Tag: Book

Education, Publishing

How to self-publish your novel

Mandy Webster
An on-demand book printer at the Internet Arch...
Today’s print-on-demand technology allows you the option of printing one book or a thousand. | An on-demand book printer at the Internet Archive headquarters in San Francisco, California. Two large printers print the pages (left) and the cover (right) and feed them into the rest of the machine for collating and binding. Depending on the number of pages in a given book, it might take from 5 to 20 minutes to print. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday I attended a seminar on self-publishing with author/publisher Cornel Rosario at my local technical college. I have been doing a lot of research on publishing recently and wanted to see if there was anything new he could teach me that I hadn’t figured out yet on my own. I am glad I did. Prior to the class, I had learned a lot about ebook publishing, but the process of publishing actual books had been a bit of a mystery to me.

Much of the information Rosario covered in this three-hour session was old news to me, as far as ebooks go. But when it comes to printing actual books, he was a wealth of knowledge on both old-fashioned printing and print-on-demand. I also learned a lot about the costs associated with publishing your own book. Continue reading “How to self-publish your novel” →

Reading, Social Media

Why is young adult dystopia classified as “Romance?”

Mandy Webster
The Hunger Games (film)
Do you consider The Hunger Games a romance novel? | The Hunger Games (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been a member of GoodReads for two years but have only recently started using the app on my phone. A few weeks ago, I began adding books I have read to my profile. A lot of them have been dystopian novels, as I have been reading a lot of that genre as part of my research for my own novel projects. When I went to check out my recommendations to determine what to read next, I was surprised to find that GoodReads was mostly recommending that I read romance novels.

I don’t get it. It’s been a while since I have read any romance novels, and I hadn’t added any to my “read” shelf. Why would this app suggest I mostly read romance novels if I hadn’t indicated that I had any interest in them?

It’s not that I never read romance. Don’t tell anyone, but I have a secret stash of Harlequins in my bedroom closet. I pull one out whenever I am in need of a quick escape that requires little to no thinking. I suppose the fact that I haven’t read one recently says good things about my current life. At my worst, I would lay in bed and read an entire romance novel in one night. But I won’t get into my dysfunctional ex-marriage here today. Continue reading “Why is young adult dystopia classified as “Romance?”” →

Write Your Novel this Summer Challenge

Summer Writing Challenge Check-in: Week 12, Time to revise!

Mandy Webster
black walnut tree
Have you looked outside lately? Mother Nature keeps reminding me that summer is almost over. These black walnuts will be on the ground soon.

September 21st is the last day of summer, as well as the official last day of our Write Your Novel this Summer Challenge. I don’t know about you, but I feel good knowing I have written an entire story from start to finish. Now, on to revisions!

After letting my first draft simmer for a couple of weeks, I finally sat down this week and started working on my second draft. Many famous authors (Stephen King comes to mind) say your second draft should always be shorter than your first. They advise cutting out unnecessary words, which is great advice. But I don’t think that is going to work for me. Continue reading “Summer Writing Challenge Check-in: Week 12, Time to revise!” →

Education, Essays, Novel Writing

Make teaching and learning part of your writing process.

Mandy Webster
The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Research Guide, and Handbook (8th Edition)
This semester, I am teaching out of The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Research Guide, and Handbook (8th Edition.) You can buy a copy here.

This semester, I am teaching one section of English Composition I at my local technical college. This is not a course I particularly care to teach. The first semester I taught it was a disaster. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I definitely didn’t know the material well enough to teach it. It was a horrible experience for everyone involved. This semester, I finally feel like I kinda know what I am doing. And it’s having a positive impact on my writing.

Tuesday was our first day of class, and I killed it. I was well prepared, I knew what I was talking about and best of all, the students were engaged. I left class that afternoon thinking, “Where the hell did that come from?” Continue reading “Make teaching and learning part of your writing process.” →

Blogging, eBooks

Would you buy that book?

Mandy Webster
English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de...
Will you buy my eBook if I write one? | English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de eBook Беларуская: Фотаздымак электроннай кнігі Русский: Фотография электронной книги (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m thinking about compiling some of my blog posts on novel writing and putting them together in an eBook. I don’t think I quite have enough blog posts yet, but it’s something I think I could manage over the next year or two.

