As respite from writing I often take to the workshop, even in winter. Yesterday offered an opportunity to grasp an hour or two of sunshine and milder air. Making vessels out of the clay distracts and facilitates a space in my mind, so the next paragraph of the uncompleted novel can begin to emerge.  

The porcelain seems ready to become four simple forms and I leave them to reflect upon their position and resolution after the clay and I have joined forces, handling each other well in such a variable climate.   

Tomorrow is murk, wet, and the clay looks back at me with a glistening sheen as I open the door.

I do not linger, neither the forms nor I need to acknowledge more than a ‘salut’. I will take them into the kitchen on Sunday to dry a little; ready for the turning, firing and combining with the fine artist’s leather.

 A collection of vessels.

An installation of fused resonances based upon the ancient birch wood in the fen. A reminder that earth, form and decomposition are fundamental certainties and will remain so when we have disappeared and nature reclaims its place. Untrammelled. I am at that point in my story.

The ancient birch wood stands upon black peat as it has always done, the land around drained into manageable and navigable droves and dykes, tall reeds still in abundance. Old roads many have crossed and travelled. A palpable presence.

Parts of the wood are almost inaccessible unless one knows a way through and can sense the way out again. There is immense stillness always, so the smallest sound is an audible detail.

A day in late summer, warm and full of light, the path taken between the field and the inner sanctum of the cool interior. A red deer stared and I at it, both of us stopping for an instant, then it gone and I moving silently on. The image transformed into a dragon fly next to me in the bracken on its way to the water’s edge.

The fen wood can be seen from the train as it passes on its way to or from the cathedral city, set in its shallow saucer of land, flat for as far as the eye can trace. The horizon, just visible at the far end of an old ocean bed now fertile, dusty black and overworked. I have looked out at the wood, from the train, for as long as I can remember and have always felt that I am almost home. This is one place of belonging.

The birch wood gifts its secrets to the unassuming eye, soothing a too busy mind.

The clay clears the head and focusses perspective; I have the fragments of the next chapter.

Yeats’s hazel wood gives up a silver trout and a glimmering girl, the juxtaposition produces a faerie image of transformation, one might be in danger of stretching the point here, although it would fit the poet’s provenance.

Both birch and hazel wood are redolent of the natural process of things and of time passing.  Both are guardians of the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun.  

Jenny Dunbar

When I first started writing over a decade ago, I exulted in every new dialog tag I could think up. I preened over “he croaked” and purred over “she grumbled.” Finding new and inventive ways to say “he said” became my quest.

My early works were peppered with gloats, murmurs, and barks. I even started a most coveted (only by me) list.

How many words can you think of to say “he said” or “she said?” Here are some, in no particular order:

Got that part?

Now that I’ve encouraged you to use “said,” I’m going to retract it.

Forgive me, but that’s just the way it is. If you can avoid a tag altogether–through the clever use of action “beats”– then more power to you.

Here’s an example of changing a passage from lush useless tags, to he said/she said tags, to using beats instead of tags:

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth.

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth.

I maneuvered the van around the next pothole, and was about to congratulate myself for my superior driving skills when a series of washboard ruts nearly popped the fillings out of my teeth.

Add your own examples below, if you’d like. Let’s see some Case A, B, and C’s in the comments section!

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Imagine being able to add five thousand members of the Amazon Book Clubs to your Facebook's close circle (friend list). That's right, since every member (24,000+) of the Amazon Book Clubs are book enthusiast, where else would be the best place to invite/add other like-minded book-loving friends? These people are looking forward to meeting you, that's why they joined. 

Tedious, time consuming, boring, strange etc are words that could be associated with the task of inviting new friends on Facebook, hoping you'll get to know them or they would know you.  In fact, meeting and introducing yourself to new people use to be an old tactic way of book promotion, especially when a firm promise to raise your Facebook presence (friend's list) to 2,000+ fans.

Well. Today, we are now confident in telling you that you can now gain that five thousands book-like-minded new friends on Facebook in a matter of few days, with a task that will only take you 10 minutes to carry out. It is not a trick, it is a software, designed specifically for this purpose and others as well. It could extract the UIDs (user i.d's) of any Facebook group members, and give you the option to invite them as friends. If you are not a member of Amazon Book Clubs you would need join the group first before you can extract the members UIDs.

