Timshol

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Word Sprints Help You Finish Your Book

Lets face it. Everyone who begins the journey of writing a novel is in for a rude awakening when they finally sit down to write the story that has been hounding them for years. While the process of writing may or may not be difficult for you. Most people find getting the words on the page quickly is more difficult than they thought. Writing is not a craft so much as it is the art of taking the ugliest lump of clay and turning it into a work of art. I believe that the most important part of the writing process is getting the bare bones down on the page. Because without a foundation there is no chance of improvement. So what do I suggest?

WORD SPRINTS.

I know what your thinking. I don't want to time my writing. Its my craft or some other nonsense like that. Well let me tell you this. By doing word sprints for one month I guarantee you'll make more progress in your writing than you would in a standard month. That is unless of course you already know how to turn off that pesky inner editor that we as writers are always battling while writing our drafts.

Simple Guidelines
1. Start slow by only doing short, quick sprints. These should clock in around 5, 10, or 15 mins max.
2. After each sprint do something else for the same length of time (or longer). Doesn't matter what. As long as it's away from the computer. I know that we all like to get lost in the internet but this is counterproductive. If you stay on the computer you are bound to forget about the next sprint you have planned. And we cant have that.
3. Turn that inner editor off. No inner monologue here. Just words on the page. I mean it. If you write the worse sentence of your life chances are the next one will be better so just roll with it. Again, this is why it is important to start off with shorter sprints because you have less time to think, pause and edit. No changing misspelled words, fragments, pov mistakes. Nada, Zip, Zilch - no editing. JUST WRITE.
4. Make it public. Either through messaging or social media. This holds you accountable and makes it worth your while, when you can post a 300 word count in a mere five mins. Seriously, I know that number sounds scary but trust me. It can and mostly likely will happen if you stick with it.
5. You can follow me on twitter- @JaceMcCoy to join in on my sprints. Not only is this a great way to connect but it's fun to see the word counts roll in.

Tid-Bit:
After each sprint do something else that is productive. My personal favorite is some housecleaning, or perhaps a quick run to the store. It's funny how idea's for your ms seem to manifest while staying productive.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Daily Book Giveaway #5: Steve Jobs

Today's selection is:

Please help me get the word out about the Daily Book Giveaway by ReTweeting one of the many tweets I post during the day announcing the days selection. This will be a huge help to me. By doing this once a day you will be helping me build my audience and connect with like minded people. Not to mention good things are sure to follow you. Why??? Because YOU ROCK :D

The guidelines:

Follow me @JaceMcCoy to be entered to win. All followers are entered to win. The winner will be chosen at random by a number generator. If you are following me you will be entered EVERYDAY for a chance to win.

Winners are selected by a random number generator. Sometimes from the bottom of my follower list and other times from the top. Winners name and address will be needed for fulfillment. Otherwise prize will be void after 1 week. Items will be sent directly from suppliers. All followers are only eligible to win once within a course of 1 month.

All orders will be fulfilled directly through Amazon and will be shipped as a "gift."

Thursday, March 15, 2012

SUPER DUPER RT FRIDAY

That's right I said it; SUPER DUPER. But what's that mean for you???

Well by now everyone should know, as anyone who follows me should. I have been giving a book away on a daily basis. I call this phenomenon the Daily Book Giveaway or #DBG. Basically I tweet about giving a hand selected book title out to one of my randomly selected followers. There's only one catch. You have to be following me to be entered. Therefore you potentionaly have a chance to win everyday. But...

I NEED YOUR HELP GETTING 100+ NEW FOLLOWERS... within a span of 24hrs.

I need my loving followers to RT the Daily Book Giveaway tweets as much as possible. I said followers because ONLY MY FOLLOWERS ARE ELIGIBLE for this extra giveaway.

Person with the most RT's at the end of the Daily Book Giveaway Receives *3:

Any RTs for SUPER DUPER FRIDAY do not count towards most RT's.

Now the SUPER DUPER part.

All the following will be picked randomly through those who RT the Daily Book Giveaway tweets.

If I reach...
15 New Followers: Choice of one of this weeks DBG
30 New Followers: Hunger Games Trilogy
45 New Followers: The Night Circus (Audio Book Version via Audible)
65 New Followers: All of the above
80 New Followers: Kindle Touch
100+ New Followers:

A KINDLE FIRE

with

All the books from this weeks DBG in ebook format
The Night Circus (Audio Book Version via Audible)

RULES:
1. RT the Daily Book Giveaway tweets whenever possible.

2. Or promote the Daily Book Giveaway (#DBG) yourself. But make sure both @JaceMccoy and (link) are present with in the tweet. I highly suggest you also use #ff; as the gal is followers. HINT: It might help to use the tags #apple or #ipad; as the book selection will reflect (DBL HINT.)

3. This one is a bummer for some. You must have at least 50 followers to be eligible for MOST RT's category.

So that's it. The Daily Book Giveaway starts at 12:00 AM Eastern Time and concludes at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Therefore SUPER DUPER RT FRIDAY will start and conclude at the same time. All prizes will be announced at the time stated # of followers are reached. Except for 100+ as that will not be drawn till after the contest concludes.