Tag: Book

Short Story

Now available on Kindle: Rain at Three (with a bonus free download!)

Mandy Webster
Rain at three, short story
“Rain at Three” is now available on Kindle for 99 cents.

My short story, Rain at Three, is now available on Kindle for 99 cents! Here’s a brief description:

Can you ever really know the man you’re marrying until you’ve really gotten to know him? Vicki is beginning to learn just what kind of man she has married. Is the honeymoon over so quickly? It may be 73 degrees and sunny in Hawaii, but it always rains at 3 p.m.

Download your copy of Rain at Three today! If you like my story, please do me a favor and review it on Amazon.

As an added bonus, for today only, you can also get a free download of my son’s book, Avery Moves. Avery was eight years old when he wrote and illustrated this book for a school project. He had so much fun with it, we decided to take the fun one step further and publish the book on Kindle! He would love to see that people are downloading his story. If you have any words of encouragement for him to keep writing, please post them to the review section on Amazon.  Continue reading “Now available on Kindle: Rain at Three (with a bonus free download!)” →

Book Reviews, eBooks, Mount Mary College, Novel Writing, Publishing

Now available on Kindle! Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing

Mandy Webster
Kindle cover for my new book, Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing.
Kindle cover for my new book, Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing.

It’s finally here! My new book, Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing is now available for purchase on Kindle for only 99 cents!

There is so much content packed into this one book! In addition to all of the academic papers that I wrote while pursuing my master of arts in English with a concentration in professional writing, you also get several original short stories, poems, and a behind-the-scenes peek into my as-yet-unnamed fantasy novel in progress.

Challenge: Upon reading my creative thesis, which is contained in the pages of this text, help me come up with a title for my novel! If I decide to use your suggested title, I will send you a free signed copy of the print edition of Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing as soon as it becomes available!

I am currently in the process of formatting this book for print and should have it available within the next few weeks. In the meantime, get your Kindle copy today! Thank you for supporting my writing journey! Continue reading “Now available on Kindle! Papers: A Master Collection on the Art of Writing” →

Publishing

Publishing 101: Honey, that’s not how it works

Mandy Webster

This gave me a chuckle. I recently saw this comment on a promotional post on the HarperCollins Facebook page.

Publishing - That's not how it works

Do people really believe that getting a novel published is as easy as commenting on a publisher’s Facebook post and asking how much they charge? Continue reading “Publishing 101: Honey, that’s not how it works” →

Editing, Novel Writing

Notes to myself

Mandy Webster
notes on my fantasy novel manuscript
There are more notes on this page than story!

I’ve been reading through the first draft of my fantasy novel manuscript these past several nights, and my notes to myself are taking on a life of their own. On some pages, like this one, my notes outweigh the original text.

The nice thing about letting a manuscript sit in a drawer for a while is that when you come back to it, you can look at it from the perspective of a reader. I see what’s missing now in the way a writer who is too close to her work can’t see.

I have about a hundred more pages to review, and then I’m hitting the notebook hard. It’s time to go stock up on pens! Continue reading “Notes to myself” →

eBooks, Publishing

Kindle Direct Publishing for children’s books is amazingly simple!

Mandy Webster

The cover of "Avery Moves."

In a recent blog post, I mentioned that my 8-year-old son was writing a book for a school competition. Since I have dabbled in publishing a bit, he had gotten the idea that I could publish his book for him with a few simple clicks, and then he could sell it and make millions. My kids have great imaginations!

Well, I don’t know about the “making millions” part, but it turns out that publishing a children’s book using the new Kindle Kids’ Book Creator really is as simple as a few clicks (once you have your PDF’ed book written, illustrated, and ready to go, that is!) Additionally, I am pleased to announce that my son’s new book, Avery Moves, is now available to download on Kindle!