UIDs are a set of identification numbers assigned to every Facebook users. If you are a Facebook user, this software would show you what your UID is.

This tutorial video would show you how to carry out some of the functionalities of this software; http://indiewritersupport.com/video/how-to-use-facebook-blaster-software-tutorial.

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To broadcast a message to all of your Facebook friends with this software, all you would have to do is extract and save your friends UIDs and use the Messenger tab in the software to send the message into their inbox all at once. For best measure, do not send more than 200 friend request or messages a day using this software. 

Upgraded members (PREMIUMS) of our network were supplied a copy of this software as part of their earned service. You can get yours too, and the many more to come, by joining this Exclusive Group. You may also download the software from this Restricted Page, accessible only with payment.

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But I didn’t stop. I worried about arriving late to work, and the sides of the road looked very slippery. So… another lost shot.

What is the most important characteristic a writer should have? The ability to question everything.

Every tale I’ve written began with a series of what ifs.

What if a child was thrown into a world where magic was real? What if a young girl is given the most powerful weapon in her world? What if a man discovered he was really a demon? The list is as endless as the imagination.

But what if is rarely enough to carry a story. From each what if, dozens of answers can evolve and the writer become hopelessly confused by trying to unite them into something resembling a tale.

For me, the next question is, why?

Why this character and not someone else? Why are they in this situation? Why would a reader be interested in them?

However, why is more than these. As far back as any of us remember, we are taught there are certain truths in this world and that reality is a hard-and-fast concept we must each face. This, of course, presupposes everyone’ s truths and everyone’s realities are the same? By the time we realize we are writers, we (should) know that truth and reality only stand as long as no one asks why.

Why do we believe we have certain inalienable rights when we can see it is not true in many places around the world? Aren’t these just privileges society grants or abridges at its whim?

Why do we accept the world is a sphere when, wherever we see it from, it appears as a convex disk? Is it possible only the portion we see exists and anything else we believe is in a dimension we only imagine?

The whys are not as important as the answers. Our responses are what generate the ideas we need to create worlds.

However, the ability to develop unique and interesting answers needs to be exercised.  From my perspective, every writer needs to set aside a few hours each week to let impressions flow and coalesce into ideas.

I am fortunate. I spend an average of 15 hours a week driving. This is my time to turn off the radio, ignore the phone and let the mind wander. During these moments, I recall events I’ve seen and play what if and why. Over the years the ability has grown until it is second nature. I see what is around me and simultaneously see many things they could be.

Yesterday I stopped in a place named Bachi Burger to look at the menu. The hostess asked whether she could help me so I asked if the burgers were made from real Bachi. She looked confused (as many people do when I respond to their serious questions) and told me she didn’t know what a Bachi was. I told her they were a cute little creatures from the land of Neverwas that tasted better than beef. They were in no danger yet, but what would happen if her restaurant chain expanded? She had no response so I decided it was probably best to leave. As I turned to go, she thanked me for telling her about Bachies.

My kids tell me I do a great deal to bring confusion into the world.

The point of all this though, is that learning to see with what if followed by why generates an endless stream of plots. I attribute the blessing of never knowing a day of writer’s block to the fact these questions have become automatic.

I know there are other questions of equal importance for writers to have constantly on their brain. I’ll address those in future posts.

The mark of a serious writer/author is the willingness to improve. The pursuit of excellence includes any combination of 1) formal schooling, 2) seminars, 3) reading, 4) organizations/groups, 5) research, 6) writing, 7) editing. You can probably think of other avenues.

Pablo Casals was a pre-eminent cellist and conductor (1876-1973) who blessed us with music. When in his 90's it is said that someone asked why he continued to practice so many hours each day. His answer: "I think I'm getting it."

After 58 years of writing (news articles, journal articles, non-fiction, short stories, and novels), I am learning something every day. Some of it is new, some of it things forgotten.

Yes, I read, but with the sloppy way publishers are conducting business today, one must be careful. The best information comes from those who write well and share their understanding of the craft. I learn from these writers and authors, and in turn share writing techniques on a bi-monthly eFile. (I detest the word "blog". It sounds like some disgusting noises cows emit when confined to a coral.)

