The editing/revising process (a gif post)

Hey guys! I'm a day late (but not a gif short... ha ha... um, ahem) for my post, so I thought I'd just throw out some inspiration for ya'll before the weekend gets officially started. Today's topic? Revisions.

By the time we've peeled away the icky-ness of a MS (polishing it until it shines, deleting words, adding the important details), we feel pretty confident in where our work has ended up. This is us:



We send it off to betas or CPs or editors, et cetera, and they read it, and--thankfully--this is what we get most of the time...

but, sometimes... it's more like this:

Which makes us go:


Enter panic mode, avoidance mode, "I suck at life; time to eat all the ice cream" mode. (Some of ya'll don't get that way and tackle it head on, and to you I say, you have problems! Just kidding. Actually, I applaud you. But this post isn't for you, so...)

This is the point in the process where we have to remember the GOOD NEWS. That's what I'm here to do. Are you ready to be reminded?

1) The fact that you sent that MS off to be edited, or read by betas, or whatever, means you got to this point. You finished your MS!!! Do you know that this means? It means you are THIS MUCH closer to getting your book out into the world! (So much closer than ever before!) Hooray!

2) Finishing an MS is not a reason to cringe! (We tend to forget this when those revision suggestions come in!) It's a reason to celebrate!

So. Before you decide to quit and become a hermit surrounded by cats who use your favorite books as scratching posts and cover you in ten layers of fur while you blather about who you "coulda" been, I'm here to remind you that this--yes, even the revising and the editing and the notes that, at times, are overwhelming--is all GOOD. You're in the homestretch, my writerly friend. THE. HOMESTRETCH.

And to celebrate, we are throwing you a party. SO


You're almost there. You can do this! Time to celebrate your success!

All Aboard! Edits + procrastination = social media

I'm about to dive in to edits for By Sun and Candlelight, so naturally, I'm finding anything (and everything) not edit-ish to be  super fun and intriguing (yes... even laundry). My biggest crutch in the distraction/procrastination aspect, however, is social media. And boy does it do a great job of sucking time away!

So join me at the procrastination station while we waste a few more productive minutes doing things we don't really need to do. (The best part of procrastinating is when you're actually learning something while procrastinating, so it doesn't feel like you're procrastinating; just taking a different approach to er... approaching that train. Which is what we're about to do.) 

Below are a few infographics regarding social media. They'll help 1) waste time and 2) highlight what works best regarding networking. (Killing two birds with one stone!)

First up: The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Networks

Courtesy of Lori R. Taylor at Social Caffeine

Whew! Worn out yet? Wanting to do what needs to be done? No? Well check out this second interesting tidbit, then: 

Info regarding best day to post on Facebook:

via Belle Beth Cooper on buffer

It's interesting to note that Facebook seems to have changed their algorithms again since this graphic was made, so though the graphic itself is probably still current, some of the info listed in the source link above are probably no longer as dependable as they were. 

Third: How to Get More Clicks on Twitter... Regarding branding on Twitter, there are quite a few things that make tweets stand out (this is serious analyzation, here):

courtesy of Dan Zarrella

And, if that info wasn't enough and you're still trying to procrastinate, check out the Indie Ignites Pinterest and Twitter accounts... We would love to connect with you (and, therefore, procrastinate! YAY! Oh, wait. Then we'd be producing less books. Boo.) You can also connect via our individual social media sites by clicking the About Us tab above!

Thanks for the ride, guys! Now I'm off to see if I can find a recipe for peanut butter waffles...