Category: writing

Sum-sum-summertime reading

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The picture shows my perfect summertime scenario. Reading on the beach, shaded, with a tall, cool one close by. This aspirational reading scene is my hope every year around this time.

As a self-published author, you could be the name on the cover of the book enjoyed by the summertime reading enthusiast. How would that feel?

Maybe Touchwood Press Publish-It-Yourself resources can help you toward that feeling.

I like detective fiction best as a summertime read. Or that classic that I’ve been promising myself I would finally get to. I’ve been trying to finish Moby Dick since high school. I’m re-reading Slaughterhouse Five and launching a project to read all the Vonnegut books I read but didn’t understand in college.

The New York Times, Goodreads, Kirkus Reviews, and other sites with book reviewers all see summertime, and especially vacations, as reading time. Rightly so. But if you’re not getting away to the beach or wherever on vacation any time soon, find a summertime reading spot and while away a few hours a week working on that stack that’s been growing on your nightstand, or trespassing on valuable desktop real estate. Open your mind and make space for new content. Wander in your thoughts in a summertime sort of way. I mean what is summertime for?

reading: an appreciation

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Do you just love books? Me, too. To carry a love of reading with you for a lifetime is to never be without friends, faraway places, and fascinating stories. And books are so much less expensive than practically any other form of entertainment or lifelong learning. What a deal.

I read my first book, all the way through, when I was seven. The book was Peter Pan. Shortly after that, I sat down at the typewriter early one morning to write a book, a novel. The story of that project is for another time. But I see one thing at least in that now.

Writing starts with reading. If you do love books, stories, and learning, you have probably at least thought about writing a book of your own. A diary becomes a memoir; a special skill becomes a how-to or self-help book; a hobby becomes an expert guide; your business writing becomes a guide for new entrepreneurs and leaders; your photos or watercolors become a coffee table book; a recipe box becomes a cookbook. The possibilities are probably endless.

But how do you journey from an idea, or a diary, or random notes, or a recipe box, to a book? Find out more about that here on our website. Ask for a 1-on-1. Read one of our books. Get the story. Tell your story. It all starts with reading.

Memoir Your Thing?

Published on by Mike McCandless1 Comment

I have a story to tell about my life, my trials, my breakthroughs. How do transform my memories into a book?

In my Publish-It-Yourself Course, I meet many writers with a strong impulse to share their life experiences and help others find a way through struggles of their own. Humble, maybe desperate beginnings, traumatic childhoods, young adult crises, adult failures. But somehow they found their way to better times, hope and healing, with support from people, faith, or inner strength.

Writing a memoir is hard. The place to start is to decide the one message that you want to pass along and maintain focus on that. Begin unpacking your memories and experiences, crafting them into clear, compelling stories. Compile the stories around a central structure and journey through your life. Forget being chronological; be thematic.

Will I offend? Will I be criticized? Will I pay for my honesty? These and more questions will challenge your resolve and eat away valuable time better spent just writing.

As you begin writing, read what others have said about the writing of memoirs. Here is a short list of the best of the best:

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr. As she breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, she breaks open our concepts of memory and identity and illuminates the cathartic power of reflecting on the past. Anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Agonizing over the seemingly impossible task of writing a school report on birds, Anne’s father counseled “bird by bird. Just take it bird by bird.” For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice and learned how to approach writing memoir. 

Educated by Tara Westover. About a young woman home-schooled and isolated by survivalist parents to age 17. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.

Where do I start?

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“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”
— Alice in Wonderland

“Start with the end in mind.”
— The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Take time to imagine your finished book—in your hands, handing “thanks for your support” copies to relatives and friends, on the book shelf of someone you’ve just met, in your favorite book store and library, on an e-reader or tablet, as an audio book. How does that feel?

Continue reading “Where do I start?” →

Myths & truths about book editing

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Of all the parts of self-publishing that authors should get help with, editing should be your first priority. You don’t have to pay a professional editor, but you do need your book looked at by someone who can be dispassionate and knows their way around a style guide such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the AP Stylebook. This well-written article explores the common myths and the key truths about book editing and editors. Use a wise eye and a cool head to glean what it offers.

Source: 7 Deadly Myths and 3 Inspired Truths About Book Editing

Writing Starters

Published on by Mike McCandlessLeave a comment

Available now on Amazon in paperback or e-book.

New from Touchwood Press, Writing Starters: Appetizers for Your Brain gives you 52 prompts to inspire your writing. Organized into four 13-Starter volumes, the Writing Starters series probes your Memories, Experiences, Opinions, and Self-Perceptions to help generate new ideas for your novel, memoir, biography, or poetry.

The path to creative writing output is sometimes littered with false starts, failed self-tests, and blocked paths that looked great yesterday. But help is on the way in Writing Starter: Appetizers for Your Brain. These pages contain fuel to feed your little gray cells and get you thinking. They may be just what you need to get your writing out!

A few starters to get you started:

  • Memories: Write a thank you letter to your favorite teacher.
  • Experiences: It was a dark and stormy night. Eek! Provide details.
  • Opinions: Does money really make the world go around?
  • About You: Introvert or Extrovert? Can you relate?

Should I have a blog? How do I get one started?

Published on by Mike McCandlessLeave a comment

If you have a blog to feature or practice or air out your writing, you already are a self-publisher. Blogs (from web logs) are online newsletters/newspaper columns/magazines (depending on how elaborate they are) where you can give your writing some market exposure prior to pulling together everything into a book. Or, you can just stick with blogging and grow a periodical empire.

I’m partial to WordPress for blogging and so are most of the world’s bloggers. It’s powerful enough to become the basis for your entire website if you need it to, or you can just use it for blogging and be up and running in minutes for free.

WordPress comes in two flavors, plain vanilla and tutti frutti, if you will. Visit WordPress.com for the quick and easy version. Check out WordPress.org for the self-hosting version you install on your own server or that of a web hosting company such as GoDaddy.com.

Blogging has been a great way to get this writer out of the closet. I recommend it to anyone interested in self-publishing for the reasons in the first paragraph and then later as a marketing platform for your writing enterprise.