Thursday, February 22, 2018

The Newest in Writing Tools

Welcome all you wonderful writers, 

Cara Grandle here.

If you would like to listen to this post instead of reading it, here is my podcast link with a little more information and some sass. Life Caraphrased.

 

Today’s Seekerville post will add to your resource pile. I would like to introduce you to several up and coming or newly-released craft tools. Some are books and some are moooooore than books.

If you don't have access to the podcast through iTunes above, here is a link. Life Caraphrased-Seekerville Edition. 

First of all, hats off to Julie Lessman who let me blog in her place. To say thank you, I’d like to give a shout out to her Non-fiction book, Romance-ology 101.

 

Julie will teach you how to keep the careful balance between the gas pedal and the brakes when writing the passion in your romance.

And now on to our next introduction.

Did you know that Karen Ball and Erin Taylor Young have put their heads and experience together and wrote a new non-fiction series? The first short book in the series, Finding and Working with an Editor will release on March 15, 2018. Available for pre-order now. Here is a blurb:

Finding the right editor can be daunting. And the wrong editor? Devastating! How do you know who (or whom) to trust? Easy. Use the insider information, tested tips, and wealth of worksheets shared by a seasoned editor to guide you.
 
 

And for a straight up grammar, punctuation, usage craft book, how about checking our Joyce K Ellis’s Writing with Excellence 201

 

 

She adds a clever charm to all the gritty craft layers. Joyce has kindly offered to provide a GIVE AWAY!!!  ANYONE who leaves a comment will be added into the drawing.

And if you soak up all you can from those, then you will love adding Melissa Jagears’s new writers life hack.

Seriously, this non-fiction tool is a must. If you haven’t met Melissa yet, let me tell you she is one sharp cookie. She’s managed to use some of the engineering-math-y type tools that are hidden behind the scenes inside both WORD, OPEN OFFICE and SCRIVENER to make a search-and-destroy-weasel-words cheat that will save you loads of time in your editing process. 

 


Seekerville people can download the templates or macro code for free using coupon "SEEKERVILLE" until the end of February. Here is a blurb about her craft tool and a link:
Weasel Words
Self-edit better with software you already own!
Whether you’re a writer editing your first novel or a seasoned author wanting to provide your editor with cleaner copy, searching out particular words in your manuscript can help you self-edit with confidence. Weasel words aren’t just words that have weaseled their way into your writing and need to be tossed back out; many can alert you to places where rewriting will help keep readers enthralled.
If you don’t have the luxury of having a writing expert point out your mistakes, Word, Open Office, and Scrivener can be taught to highlight your weasel words with just one click of a button. And with the clear instructions and examples in this book, you’ll know what to do with each and every weasel word you encounter.
Inside this self-editing mini-workshop for novelists, you’ll learn how to set up your writing software to catch everything from grammar flubs to writing craft problems. You’ll be certain you’ve never used a single your or you’re incorrectly, you’ll find places where you’ve told instead of shown, and much more.
Understanding weasel words can help writers at every stage improve their writing without the hefty cost of extra editing.

And after all that goodness I want to make sure you've heard about The Christian Writers Institute.

CWI is an online resource for writers. Think conference caliber teachers and speakers at your fingertips, in your preferred style of learning. Video courses, Audio classes, PDFs, and a place to find all there is on writing craft books. The best-of-the-best teaching you in the comfort of your own home, on your own terms.

If you sign up for the newsletter you can receive a free ebook on how to write a proposal written by Steve Laube of the Steve Laube Agency himself. Talk about learning from the source of proposal wisdom.

And!

Yes. There is more. I hope I don’t sound to used-car sales-ish, but I can’t help it. These new tools are cool.

Did you notice that The Christian Writer’s Market Guide has been revised for 2018.

 

This is the book for you, if you are looking for where to send short stories and articles for possible publication.

Childrens stories, poems, interviews and soul-enriching real stories are all being requested. If you want to see who-is-who for publishing houses, editors, and agents, the CWMG is a staple.

Annnnnnd, they now have a continuously updated subscription version that you can pay for monthly ($5.99 per month), Semi-annually ($3.00 per month), or Annually ($2.09 per month.) You pay for this and no more dead leads. How cool is that? Thank you Steve Laube! Here is the link.

It’s always easier if you have the write tools for the job. Haha. Yes, a corny joke. I couldn’t help myself.

Craft tools can help stir the pot on the sticky parts of your WIP. You can never have too many.

Thank you for letting me show you what’s new. Never stop learning, my Seekerville friends, never stop learning.

Have you heard of these? Are any of these interesting to you? What is your favorite craft help? Any new craft helps or hacks that you want to let the Seekerville crew know about? Don’t forget all commenters will be added into the giveaway, a copy of Joyce's "Write With Excellence 201".


83 comments:

  1. Just to clarify where you can use the coupon code to get the free coding/template, it's on my website. So click the book link Cara gave you to check out the book, and when you scroll down to:

    Buy the weasel word macro codes or Scrivener template and see video instructions for uploading purchased code:
    Word
    Open Office
    Scrivener

    Click on the one you'd like, "purchase" it, then click on Checkout, and on the checkout page, it'll ask you if you have a discount code. Click to enter your code and that's where you put SEEKERVILLE and it will become free (expires last day of February).

