbound! 

[ann]

 This evening I went to work to look after a lady in her nineties while her daughter went out. It was the first time I had been to this house and I saw in a room, ceiling to floor book shelves. To break the ice I asked the daughter before she left the house had she read all the books. She had. I was asked did I like to read I said yes I did, and that I had done writing courses. Ice broken, this lady had just completed her memoir and had it bound sitting on the table in front of me. She was paid to write it. It was 130,000 words. All personal narrative. I browsed through it. Her life is interesting. How it is written is oh so boring, just one long monotone. I wanted to say bring your life to life. That inspired me to get cracking on mine.
Ann

[spellbound]

Most of the time, I'll get a tickle in the back of my mind, huh? If I ignore it, or don't catch it during an out-loud reading, a critiquer will invariably find it and ask. My response is, yeah, I thought so too. (Dah, why didn't I take care of it before putting it out for evaluation? My answer, because as usual, I'm ignoring that still small voice that knows.)

Most of my stories start out full of dialogue. Then I go through and look for what's in my head and fill in the blanks. In a way, I wish my mind worked the other way, because you're right, Mary, they can't see inside my mind. (they wouldn't want to anyway, they'd have to push through all the junk to find the bits and pieces of the scenery and they might end up at the wrong story anyway. I am not an organized person.)

Marzipan,
I have someone else read my story aloud to me. I catch a lot that way. I meet with authors once a week and I read it to them. I catch stuff then too.

[Marzipan]

Ooo! Reading aloud sounds helpful and dreadfully blush-inducing. Although I do have one friend who I think could read my stories to me. I should try that.

[Humi]

i'm encountering another problem these days. i'm starting a new story - something set in back home (pakistan). my problem is when i think of the culture there its all in Urdu. when i translate it into English i lose the flavor. if i plain think it in English, i lose the thought - the cultural differences leave me muddled and tied and i get confused as to WHY is this issue that this character in pakistan is ranting about such a huge deal again??

and then i remind myself of Khushwant Singh...and i remember i hated his tone of voice. so distinctly Indian! and i remember the vows of writing a book that will talk of a non-American culture but not sound so foreign. i dont think thats possible anymore...and i dont think i'm making any sense any longer here

but it felt nice to rant!

[Humi]

lol Ann! isnt it frustrating? to the point of being downright hillarious!

have u read Amy Tan? she does a wonderful job. she writes about China. she retains the flavor in English and it doesnt sound like a translation of something Chinese.