There are a few different ways that you can go about publishing a book using the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. In this case, I already had a PDF copy of my son’s book ready to go at the time that I went to publish it. So, all I had to do was convert the PDF to a .mobi file using the app that I downloaded to my PC from the KDP website, add the book to my KDP bookshelf, and voila! Book published!  Continue reading “Kindle Direct Publishing for children’s books is amazingly simple!” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing, Romance

2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Novel: The final challenge

Mandy Webster
English: Cows eating trash, Jaipur, India.
Is your trashy romance novel destined for the trash heap? Or is it worth saving? Either way, I hope you will view your 2014 NaNoWriMo novel project as a success. | English: Cows eating trash, Jaipur, India. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now that your trashy romance novel is complete, what are you going to do with it? From where I’m sitting, I think you have a couple of options:

  1. Trash it. It is “trashy,” after all. Every successful author seems to have at least one novel sitting in a drawer someplace that they never want to see the light of day. Maybe this one can be yours. If that’s the case, think of this as a rite of passage that even the greatest authors have endured. You are now officially one step closer to joining their ranks. So, toss that trashy novel aside and move on to your next great idea!
  2. Polish it up a bit and sell it. Trashy or not, your manuscript might have merit. Review a handful of published romance novels and determine whether yours might be publishable with a bit of editing. Then, go for it!
  3. Analyze the crap out of it. Pretend like someone else wrote this steaming heap and tear it apart. Use this manuscript to help you determine where your writing weaknesses lie. Then you can use the information to determine what strategies to keep using and which ones need work. Just remember to take some time to look for the good as well. The fun thing about fast writing is that, while a lot of what you write will turn out to be crap, once in a while you will stumble upon a gem of glittering prose that might be turned into a great literary novel with a bit of elbow grease. So, tear that sucker apart and see if there is anything worth keeping.
  4. Develop your characters and turn it into something better. Honestly, ask yourself if this shallow tripe has any potential. What would happen if you gave your characters some not-so-romantic names and threw in a few real-life problems? Could you possibly develop your story into something a step above the average Harlequin and turn it into the next Nicholas Sparks-ish novel?

Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Novel: The final challenge” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing

Happy Turkey Day!

Mandy Webster
The Turkey Is Done
I hope our turkey looks this good. It probably won’t, but one can always dream! | The Turkey Is Done (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I’m not here today because I have scheduled this post to run while I am out doing sadistic things to my family.

Wait. No. That was my characters last week. I’m sure I’m enjoying my family today and hope you are enjoying yours as well.

Continue reading “Happy Turkey Day!” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing, Romance

2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Finish writing Act II

Mandy Webster
It's time to wrap up Act II and get ready to write Act III.
It’s time to wrap up Act II and get ready to write Act III.

By now, you should have just about completed the middle third of your novel. It’s time to wrap up Act Two and set the scene for Act Three.

Writing assignment

Write a scene in which your characters admit that they like one another and are interested in maybe starting a relationship. Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Finish writing Act II” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing

2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: It’s time to write a sex scene!

Mandy Webster

Did you hit 25,000 words by the end of the day yesterday? If so, great work! It’s time to reward yourself by writing something fun.


Embed from Getty Images

Writing assignment

Write a sex scene. Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: It’s time to write a sex scene!” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing

Get to know your characters a little better

Mandy Webster

Yesterday we had some fun with our trashy romance novel characters. Today we will get to know them on a somewhat deeper level (okay, maybe not too deep. Just one level deeper than yesterday.)


Embed from Getty Images

So, you have figured out what your two main characters don’t like about each other on first impression. Now let’s think about how you can develop these two opposing characters into people who might believably come to like one another later in the novel. Maybe the slick lawyer secretly loves dogs and has a pregnant pooch back home in NYC that she’s worried sick about. Perhaps the grumpy cowboy is secretly writing a business plan that will turn his failing family ranch into an organic vegetable farm that will supply several high-brow restaurants in the nearest big city. Continue reading “Get to know your characters a little better” →