    This only gets you the coding that will let you SKIP all the WORK, because I did it for you. You can learn how to use these codes/template in the book. If you don't buy the book today, if you do at any point, you'll have it available when you do and wish to save hours of your time to harness your software to do the work for you.

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    1. Thanks for making it easy for everyone, Melissa.

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    2. Melissa, thank you!! I've wanted to get your book and am grateful to Cara for remaining me!

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    3. Yay!! I just bought the book and macro, watched the video and already have my very first Macro added to Word! :) Thanks, Cara, for letting us know about this. And thanks, Melissa, for making it so easy!

      Now I live in dread of how many times the word "just" will be highlighted in my stories!! LOL

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  2. Cara! Welcome aboard!!! It's always a pleasure to have you here and I know folks are going to love this post... and a great visual of what's available to help!

    And Melissa, thanks for the advice... and for making this free. That is so kind of you!

    Coffee is here!!!

    And Cara, thanks for adjusting your schedule for us... In our switchover I managed to double book a day from the archived blog calendar to this one, and CARA WAS SO STINKIN' SWEET ABOUT IT!!!

    So thank you, from me to you, right here where everyone can see...

    And I might just have some lovely, tender hot cross buns here in the kitchen!

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    1. Well thank you for that. Hot cross buns accepted. All though I’ve never eaten hot cross buns. Are they like cinnamon rolls? Off to google the buns.

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  3. Cara, thanks for these great tools! Some I knew about and others are new to me. Thanks so much!

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  4. Wow! Thank you, Cara for all the information about these craft tools. My goal is to get back to basics, and improve my writing.
    I believe your fantastic suggestions will help me achieve my goals.

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    1. Love the call to get back to basics. I love that most writers are “never stop learning” types. But staying open to new ways of learning can sometimes be hard to fit into our routines.

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  5. Good morning, Cara, and welcome to Seekerville. Wow. I wasn't aware that there was such great new stuff out there for writers. Guess I should get out more often. Thank you for helpful info and for joining us today.

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  6. CARA!!! GREAT post, my friend, and THANK YOU for the plug for Romance-ology 101 -- MUCH appreciated!!

    And, WOW, you and Melissa had me with "weasel words," so I am definitely going to check that out. It seems like every single book I have written has a pet word that gets overused. I remember in my second book, I apparently used the word "malaise" so much, I had a friend who claimed I gave her one because of it! ;)

    Cara, you never cease to amaze me, girl, with all the fingers you have in the pie -- from writing your own books to leading the author4TheAuthor writers group on Facebook, to being host of the Writers Encouragement show weekly on Periscope, to leading an online Bible study, to being a wife and then a mother to FIVE kids -- YIKES!! You belong in Ruthy's category as an Energizer Bunny (which is what our agent calls her!).

    Thanks for all the great info!!

    Hugs,
    Julie

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    1. Malaise. Haha. I snorted. That’s hilarious. And thank you considering me like Ruthy. I’ve met her and listened to her in real life... honored over here.

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    2. LOL ... glad I could give you a chuckle. Trust me, Ruthy's supernatural productivity used to put ME in a malaise till I realized writing 520-page books wasn't helping mine. ;)

      Ruthy, sorry to talk about you in third person, but truly you have given me a lot of insight into productivity, and I thank you for that.

      Hugs!!
      Julie

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    3. "You had me at weasel words" that's a love song for a die-hard writer right there! ;P

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    4. Julie, I, too, got a snort laugh over your overuse of malaise. :) I can pretty much bet that's not a weasel word that's seen very often! haha

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    5. LOL, Melissa -- it certainly could be! ;)

      HA! Missy, it sure was in my book two. Have barely used it since. :)

      Hugs,
      Julie

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  7. No suggestions to add but thanks for sharing these excellent resources!
    Blessings!

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  8. Great post, Cara - thank you for the info!

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  9. Wow, Cara! What a great collection of tools for writers!

    As my husband always says, you need the right tools to do the job right. (OR maybe I always say that...when I want to buy a new kitchen appliance...)

    I have a copy of Julie's book - wonderful - but I'll need to look into these others. Especially Melissa's Weasel Word book.

    Thank you!

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    1. When I found out Melissa had a truck for weasel words, Inmade her share it. So worth figuring out.

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    2. Aw, Jan, I guess we're even, because I've got several of yours too, my friend, so THANK YOU!!

      Hugs!!
      Julie

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    3. Julie, after all the ways you've helped me, we'll never be even! :-) I'll just have to keep passing the love and encouragement on!

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    4. I'll take it, darlin'! And I can't wait to dive in to your latest! ❤️

      Hugs!
      Julie

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  10. These are fabulous resources!! Please toss me in for the drawings and thank you so much for sharing this information!

