Writing Backwards

I occasionally watch movies to help me write my books. I have learned a great deal about story craft that way. In fact, my own writing style was heavily influenced by the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock reruns I used to watch as a child. I was always intrigued by what was left unsaid...and unseen. I was also fascinated by the dual meaning of words.

So last weekend I went to the library to do research for the book I'm working on. It is the most intense suspense I've ever written and I've been watching a variety of movies and reading lots of books. This helps me create my cast of characters.

I picked up a movie at the library that looked very interesting, The Others, and brought it home. I was watching it on my laptop while I cooked dinner. I was more interested in seeing how the characters interacted with each other than actually watching the movie.

I noticed early on that there was a focus on "The Others". Also, the kids kept alluding to "that day" and what happened. The evil in the house and the bizarre characters were so intense that I nearly turned of the movie...but I didn't.

I am glad I didn't because what I experienced in that final 20 minutes caused me to go back to my manuscript and start "writing backwards". I recognized the duality of nearly every word uttered by every character. I saw how the story had been constructed one way only to show me something else.

Not only that but the struggles of the characters were so real, so intense, that it was only after the story was over that I began to fully grasp all the dimensions. The characters weren't flat caricatures. They had internal and external conflicts that made us immediately sympathetic.

It was so good I took the RARE step of watching the movie a second time the next day. This time I really watched the movie constantly bridging the conflict from one area to another. I kept looking at what it was that connected beginning to end...or rather end to beginning.

So consider as you write your stories where it is you want to end. Are you able to write your story in such a way that your reader is left guessing until the satisfying end. Will they want to flip back to page one and reread the story. Will they keep mulling the story over and over again in their mind? Can you use a single character as a decoy?

The voices of my characters are raging in my head so I have to go satisfy them now.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Writing Contest Special

This is the time of year for WRITING CONTESTS!!

As a writer these are among the most affordable ways to get your work in front of editors and agents. Many final round judges of writing contests are people in a position to either acquire your work or to take you on as a writing client.

They also offer excellent feed back! You want to put your best foot forward.

I have served as a writing contest judge for three years in a variety of writing contests for both published and unpublished writers. I am also an award winning writer. I understand the importance of turning in your best possible writing. I also have seen the importance on ONE ADDITIONAL POINT separating a finalist from someone who didn't final.

So I'm offering a writing contest special. Between now and March 7th I will take the first 5,000 words and synopsis up to 700 words. I will read them and comment on both. I will identify issues like POV, verb tense, Showing/Telling, clunky dialog, and other problems.

I will do this for $35. These will be done first come, first serve. To hold your spot you may send payment for $35 along with a note [contact me through this link for my paypal address]. All manuscripts must be received by March 9th [payment by March 7th]. Also email me the entry deadline for the contest you're entering so I am able to return your MS in time for you to make any revisions you'd like to make before you turn it in.

Legal Disclaimer: Remember, writing is highly subjective, I cannot promise this or any other edit will guarantee a higher score. What I can offer is the opportunity to identify issues in your writing that will improve your story. I have served as a writing contest judge. I know what the judges are asked to watch for. I offer this experience to help you improve your writing.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

This is a must read

As I told you earlier this year, I've decided to add the periodic book review to "Writing Career Coach". I've added this feature because I want to help find unique books that will not only help you grow as a writer, but also grow as a person.

Today I'm going to talk about The Great Eight: How to be Happy (even when you have every reason to be miserable). By Scott Hamilton with Ken Baker.

The Good:

What I really liked about this book is Scott not only gives realistic advice, but he is also very open with the way he changed figure skating. I remember in the late 1980s watching him in interviews, on the ice and watching reruns of his performance. He seemed to really have fun out there. He didn't take himself too seriously. He made me want to get off the couch and dance with him.

As the wife of a cancer survivor I also knew of his battles with the disease. His perspective reminded me of my husband. Both men always found a way to laugh during treatment and not allow cancer to steal any more than necessary.

And the skating analogies. I wondered if this would get lame after a while, but it really didn't. In fact, I'm taking the unusual step of encouraging your to read the introduction. This truly inspired me.

Finally, the real life principles. This was great. I felt like he was sitting next to me on the couch chatting with me as he spoke. I could feel his passion for skating. I recognized the kind of unique thinking that has caused him to remain in the spotlight when many other skaters have faded away. His principles can be applied to any life. His principles on his craft [skating] can inspire authors to take the initiative to really get out there and write the story of their heart. Scott didn't skate like the rest. He didn't allow adversity to stop him. He took the negatives, like his physical limitations, and he found a way to make them work to his advantage!

