Write at Home Moms - August - Page 3

[CathMac]

Advice on copyrighting and Publishing a single piece of music (a lullaby)

Hello everyone,

I posted in Questions and Suggestions and was directed to the July thread but I didn't actually post until August 5th, after this new thread was started. My apologies to anyone that has already seen this.

I don't write for a living or even for a hobby but recently I made up a nonsense song for my 6 year old daughter at bedtime, rather than sing the usual lullaby. She insisted I put it in writing. I sang the final product to her the next day and she suggested I "copy" it.

I now have minor delusions of publishing it.

With my nephew's help I think I can put some basic sheet music together for it.

Realistically, is there any avenue for the average joe to try and publish a single work while protecting their intellectual property?

Thanks,
~Cath

[enfpintj]

yea! rough draft is done, but now editing..yikes

I called it quits on the rough draft on Friday of my fiction work. I was sick and sick and tired. I knew any other changes could come in the edits, but now I'm afraid of the editing. How did you guys get through editing if you have already done so? How long did it take? Any recommendation on what to do , not to do? I want to be done in a month or so. I hope.

[JennyClaire]

enfpintj, I've heard that it's better to put your first draft aside for about 6 weeks before rereading it. It gives you distance and objectivity, especially if you're sick to death of (or in love with) the material... I didn't wait before rereading my first draft, and I wish I had.

After 6 weeks, you'll want to reread your draft and make notes about what you like and don't like.

[MommyHawk]

Originally Posted by enfpintj

I called it quits on the rough draft on Friday of my fiction work. I was sick and sick and tired. I knew any other changes could come in the edits, but now I'm afraid of the editing. How did you guys get through editing if you have already done so? How long did it take? Any recommendation on what to do , not to do? I want to be done in a month or so. I hope.

edit an entire novel in a month? in all honesty, and in my humblest of humble opinions, there ain't no way. You need to go through and through and through it, beginning to end, and more than once. More than 5 times. Ten times. Most editors say, "don't show me a thing until you've gone through it 20 times!".

Believe me, I was just like you way back, thinking I could do it quick. But, as I've learned, there is no quick with editing. If you do a whole book edit; then take a chapter a week, devour it and chop it up, polish and shine it to perfection; then go back through and do one more overall edit, you might be able to do it in 3-4 months.

But I would not rush the editing phase. Writing your first draft, yes. I like the 'write a book in a month' way because all first drafts need editing, and because I know how long a good edit can take.

Don't dismay. This is where most writers quit, but not you. You're going to put it down for a few weeks, mull it over in your mind, and then dive into editing. And you're going to hate it. You're going to loath editing - for a while. Then, all of a sudden, you're going to see the light, see how all this editing is making your novel so darn good! And then you're not going to get enough of it. Heck, the only reason you wake up before the crack of dawn is because you get to edit in silence, and you'll love it. You'll LOVE editing!

And then you'll be done. And ready to take on your next novel.

Read This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley. He talks about how much editing he does and why. Very quick read.

I know. I was not at all interested to even try to edit. Take a break, start fresh, and just do it. You'll be happy you did!

[enfpintj]

thanks for the responses about editing. I really am not looking forward to doing it. It has taken me almost 3 years to get to this point. I did alot in fits and starts where months would go by between writing. I also did not go back and edit in between. So, most of what I have written I haven't touched in months if not years literally. Last week I worked on it and called it quits, but before that it was memorial day. I think that covers the 6 week waiting period for all but the last stuff. I probably won't pick it up until next week or so.

I understand what you are saying mommyhawk about taking it slow, and I'm sure it'll be longer than I think. I hope it won't be that long though. I'm not going to quit, I just want to be done with it. My first reader is ready to pass it on to her friends.

[MommyHawk]

enfpintj - remember, most first novels take between 5 and 10 to complete, so you're on the right track It's painful, but it's all about learning the craft inside and out too, so although we're rolling our eyes and withering in pain, we're learning great lessons that we will bring to our next books - and those books will not take as long to finish due to what we learned with the first! That's something to look forward too

I started my novel back in July 2004, a first chapter and an outline. My son was 9 months. I didn't touch it again until May 2008, after baby #2 was 2yo and I realized that I wanted to be a writer...so what was I waiting for??? (babies) So I wrote the first draft - by October 2008 - and didn't touch it again until March 2009 - to let it sink in... (holidays, babies) That's when I started editing, did it once through on my own, joined a critique group and enjoyed it at first, but quit recently because it was taking soooooooooooo long and felt like a hobby. I want to write for a career. So now I'm editing again on my own and loving it. WHEN I'll finish, I have no clue. But I can't wait to get it done and out the door for my first slew of rejections! See what else I can learn about this whole process.

Keep up the good fight!