I’ve been blogging about the first draft novel I just knocked out in 16 days, and I think this could be a strong string to tie my eBook together. I’ll keep blogging as I work my way through the process of revising and self-publishing this novel. Then in a year or two, I’ll put all of the blog posts together into one document and revise those into a cohesive whole. So, it will be a book on how to efficiently write, self-publish, and market a novel.  Continue reading “Would you buy that book?” →

Blogging, Book Reviews, Uncategorized

10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 7

Mandy Webster

Day 7 - 10-day-write-blog-challengeDay 7 Prompt: Profile 2 books you’ve read and loved lately.

Character Building, Memoir

Character building: I just got a BRILLIANT idea (I think)

Mandy Webster
mother memory book
This is one of two memory books I am filling out for my sons. Each books asks tons of questions about the mother’s life.

I’ve always been obsessed with these memory books that are designed for parents and grandparents to fill out and leave for their progeny to remember them by. When I was a teen, I bought grandmother versions for each of my grandmas. Both of my grandmas totally filled their books out and left me all sorts of memories of them that I will treasure forever. I am lucky enough to still have my maternal grandmother, but my paternal grandmother has been gone for seven years now. I feel so close to her when I can open her book and read her handwriting.

I bought the parent versions for each of my parents a long time ago, but I don’t know if they’ve ever started to answer the questions inside. Maybe they’re still too young to worry much about whether or not they’ll be remembered when they’re gone. Continue reading “Character building: I just got a BRILLIANT idea (I think)” →

Book Reviews, Reading

This is why I don’t buy books

Mandy Webster
Portrait of a Byzantine empress, possibly Theo...
Portrait of a Byzantine empress, possibly Theodora. 6th century a.D. In the Museum of Ancient Art in the Castello sforzesco in Milan, Italy. Picture by Giovanni Dall’Orto, january 6 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love books as much as the next writer. But I’m poor, so I typically opt to borrow them from the library rather than purchasing them. The book I bought at Barnes & Noble the other day reminded me why I shouldn’t bother purchasing books at all.

I picked up a historical novel about the Byzantine empress, Theodora that looked like it might be a good read. I do think it could have been an intriguing story, but the writing was terrible. (I’m not going to tell you the name of the novel because I don’t really believe in writing bad reviews. I’d like to be a published author someday and know I’d rather do without internet trolls raving on about how horrible my work is.)

Although the author is a historian who seems to know her facts, her novel is an excellent example of how poor writing can take a true story and render it completely unbelievable. Her attempt to create language that is authentic to the time is feeble at best. The constant use of clichés and modern colloquialisms kept dragging me out of the story as I had to continually remind myself what time period I was reading about.   Continue reading “This is why I don’t buy books” →

Write Your Novel this Summer Challenge

Summer Writing Challenge Check-in: Week 3 (I wrote something. I actually wrote something!)

Mandy Webster
The writing life - a stack of notebooks
My current stack of notebooks includes a pretty fairy journal. Follow me on Instagram for more pretty pictures.

We are now three full weeks into the Write Your Novel this Summer writing challenge, and I can finally report that I have written something! This week, I finally managed to break through my writer’s block and am gaining some momentum. Here’s a quick look at what I have accomplished:

Blogging, Holidays, House and Home, Parenting

Where have I been all this time? –And- My thoughts on STUFF

Mandy Webster
a graduate and her dad
My dad looks a little sleepy in this picture, but I look good, and he’s not online to see it and complain about it, so here ya go. I got my Master of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing from Mount Mary College on May 18th, 2013.

Hello there. I’ve been MIA from my blog for some time now. I hope you all didn’t miss me too much. This may turn into a long, rambling post with little to no point. I hope you don’t mind.

So, where have I been? First of all, I made it to graduation and crossed the stage on May 18th. I may now officially refer to myself as Mandy Webster, MS, MA. Wow, look at all those letters behind my name! I also got an A on my creative writing thesis (go me!) Graduation and all that goes with it is part of the reason why I’ve been largely absent from the blogosphere.

I was also wrapping up all seven of the courses I taught this semester (or quarter depending on which school I was teaching at.) Needless to say, after teaching seven courses and writing a thesis in one semester, my house was a bit of a wreck. Since graduation, I’ve been on a cleaning streak that has completely distracted me from all things academic. Continue reading “Where have I been all this time? –And- My thoughts on STUFF” →