You are invited to Anatomy of a Story and leave comments that can help others in our craft.

http://celtic-publications-us.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-protagonist-need-for-backstory.html

Fine wine needs to be nurtured, rested, watched and turned until ready for drinking.

I think words require a little care too. Serious writers probably have a couple of pages on the go at the same time. Maybe a dormant chapter or manuscript waiting in the wings to be revisited or re-enacted.

I find it a necessity to leave and come back, leave and come back yet again, until I feel I have a complete work, indeed will it ever be complete? It is that detail in the organisation of the narrative that, if ignored, can so easily make or mar the end product. It is often impatience that makes us avoid that essential writing task.

Once the brain becomes attuned and in tune with the process of ‘story’ it has an automatic flick response, that's what I call it, which reminds us of what we need to be thinking of next and to which the kinaesthetic readily responds. 

In another life I performed as singer and musician and had to learn a variety of repertoires, including, at one time, a new instrument. I went through a process until the flick, kicked in! But you cannot leave the flick, if you do it will not respond with that agility which facilitates coherence and fluency. It becomes part of the routine of life, though needs escaping from sometimes, in order to refresh the practitioner and creator.

The complexities and tribulations that accompany writing, for me, I cannot and would not speak for anyone else, can temporarily over absorb and possess the creator. This state of being accompanies other areas of creativity and it is important to recognise the symptoms of overload. Actors have tools and techniques to cope with tension and stress. Deeply learnt and imprinted methods of relaxation for example as part of their training.

As for removing writing stress, simply walking away or walking out for an hour are good antidotes to an exhausted or too busy mind-set. Brooding and analysing in an over serious way can alter the mood so much that it destroys the ability to select and organise, contributing to a long term writers block.

I believe these responses are all to do with the rigour and discipline serious writers have to contend with and those who do not know, do not understand.     

There is something deeply satisfying when one begins to feel the narrative moves and flows in the way it should. One hopes one’s readers will also feel that as they turn the pages. It can be a relief when the manuscript is set loose to fend for itself after many hours and days of turning, resting and maturing.

Pinot Noir or Chablis? Rioja or Muscat ? Which shall it be?   

Patience and consistency, fine words and fine wine! 

Jenny Dunbar

It would be wrong to say all things are circular, but it is interesting how the narrative can often nuance its starting point as one ties the ends up. Endings, like beginnings, are really vital ingredients and so hard to pitch exactly right. What do I hope my reader will feel here? Does the weight of the last paragraph leave us in mid air, bring us down to earth with a thump, or just miss the point entirely?

 This week as I have contemplated the ending of my story/ novel, I have been surprised as I moved the pieces of the jigsaw around slightly, how the time element suddenly made more chronological sense. Why did that not seem obvious before? How an automatic reflection upon an earlier part of the story seemed to take over and gave me another thread to sew with. I touched the primary characters again and hopefully they will touch my reader.

I know I mess around with time in my stories, I shift and vary, but this is a conscious decision, is worked out and not a random action. Hence a great deal of thought is involved and time spent in searching for what one hopes is a viable and credible end product.

Intense scrutiny into the completed draft is an arduous, but essential part of the creative process and actually releases some new ideas. That, of course, produces more reflection and inevitably more work. When I say, ‘completed draft, ’I do not mean the finished item, but it is getting there, thanks to those ever increasing circles which force me to meet my characters again and think about their raison d’etre.        

Anecdotes. They attach themselves, not quite as many coloured patches, but rather in the way one lengthens a dart, refining a point and hopefully streamlining the effect. If by some lucky chance this enhances the angle, pace and emotion of the words then craft has gone some way to creating a little  art in the narrative. We live in hope!

Thematic or formulaic?  On analysis, which is inevitable as one reads through and reads through again, themes as opposed to formulas crop up in my work. Water themes, mystical themes, themes of juxtaposition and abstracted landscape.They occur out of my imagination and I work with them, or discard them if they do not seem right. Oh! And sometimes a dash of alienation.

I do not plan in great detail, but I analyse and work in great detail.  That is just my way and a definite pattern emerges. When the knitting, patching and darting start to be necessary that pattern is hopefully made clearer and more resonant by its complexity.

The words wake me up late at night and the next part of the tale begins to take shape. I do not have a pen and paper beside me, but let the ideas fester and a version of those ideas will come to mind, if I am lucky, when I begin to write. And of course one thing leads to another, sometimes usefully, sometimes not.

