Aspiring Novelists

Hello my fellow bloggers, hope you've had a productive writing week.  Mine was devoted to editing my manuscript.  First, I printed it off, then grabbed my trusty red pen and went to town.   One glaring mistake I noticed (among many), was I tended to repeat phrases.  I seemed to love using the following words: then, such as, just as, but, yet, and at that moment.  I also have problems with commas.  Depending on the day and my mood, either I overused or underused them.  There was no happy medium. By the time I finished editing the first five chapters, the  pages looked as if someone had bled on them.   Although I reviewed my draft onscreen multiple times before now, somehow the problems slipped past me.  Guess my editing lightbulb must not have been connected to the outlet back then.  Best I can figure, my heightened attention to detail was...

Hello everyone.  I wanted to get this post out this morning but my schedule wouldn't allow it.  I wound up running around all day like a chicken with my head cut off. I guess it's better to be late than never to show at all.  Moving on, for this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group post, hosted by the gracious Alex J. Cavanaugh , I would like to discuss new friendships.  As many of you know, writing is a solitary and demanding endeavor. When the words flow, life is good, but when they don't, it's easy to become discouraged.  During those not so good times, I've happened by some of your blogs and found that I'm not alone. Many of you feel the same pressures about writing that I do: will I ever be good enough?  The words aren't coming, I'm blocked,I've re-written my first chapter at least a hundred times and it's still not where it needs to be, etc.,etc..   There's something ...