[winnie]

Hi everyone,

I'm so happy to have stumbled upon this thread tonight!

I wondered of anyone has taken any online creative writing courses? Or, any favourite informational websites or books you may suggest to this wanna-be-writer? Specifically, I have children's stories in mind.
Thankyou.

Erin

[MommyHawk]

Editing
just saw this on Query Shark today and it sums up editing perfectly:

...can you see how clunky it is? One of the things you need to develop is the ability to edit yourself. All first drafts (and most second and third drafts!) suck. That's ok. The trick is to see what needs to be fixed.

Online Creative Writing Classes
I took a free course with Writer's Village University online and it was fun, informative, and best of all, I found great writers from all over to chat with and see how we all thought the same, talked the same, and for a lonely writer in her own little writing world, it was needed . Non-writer's are great, but they just don't get it

[1jooj]

Well, looks like I'll have time to write again soon. And maybe also some creative energy to use so I'm not just wasting electricity running my computer, or ink and paper.

Things are in sort of a lull at the office now that the FT writer job has been filled by a qualified person, so I can sort of sit back and chill a while. The gardens are winding down, too, so I am not under the gun to can and pickle until I can no longer hold my arms out in front of me...and this is the last week of fasting, so soon I'll have my wits back.

What's cool is that I've sort of started developing some new project ideas, both in different genres from my current WIP. I like the idea of switching between projects if one thing gums up or another is suddenly inspired. Of course, I like the idea of finishing anything even better. Anyway, what I'm here to say is that the dark cloud isn't over me anymore. I can feel the creativity coming back, and words in my mind are not such a garbled mess, feeling clearer all the time. I was grieving the ability to write when all my other "lives" were too demanding.

Even better, it looks like I have the opportunity to step away for a short vacation. Well, vacation for me, biz trip for dh. But it's overseas, and kids and farm will be cared for by dear friends and family. I will spend time alone, really alone, and more or less without responsibilities for a week. I'm really hopeful I can have some nice days of relaxation, reading and writing.

[JoyMC]

Originally Posted by winnie

I wondered of anyone has taken any online creative writing courses? Or, any favourite informational websites or books you may suggest to this wanna-be-writer? Specifically, I have children's stories in mind.
Thankyou.

honestly, the best education is reading tons and tons and tons of books in the genre you want to write. see what works, see what doesn't. analyze the books you love and the ones you hate and understand why they arouse your passions. anything that says it's going to tell you how to write a book is full of it, IMO. that said, these are my favorite books about writing (not how-to):

Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (about the writing life)
The Forest for the Trees by Besy Lerner (about the publishing industry)

i have also heard great things about On Writing by Stephen King, though i've not read it yet.

Originally Posted by 1jooj

Anyway, what I'm here to say is that the dark cloud isn't over me anymore. I can feel the creativity coming back, and words in my mind are not such a garbled mess, feeling clearer all the time. I was grieving the ability to write when all my other "lives" were too demanding.

yay!! i'm so happy for you. i hope your vacation is restful AND productive!

i'm pounding along with my ghostwriting gig - it's going faster than i expected, so i'm also getting some work in on my own novel. with ghostwriting projects i always write a detailed outline (so the clients sign off before i start writing). gee, maybe i should write a detailed outline for my own projects ...

[Aufilia]

I'm so tempted to go and start a September thread, but I'm leaving it for someone else because I started this one... and haven't had time to come back since!

So I started a freelance job about a month ago and am finding it surprisingly doable. So, yay. It would be MORE doable if DS would nap, and/or if DH would get his butt out of bed in the morning and give me an hour, or even 30 minutes, to write.

I just went and signed up at Guru.com after reading the first couple pages of this thread, too. Geez, I am never going to have time to just HANG AROUND on the Internet again at this rate. (And I went and bid on ghostwriting somebody's porny-sounding novel, too. It sounded like easy-ish money, though.)

Winnie -- I agree, I think reading is the best education. The only online course I have taken was a synopsis writing course through the Romance Writers of America, a few years back, but synopsis are a whole different skill. (It turned out to be only semi-useful since I write fantasy/SF, and the long synopsis is used differently in my genre.)

enfpintj -- It took me far longer to edit my novel than it did to draft it in the first place. I finished the first draft in 45 days, the 2nd draft in 4 months, and the third draft in about 16 months. (I got pregnant in the middle of that one, though, and was too nauseated to write much, so much of that 16 months consisted of doing NOTHING at all.)

1jooj -- Seriously, I am jealous of your vacation plans! Oh, time alone to do whatever you want!!! I love DS to bits but it's been so, so hard going from having time to myself to having a baby on me 23.5 hours a day! I am getting really frustrated about lack of time to do anything non-child-related lately.

[1jooj]

September Thread