At times the words rush round in those ever increasing circles I mentioned earlier and I am pleased when I wash my hair which seems to purge the demons.

We all have our versions of the ‘how’ we create I wonder what some of yours are?

Well what about the element of fire ? I have pots in the kiln and anticipate opening it tomorrow morning. If all is sound I will smoke fire the porcelain at some point and hope the shapes and patterning enhance the form.

Jenny Dunbar www.lockpublishing.com/dunbar.html

I discovered this little tidbit on a blog for writers who have Word 2010. I'm not a computer Guru, but It actually works! I only wish the voice sounded like Morgan Freeman.

"If you have Word 2010 you have, as a writer, a brilliant free tool at your fingertips. How many times have you wished that you could “hear” your own work back so that you can tell immediately whether it sounds right?

It takes a few minutes to install this tool but it is worth every second. Once you have this on your tool bar you simply highlight the paragraph you wish to hear and click on the microphone icon to hear if the words flow."

Several years ago a good friend of mine told me that I should write down a lot of my adventures because I had lived such an adventurous life. Then a year or so ago, a good friend of mine (and former high school Spanish student who is very gifted in all things computer) after having run my web-site for several years suggested that I write a blog.

 I agreed as I thought it might help the sales of my books, which seem to be coming out about one a year. At first I thought I should write a “how to” blog on screenwriting tips and writing readability in general. This lasted for about the first dozen or so blogs. Slowly but surely my blog went from the art of how to get words onto a page to a series of personal adventures. Instead of writing grammatical rules and script writing techniques, I finally found my niche—life adventures that one can translate to the written page.

 Most people when they think of the word adventure, they think of something exciting and unusual. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking with an uncertain outcome. The term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk such as a business venture or other major life undertaking.

 Since I changed over to “adventure writing”, you will obviously have noticed that my stories are all over the map literally—some high adventures and some quite small and home grown. For example: My adventures in growing up in Okolona, Mississippi; my adventures with some of my relatives and people I have known; my adventures in foreign lands and situations, my selling Fitzgerald’s Happiness Tonic.

In my blogs, I show how I have used all of these adventures in my writing. I really don’t have to sit and dream up plot complications. The way I have lived my life is enough to just pluck an adventure from my memory and transfer it to one of my screenplays, novels or stage plays.

I suppose I have been trying to show that if you want to become a writer, you must live first—that means get an undergraduate degree from the University of the World and a Graduate degree from the University of Hard Knocks. I have degrees from both. Actually this is what my friend was suggesting: Write down some of your coursework at both of those universities.

 A couple of years ago I attended a high school reunion in my hometown of Okolona, Mississippi. I reunited with my best friend growing up. We were inseparable for all those teenage years. Then at age 19 we separated; he went to a Christian Bible School to become a preacher and I went off to Mexico, California, the Army, and a wide range of adventures in life. At that reunion, we hadn’t seen one another for 55 years. Even so, we took back up in our chatting like it had only been a weekend ago that we had seen one another. He told me after a bit, “You certainly have lived an adventurous life.” Then the next day from the pulpit after introducing me to his congregation he said, “Jack went to Hollywood and I went to Jesus .” In a way, I suppose he was saying Jesus was his adventure in life and mine was Hollywood and the worldly universe.

 I know that a lot of things I write about sound like high adventure and many of them are—like being caught up in the Cuban Revolution—like being arrested in East Berlin for black market currency dealing—like hitch hiking and getting picked up by some army guys who had stolen a car and were awol, etc. etc.

 Adventure is where one is involved in a bit of danger or where your livelihood is at stake or you are taking a chance of some kind. Those are the most popular adventures we like to hear about. However, we can make life an adventure on a much smaller level. I remember when I was young there was a Hillbilly comedienne named Minnie Pearl out of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. She was pretty much the country Joan Rivers of her day. She could make ordinary happenings hilarious. In the process, she became famous and wealthy and beloved.

 So you see, adventure is where you find it. Some people get it in the kitchen. Julia Child made omelets an adventure and caught millions of people up in her world.