If I were ever given the opportunity to sit down and talk to him, I'd do it. He has the kind of thinking that finds success.

But it wasn't all happy. Scott was clear that he has made a number of mistakes in both his professional and personal spheres. While he doesn't delve in to them in a way that would make this just another hardcover tabloid, he gives the reader enough information to learn from his mistakes.

The Bad:
I wish I could say I love everything about this book, but there were a few issues for me. Primarily early on I saw some very weak writing and editing. In spots he'd repeat the same point, almost verbatim, a page or two apart. Rather than feeling like these points were made for emphasis the length of these passages made me wonder if there was either a rush job on editing or if they were trying to pad word count. My concern is that some of these early issues [nearly all in the first 80 pages] would turn a reader off and cause them to miss the wisdom I discovered in the balance of the book.

Also, there were a few spots where he slipped in to preachiness. I gave him some wiggle room, however, because I think this was because he is SO passionate about these topics. I NEVER felt I was being preached at, rather I felt he was a good friend who was so concerned for me that he was nearly begging me to listen.

Recommendation?:
Despite the writing issues early on this books is a must read. I even called two family members and told them to buy it and read it. When it comes to autobiographies this is one of only two that I've ever urged a family member to read.


My favorite part:
When Scott recounts his push for the Gold he reveals his strategy-one that paid off. While it could be argued that he hadn't been the BEST skater at that Olymic game [even Scott admitted that] he knew the best place to put his efforts to reach his goal. He didn't cheat anyone, he prepared strategically.

I began to think of how I could do the same thing as a writer. How are these things "scored" and where can we pick up the "extra points"? Don't simply try to be the best at EVERY area. Find the areas your best at and that will give you the greatest return on your investment. Remember, it's not always the best writing that ends up in the bookstore. Craft, like techinque, is important. Scott was excellent at his craft...but at the Olympics everyone is. You need to learn what will give you the edge.

Let me end with a quote from the book that I really liked

"Part of the appeal of the back flip to me was that back flips are illegal in amateur competitive skating. So I knew that if I could do back flips, it would be a bold statemnt that would turn some heads. Everyone would want to see my new trick...Even as an amateur, I tried to set myself apart visually. At a time when male figure skaters were wearing sparkling Spandex suits, I wore a speed skating suit instead. I didn't want it to be a costume party, but more of an athletic event. Not to mention it set me apart by making me look sleeker than I actually was." [pg. 154]

Scott, you inspired me as a child with your fun style. As a gymnast I was dazzles by your ability to do flips on the ice. As a writer I'm inspired by your ability to point out innovation in such simple terms. And, as a business owner, you inspired me to make sure I'm always learning from others, but not being a slave to conventional wisdom.

I recommend this book in the strongest possible terms.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Learn from the pros

Today I want to reflect on the blog posting with Robin Jones Gunn. Here we had the author of 70 books who has continued for years in an industry that isn't always loyal.

Not only that but she said that when she started it was series focused and she has been able to stay a writer during the shift to a more author focused marketing strategy.

That made me think even more about what is necessary to success in our chosen profession [mine being writing]. It was not only that she was great at what she did, but it was because she was flexible enough to adapt to change.

What changes are you seeing in your own life? Are you lamenting the change or are you looking at ways to thrive in your new environment?

Your answer to that question could be crucial to your success.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Common Sense Finances

I am very excited to announce the newest feature to Writing Career Coach

The Balanced Life

The Balanced Life is a website of common-sense money management. It is designed to help people of any income level, one or two-income, unemployed, underemployed or fully employed.

It is about bringing balance to our finances. Not being Savers or Spenders.

All of the content is available free. I offer a free article [available by pdf download] called "Savers married to spenders".

There are daily tips to help you bring finances in to the proper balance in your life.

Not only would I like you to visit, but I'd like to visit you. I am looking for 100 people to host me on their blogs and websites over the next month. I also would like to have 200 subscribers to the Free Newsletter, The Balance Sheet, by March 1st.

I hope you will partner with me in this.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Try new things

How is it that some people simply seem to be successful no matter what they do. As I continue to read about successful people and study business and marketing it seems that there is this 'inner circle' of people who have the midas touch.

Everything they touch works.

I also begin to see a pattern among the most successful individuals. They know the basic success formula but they also recognize that small tweak that seems to send them over the top.

So, recently when "Blog Rush" shut down I was faced with a dilemma. How to replace that traffic.