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  11. Cara, thanks for sharing this wonderful list. There are so many writing resources out there. I always appreciate tried-and-true recommendations.

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    1. Karen, I agree. I love helpful books and software/code like these.

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  12. Cara, thanks for all this great info!! I've heard of a couple of these but had no idea about some of the others. I can't wait to check them all out!

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  13. what a great post, my friend! Thanks for putting all these great resources all in one place :D

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  14. This is an awesome list, Cara. Thanks for taking the time to share all of this in one place for us. I'll definitely be saving it for reference. :)

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  15. This is perfect timing! I'm in the middle of editing, so I'll have to check out Weasel Words. Thank you so much for sharing these writing tools! I think I'll listen to the podcast while at work today. (Shh, don't tell my boss).

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    1. LOL, Anne. I hope you were able to listen without detection. ;)

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  16. Steve Laube just connected with me and reminded me that there is a huge giveaway happening on The Christian Writers Institute.
    Here is the Link. The giveaway will announce on March 1st.
    https://christianwritersinstitute.com/giveaways/christian-writers-super-bundle-giveaway/?lucky=220

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  17. Cara, these are wonderful resources! Thank you for sharing all of these. I've heard about some, but not all of them. I am in the midst of my first draft of a new story. Just this morning, I was thinking about an aspect of my writing that I need to strengthen. I had forgotten about CWI. I need to check out their classes to see if they have a course on a specific thing I want to work on.

    I hadn't heard about Melissa Jaegers' resource. thanks for sharing it. I tried to download it with the coupon, but must have done something wrong. I was told it was invalid.

    Thanks for sharing all of these!

    Please do put me in the drawing. :)

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    1. Thanks for letting me know Jeanne. I’ll touch bases with Melissa and see if it is fixable.

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    2. Melissa asked if you were trying to use the code on Amazon or on her website? The code will only work on her website. She is having people successfully download today. I hope this helps you.

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    3. Yes, it worked for me through her website!

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  18. Great resources. I’m looking forward to checking out these recommendations. Thanks Cara!

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  19. Awesomesauce!!! Loved listening the podcast and seeing the visuals here at Seekerville. Lot's of fun and intriguing things to explore. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Ahhh. A fellow podcast listener. Love it. Thank you for stopping by.

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  20. Wow, what great tools you've collected here for everyone, Cara! And thanks for including Finding and Working with an Editor!

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  21. Cara, you've provided lots of writing resource treasures today. Thank you! I could use all of them! Yay, to Melissa Jagears with the Weasel Words. I may get that one first!

    Must send this out via FB so more folks can benefit from your delightful information.

    Ruthy was upset with me yesterday because I provided rice cakes for a Japanese themed blog post instead of a US-style cake. So...today I've brought Red Velvet cake to share. Along with ice cream! Yummy good...although I'm also enjoying a leftover rice cake. :)

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    1. I hope it helps you, Debby, and thanks for the red velvet cake, I'll give all mine to hubby, it's his favorite. :)

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  22. Please put me in the draw! Thank you for giving us a crash course in what's new for inspy writers. Wonderful list - I'm bookmarking this page!

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  23. I've already read the book by Melissa Jagears, and I definitely recommend it. There are lots of great tips!

    I also have a resource to add to the list: there is a lot of information around on what an author platform is and why you need one, but not so much on how to build a platform from nothing.

    So I've developed a how-to guide: Kick-Start Your Author Platform. It's a 40-day email challenge that takes participants through everything from the high-level principles of marketing and branding to setting up social media accounts and a website.

    Visit http://christianediting.co.nz/kick-start/ to find out more and sign up. Class starts on 5 March!

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  24. Great article, very helpful :)

    May God bless you and all of Seekerville!

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  25. Thanks so much for being here.

    I'm an editor, so I was familiar with some of these, but not all of them. I'll be adding a couple more books to my list :)

    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  26. So many resources! Those all look great! Thank you!

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  27. Thanks for sharing all these wonderful tools for our writer toolboxes! I love that writing is a skill that can always be improved on!

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  28. Thank you for sharing all of these terrific resources, Cara. Each day is an opportunity to learn something new. Thanks for visiting!

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    1. Amen to that, Jill! I love learning. I used to joke about being a perpetual student. :)

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  29. Great post, Cara. I always love learning about new craft books. I have ordered the macro code. Thanks, Melissa!

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  30. These are some cool resources. Melissa's sounds like something I could definitely use! Thanks! :)

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  31. Thanks for this list of resources! They all look super interesting and helpful!

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  32. I'm late to the party, but thanks Cara Grandle for these great resources. I always love learning more about the writing craft!

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  33. I'm so thankful to come across these resources, and also to see Joyce's Writing With Excellence book! Her publisher Tim Beals from Credo is going to be bringing copies to PENCON, a conference for professional editors, May 3-5, 2018, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm very excited for the book to be introduced to more people!

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  34. Great info! Thanks so much, I've made my list and will be checking these out.

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  35. I can't wait to get my hands on Melissa Jagear's Weasel Words. What a help that's going to be. Thanks for sharing these books with us.

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