So just like my friend when he told me to put some of my adventures down on paper, I’m telling you the same thing. Put some of your adventures down on paper. You’ve had as many as I have but maybe just in your own way. You can keep them to yourself or you can share them—and then if they are interesting enough, they become adventures for others!

 Adventure is where you find it and most importantly, what you make of it.

Cheers, put a little adventure in your life today. As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

I recorded The Grammy's because I wanted to watch The Hunger Games for the first time. The Hunger Games represented one faction of society having control over another, to me. That movie had a huge impact on me as I fear it is a sign of the times. My son was walking to the convenience store, at my request, yesterday and a white man drove up, blocking his way, and accosted him. He screamed all kinds of ignorant statements because he was tired of “Drug Dealing Niggers,” walking down his street. We called the police and they went out to the man's house.

This ignorant man proceeded to attack the police because he feels the Police in our community are doing an awful job of keeping “Niggers” out of Lake Helen, Fl. where I live. He said the Police need to stop “Niggers” from moving here and especially stop “Niggers” from walking down his street! He also stated he did not like the way my son dresses, particularly the black “Doo Rag.” my son wears on his head. My son, at the young age of 31, has a badly receding hair line that makes him self conscience and he wears that garment to hide it. This man was arrested but of course out in 24 hours. The convenience store my son walks to is the only nearby convenience store in our area and the route my son takes is the only only route to reach that store. We do not own or can afford a car and my son enjoys walking. Are we to give up our right to go to the store because he has to pass by that man's house? Does this man have the right to reach into our lives and control us? Do you think I should ask my son to go to the store again and sit home in fear of him becoming the next Trayvon Martin? This man stopped his car in front of our house tonight and waited. My eight year old Grandson ran to me frightened and screaming. As I ran to the living room and parted the curtain's he drove off. I am angry!

Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African American from Miami Gardens, Florida who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in Sanford, Florida. On the evening of February 26, Martin went to a convenience store and purchased candy and juice. As Martin returned from the store, he walked through a neighborhood and Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, spotted him and then followed Martin (despite being told not to do so by the police) on foot to ensure that Martin would not try to steal anything from the neighborhood. Moments later, there was an altercation between the two individuals in which Martin was shot in the chest. Zimmerman also blamed Martin's death on the fact that he was wearing a black hoodie.

This is going on all over the country!

Back to The Grammy's, Beyonce's stage setup for her rendition of the gospel standard "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" featured a wall of African-American men while they held their hands up, which is a nod to the "Hands up, don't shoot" campaign that came out of Ferguson. And Pharrell's "Happy" used his performance to shed light on not only Ferguson, but also on Trayvon Martin as well. Backup dancers donned black hoodies like the one that Martin wore when he was shot and killed in 2012, and broke out the "Hands up, don't shoot" gesture amidst the middle of their performance.

Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light: Amen!

I am glad movies like, “Selma,” are still being made, people need reminding! But there were also Common and John Legend, weighed in when they performed "Glory," their contribution to the "Selma soundtrack. "That's why Rosa sat on the bus; that's why we walked through Ferguson with our hands up," Common said. The most explicit of the comments coming from The Grammy's came from Prince, who said, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

Writing in English is difficult, because it's an ever-disintegrating language.

Jonathan Swift, writer and dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, complained to the Earl of Oxford in 1712: “Our Language is extremely imperfect. Its daily Improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily Corruptions; and the Pretenders to polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied Abuses and Absurdities.” He went so far as to say, “In many Instances, it offends against every Part of Grammar.”

It was the lingual wild-west, untamed and out of control! So, in order to tame our wildly evolving language, a group of clerks and clerics in the eighteenth century who wanted a more orderly language developed the rules for the “Queen’s English.”

Unfortunately, they used the rules they were most familiar with, and being men of the church, they borrowed them from Latin.

Doh!

Nevertheless, these rules have been consecrated, hallowed, and immortalized in hundreds of books on style, and repeated by guru after guru who ignores the scabrous history of our English language. These hard-and-fast rules have been passed down by generations of schoolteachers in a vain effort to keep the language pure, when everyone knows English was brought to Britain by the Saxons—those intrepid dark age settlers whose homeland is now the Netherlands, and who long ago went a-viking to the British Isles and stayed. Quite frankly, modern Dutch is incomprehensible to a modern English speaker, unless they were born there.

Oddly enough, so is Latin.