I was slow to decide on a new way. I was so focused on training to take over the speakers' bureau and work on my book projects that I simply wasn't taking the time to find something new. Besides that I had all of you telling others about my website.

But I'm not happy with my level of growth. As a writing career coach I've always taught you to build platform and leverage. While many of you enjoy my content and email me to tell me what you've learned, the word was not getting out as much as I would like.

So, I needed to give you a tool to leverage that.

I have recently caught up to the times and will now include a 'digg' and 'del.icio.us' link at the bottom of each blog posting.

"Why?"

Because, as my husband pointed out, I need to give my readers the tools they need to let others know about the blog. You may not know other writers but other writers are interested in learning about what we talk about here [I know this because of the large volume of email I field daily.]

So, even if you don't personally use digg all you need to do is click the digg link to let people know that this was a useful post.

If you use del.icio.us then you can share the bookmark with others in your community of writers or business owners.

Now, I've shared some ways I'm adjusting to continue to meet growth benchmarks, look at your own writing business, blogging, small business and marketing. What areas do you see shrinking? What new things must you do to continue a positive growth trend?

Did you find this useful: Let Digg know


Do you want to follow this on del.icio.us?: Bookmark it

Interview with Multi-published Author Robin Jones Gunn

I'm very pleased to welcome Robin Jones Gunn author of 70 books. You can find out more about her at her WONDERFUL website www.RobinGunn.com

Writing Career Coach: What are some of the things you've done to help build your brand?
Robin Jones Gunn: I was first published over 25 years ago and back then writers were more invisible. We were coached to make the book titles or the characters more memorable to the readers than the author’s name. Things have changed in the past decade. While many readers recognize “Christy Miller” “Sierra Jensen” or “The Glenbrooke Series” or “Sisterchicks®”, they don’t recognize “Robin Jones Gunn”. That was always fine with me. Then I finally signed with an agent a few years ago and soon learned I had some branding work to do if my agent was going to be able to sell my next project. Publishers want to sign authors who have a following, not a series that has a following.
First thing I did was become deliberate about collecting email addresses to build my data base. I think this is the most important marketing step any writer can take. I now invite readers to sign up for my e-newsletter via my website as well as invite them to give me their email at all book signings and speaking events. At first I felt funny asking but now I don’t. While I sign their book, I invite them to sign my guest book. It feels friendly.
Then I hired someone part time to input and organize the data base and help put together newsletters. We’ve been doing this a little over a year and the rhythm of it is beginning to fall into place. The crazy thing to me is how the data base grew so quickly. The e-newsletter has become an excellent way to keep in touch with interested readers and offer giveaways as well as list where I’ll be signing or speaking. I’m using my name now as the “brand” or umbrella and all the various books fall under that one umbrella.

WCC: In addition to excellent writing, what have you done to connect to fans and potential fans?
RJG: Now that our two children are grown and living outside the home, I’m taking on more speaking opportunities. While they were home I didn’t want to be gone too much because I knew those years would go quickly – and they did! I don’t regret passing on speaking invitations in the past but now that I have more invitations I’m being selective and yet doing as many as I can. This is the best way to connect with readers. Again, it’s about being deliberate and making the best use of time and opportunities.
I receive a crazy amount of emails from readers. I make sure all of them receive a response. It may take awhile, but I want them to know they have been heard and that I appreciate them. I’m going to meet these readers in heaven. It’s a privilege to start the friendship now.
Facebook has been an easy way to connect with readers. Come be my friend! My ID is robinjonesgunn@hotmail.com. I also have been having way too much fun twittering! My twitter ID is RobinGunn

WCC: How did you get your start in writing?
RJG: The whole story is on my website www.robingunn.com Basically, I’ve always been a storyteller. I wrote kids books and articles when our children were little. It was a bit of a hobby then, I think. I saw writing as a fun way to make a little money and express a creative part of me that was not being used at my job at the bank where I worked for 6 years.
I wrote “Summer Promise” in the Christy Miller series as my first novel for teens because the girls in our youth group challenged me to write a book for them. They even helped me write it page by page. That first novel took two years to write and I received ten rejections so you can imagine how excited I was when the book was finally accepted. I thought that was it. One YA novel. I’m done. That was fun. But God had oh-so much bigger plans! I just turned in my 70th novel, “Coming Attractions”, which is book 3 in the Katie Weldon Series. Combined sales of all books is just over 4 million copies sold. Yes, I would say God had bigger plans than I did!