So—a bunch of smart guys in Victorian England applied the rules of a dead language, Latin, to an evolving language with completely different roots, Frisian, added a bunch of mish-mash words and usages invented by William Shakespeare, and called it “Grammar.”

Despite the pox-ridden history of the English language, it helps to have a framework to go by when writing, so yes—I use a book of rules, the Chicago Manual of Style.  This helps me to remain consistent in my writing, and smooths the narrative for the reader.

You can use any style guide you choose, but you must remain consistent.

My biggest complaint when reading indie novels is that some authors don’t realize how critical consistency is, and so many small errors could have been solved without too much trouble, if an editor had seen the manuscript prior to publication.

That is where an external eye is SO handy. I feel that a good relationship with an editor is the most important investment an indie can make in her career. Even if you have an editor, it's a good idea to examine every sentence yourself for consistency, and make a usage-list for yourself, using the first instance of how any made-up word is used in the manuscript. That is what an editor will do for you.

This is so that your own usages don't evolve as the story does, and made up names remain capitalized or hyphenated as you originally intended.

I do recommend you print out each chapter and go down it using an envelope to shield everything that is below the sentence you are looking at, or even do it backwards, starting at the end and going up.

I have editors, because even with these precautions I don’t always get it right.

But I do make the effort.

For some reason I am inspired to share my innermost thought to you listeners on a subject concerning books and publishing, especially when it comes to ebook, self-publications, and trade publishing. You've all heard this phrase before, "you can't judge a book by its cover," but in this new age of self-publishing, we as readers would to have to be open minded to skepticism when we see a low-budgeted/self-designed book, because this output presentation immediately tells us the nature of the author's seriousness, why he or she couldn't develop an eye-pleasing graphic in this new-age, technology savvy, world. This is not to devalue the literary quote (you can't judge a book by its cover), but this quote as many of us would agree, has aged, and perhaps expired. This is not to disregard the work of any writer of value, because there are many great writers out there who had fallen victim to the traditional-publishers'-controlled-environment of book publishing, at least until the introduction of ebooks and Amazon-like outlets in the 20th century. I have attempted to become to serious at times myself, and I gave it everything that I owned, including my budgets and full-times. If you are great, only YOU can convince the world, and that mean that you'd have to be persistent. In the end, however, the persistent becomes an hard pill to swallow for many writers. But thanks to Amazon and the introduction of eBooks, many writers dream can now come true, and together we can break the bondage forced on our literary talents by the refusals from the big publishing houses.

I can honestly say that many of my best-read books were written by indie (independent) writers, and I am not only talking about novice writers, but seasoned writers as well. Traditional publishers could not handle the workload of publishing every writers out there, and that is perfectly understandable. This is why the big publishers only choose to publish the 'one-per-centers', the ones with the greatest chance of achieving a mass appeal, even if the writing is mediocre at best. Yes, this practice is unfair to many rejected writers, especially those who spent their entire adolescent studying the art and styles of writing, with little hopes of being that new voice of the generation.

If you can find that literary VOICE, then nothing can stop you.

What is this 'voice' I'm talking about?

Well, if you are still listening/reading this article right now you may not realize that you have just read a whole page of writing without pausing. The voice is that fluent deliverance that naturally comes with every seasoned writers who have perfected the art of writing and can delivering exactly what is in their mind, usually in one take, with the utmost clarity. Many writers like myself practiced on creating scenes, surroundings, dismantling and composing the scenes  like a broken pottery, to see if it can be perfected once again. Many writers would never find this voice, and would become stuck with imitations of what they'd read, hoping to make it unique with some tweaking. In order to achieve the 'voice', you would have to practice writing a lot, and with different styles. Big-publishers can immediately sense your nervousness (immaturity) through your query letters and sample chapters if you submit your work to them unprepared. A good editor can almost immediately sense what type of style you are writing with, and YOU DO NOT WANT AN EDITOR TO QUICKLY  IDENTIFY YOUR WRITING STYLE, CONSIDER YOURSELF DENIED.  Your presentation have to be unique, something never achieved, like Michael Jackson with the Pop-music, Picasso with his absurd arts, and that book 'Crime and Punishment' with its flawless deliverance.