WCC: Tell us about your latest book.
RJG: “Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes!” releases in May of this year and it will probably be the final installment in the 8-book collection of Sisterchicks® novels. Writing this series has been a writer’s dream. My publisher gave me a travel budget with the last five books of the collection so over the past five years I’ve been to Australia and New Zealand, Paris, Venice, England and the Netherlands in order to do the all-important research for each story. I love to travel so this has all felt like a special gift from God.
I have loved hearing from midlife women who have discovered themselves inside the characters in all the Sisterchicks novels. So many have told me that the Lord used these stories to reignite their love for Him and to open their eyes to possibilities of what God has in store for them in their next season of life.
This is truly the message of joy for all of us. God has dreams for us. For all of us. When we surrender to Him completely, He makes His path known. Life happens inside the obedience. And it is an abundant life! Trust in the Lord with all your heart and hang on. His ways are definitely not our ways. But, oh, what wonderful ways they are!

I'm so happy that Robin Jones Gunn took the time to answer our questions. I hope that you'll take to heart what she has shared and that you will visit her website. It has beautiful layout, graphics and is very interactive. You fell like you're sitting in her living room.

The Tax Man

Well it’s tax time again. All across America people are collecting receipts, gathering W-2s and 1099s and getting ready to make their monthly pilgrimage to the tax preparer, CPA or Kitchen table.
In honor of this time of year today’s blog is about getting taxes ready.
I recently found out about a great article for writers about receipts and deductions specifically for writers. Here is the link:

http://www.artstaxinfo.com/WRITERS/WRITER~3.PDF

Some of these deductions available surprised me. I’d suggest you print this off and keep it with your receipts for 2009 so you are ready next year when the tax man come.

That’s all for today. I have taxes to prepare.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

A Newbie's look at craft

Today I’m going to share an interview I had with another of the authors I mentor through WritingCareerCoach.com’s mentorship program. I hope that the new writers out there will be encouraged and that the established writers will see something that brings them back to their ‘first love’…writing.

So now I’d like to introduce Kathryn Neff Perry

Q. Share one thing you have done recently to improve your craft?

A. THE FIRST THING I DID WAS HIRE A WRITING COACH. THE SECOND THING I DID WAS TAKE HER ADVICE AND BUY THE BREAKOUT NOVEL AND THE WORKBOOK

Q. What are some things you're doing to market even before you're published?

A I POST TO MY BLOG DAILY AND KEEP MY WEB SITE UPDATED, HOPING FOR MORE EXPOSURE

Q. What genre do you write and how did you become interested in it?

A. I WRITE MYSTERIES/SUSPENSE. I BECAME INTERESTED IN MYSTERIES/SUSPENSE FROM THE FIRST NOVEL I READ. I'M A HUGE FAN OF ROBERT PARKER. I LOVE TRYING TO GUESS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.

Q. If you had to give one piece of advice to someone just starting out as an author, what would it be?

A. MY ADVICE WOULD BE TO READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON, AND TO WRITE EVERYDAY.

Q. Do you have a blog/website? What is the theme and the address?

A. MY WEBSITE IS www.kathrynneffperry.com. MY BLOG address is www.kattskomments.blogspot.com. The theme for both is inspiration. My hope is for other authors to find inspiration from my words.

Thank you so much for sharing with us. It is important to write every day-even if no one ever sees your words. It is the discipline of writing that you’re developing and that will help you grow as a writer.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

What a neat blog!

This is clever

As I told you last week, today I am sharing a blog with you. Here is the website http://catemasters.blogspot.com/

I stumbled on this blog when google got a hit on my name [I keep tabs on where I appear.] I was interested to see what was said about the website so I checked it out.

What a neat blog. She shares summaries of various blogs in a way that made me feel like we were having a friendly conversation. I really learned something simply by reading through some of her blog postings. I even clicked through a few of her links because she made the posts sound so informative.

So, if you are battling with ‘blogger’s block’ and you don’t know what to write then try this every once in a while. It is a great way to share wonderful content.

Excellent idea and thank you so much for including me!

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Not taking myself too seriously

President of ACFW Ohio, and someone I've come to truly appreciate, Sharon Lavy decided to tag me.

She told me I had to put up the 5th picture [or some other cryptic instructions]. Well, I opened a folder of pictures from this last week on my computer and the 5th picture was this HORRIBLE snow. It was almost over the top of my swing set.

So there you go, a little piece of Tiffy land for your weekend.

Monday I'll be back to my usual professional self. =)

In Case You Missed It

This month's issue of Writing Career Coach's Playbook went out. In case you missed it you can go read it right now by following this link. more>

If you like what you see and would like to subscribe [or maybe you simply have come to trust the news and information I share and want to subscribe sight-unseen you can subscribe here now.

Sign up for our free newsletter!


Notice that you can tell a friend about it. I hope you'll feel confident enough in our content that you'll decide to pass these links along to other writer friends as well.

Thanks again for supporting Writing Career Coach!!

Tiffany Colter

Make your reader feel appreciated

I had something really neat happen to me recently. I was contacted by a reader and told that I was recognized on their website. Here is a portion of the email:

Hi Tiffany,
We just posted an article, "The 50 Best Career Coach Blogs" (http://www.universityreviewsonline.com/2005/10/the-50-best-career-coach-blogs.html). I thought I'd bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting.
I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in this list.
***
It felt good to be recognized and appreciated for the countless hours I put in to my blog and website.

Everyone enjoys being recognized, including your target market. That is why contests are so popular. We like it because for that moment we feel we’re adding value. We feel like we have excelled and distinguished ourselves in a particular area.

How can you give your reader that same feeling?

I don’t necessarily have an answer for this. It is still a question that is sloshing around in my mind. One thing I am going to do is share a great blog I discovered.

I’ll talk about that on Monday. In the meantime, tell someone you know about what they’ve meant to you. Thank them for helping you. Recognize extra effort.

And go check out the “50 Best Career Coach Blogs”. See what else they have over there.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

When have you 'arrived'?

In my pursuit to be excellent in my field I spend a great deal of time studying the lives and careers of excellent people. I enjoy pioneers and famous people. By that I don't mean the latest "tabloid tartlette" but rather great performers who have stood the test of time.

One of those is Billy Joel.

I was watching part of a documentary put out the summer of 2008 where he recounted his breakout album 'The Stranger'.

I have been a huge Billy Joel fan since...well, since Piano Man came out [the song] which I think was some time around Kindergarten or first grade for me. I've always been intrigued by the swing and flow of Billy Joel's songs [and I really enjoyed the show "Bosom Buddies" which had a Billy Joel song during the opening credits].

He had a great way of creating a story out of a song. His songs Lenningrad, Noreastern Alexa, Piano Man, Don't forget your second wind, Goodnight Saigon...well, a good number of his songs, drew us in to the lives of people we knew. We felt we experienced these songs. We lived these songs.

So I was surprised to learn that "The Stranger" was a surprise hit, and Joel's 5th album.

I wondered how he had felt when he signed with his label in the years leading up to that career changing work. I imagine it had to be the same way most writers feel with their first book deal. But what separates an amazing career like Billy Joel from many writers is they see that first deal as a sign that they're there. They've arrived. They no longer need to learn, nor do they need to grow.

If you look at great writers and performers you'll see that the voice always stays recognizable, but the craft grows. They realize that there is no such thing as "Arriving". Former Press Secretary Tony Snow said as much after he was named Press Secretary to President Bush.

So what does it actually mean to arrive?

I think that arriving is when you come to the place where you're so comfortable with your own unique writer's voice that you're able to begin to let it mature without fear that you'll lose it totally. I think it is when you stop sounding like a conglomeration of your favorite authors and you begin to sound like yourself.

I think it is when you become fully teachable.

Have you arrived?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Craft: Enough Said

Have you ever read a book that you wanted to read but had an annoying "tick"?

I just finished a book that did. While the plot line was intriguing and kept me guessing, and the characters were fun to listen to [you all know I 'read' most of my books on tape, right?] there was an annoying habit the author had that made me insane!!

"I'm cold." I said.
"Turn on the heat." He said.
"I can't reach it." I said.
"It is right behind you." He said.
"Oh, there it is." I said.
"I told you." He said.
"You were right." I said.

AHHHH, I screamed at my tape player "ENOUGH SAID!!"

I really try to learn something from everything I read-no matter what. From this book I learned that we always need to take the time to listen to our stories. There are text-to-speech software options. They help you recognize stilted dialog and annoying words [like 'said'] that show up constantly.

I started to wonder if this author was trying to hit word count or something and padded their manuscript with the word "said".

There was another book I 'read' last spring that had the word 'Sardonic' so much that my HUSBAND actually started to hate it...and he didn't hear the whole book [but he did get to hear my rants about the thing.]

Both of these authors have sold more than two dozen titles. Both have climbed [and stayed on] the best sellers lists.

The reason they did was because they made an incredible story with compelling characters and an engaging plot. Make sure that you are doing that too.

And try to avoid the pet phrases....

Enough said.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.