A writing style is not something you build by chance, it has to be developed, honed, and mastered, and an editor reading your sample work can feel the story if it is good. If you want to become a world famous writer, unfortunately, you'll still have to go through a big publisher to gain that reputation. So good luck, and don't forget to practice tirelessly before approaching them.

I personally do not believe that traditional publishers are putting out the best books out there, and that their books are mediocre at best, except for a chosen few. I think that the book publishing business is going the wrong direction, and this is why the businesses altogether were loosing money before the introduction of eBooks, and the unfortunate downgrades of bookstores; Borders, Powell's etc

I think what ought to happen is individual franchising among big-money-traditional-publishers and independent writers if we are looking to expand literature through a diverse list of great talents. Big publishers franchising with indie-writers is not something unheard of. In the year 2005, Simon&Schuster acquired a small-press publishing business called Strebor, from Kristina Laferne Roberts, an author who is now famously known as Zane. Zane was a successful self-published author of many erotica books before Simon&Schuster approached her books and bought her publishing house. Now, Strebor is the largest producer of African American trade-mark books in the world. Another example is that of rapper 50 Cents, who is the owner of G-Unit Books, another imprint of the Simon&Schuster company. Oh yes, how about the shocking $119 million payout made from Penguin to to Author Solutions, the self-publishing company behind iUniverse and AuthorHouse, in the year 2012. Not bad. Another is that of Author Vickie Stringer, the CEO of Triple Crown Publishing, one of the largest urban novel publishers in the world despite its refusal to become an imprint of any big publisher. The story goes on and on.., and this leave a lot of hope for us indie (independent) writers / publishers.

Signing to a big publisher is not the only way you can achieve greatness. You can do it yourself if you are willing to put in the effort and time. Author Amanda Hocking is an example of the many independent greats who had sold million of ebooks. Time is money, and the big-publishers have a lot of them to budget out to make their chosen writers successful.

In my next article, I will show you some effective ways you can use to make your ebook widely noticed and climb to that bestsellers rank whether through Amazon or BN. For us indie writers, the struggle is real, but if you study the market, you will see that the opportunity is endless.

Tell us what you think of this article, sign-in and leave your comment for everyone to read and reply. Thank you.

P.S. If you find an error in this article, that's because it was written out in one take. I will recommend that you writers practice the same and just write. You may submit your composed article to me at, http://indiewritersupport.com/blog and I will approve it as a blog for all to see and read if it is properly written. 

Expand your visibility, get a contact list (emails) of 60,000 book-loving Scribd, DocStoc & SlideShare members. These are book lovers who loves nothing but reading and writing. You may use Mailchimp or TargetHeroto message 5,000 at a time.

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How to Self Publish 

Many people have a dream of being an author and wonder how to go about publishing an ebook and specifically how to self publish on Kindle, Barnes & Noble, iBookStore, Smashword, Lulu etc. Well I have some really good news for you. All you will need is the Ultimate Ebook Creator - which is probably one of the best ebook creation software on the market today. You can write your ebook from scratch using the built in professional WYSIWYG editor or, if you already have your content in a text file or word document, then you can literally import all your content into UEC, organize your content into chapters and sections and have your e-book published in less than an 30 mins (depending on how large the book is). UEC is probably the only e-book software you will ever need! It takes care of all your formatting and automatically generates your "Table of Contents", so all your formatting headaches are gone! You can generate for Kindle, Barnes and Noble, iBookStore, Smashwords, LULU.com and much more! 

The Ultimate Ebook Creator is a complete system with three products in one:
Editor, Ebook Generator( MOBI, EPUB, PDF, MS Word), Articles Organizer

Professional WYSIWYG Editor:
 Ebook pro editor and formatter
 Stand alone pro editor for physical books - Amazon Createspace
 Multi Language Spell Checker - (All major languages suported)
 User Interface in English and German Languages (French, Spanish coming soon)
 Auto generates and formats the Table of Contents (TOC)
 Change font, color, style and more ...
 Import Microsoft Word documents
 Insert text, images, MS Word documents
 Insert Web Links to external web sites
 Insert Bookmarks and link to bookmarks
 Create Interactive ebooks

Ebook File Generator:
 Export your project as an ebook in the following file formats:

• Amazon MOBI
• EPUB (100% validated to the specifications of: International Digital Publishing Forum)
• PDF with Clickable Table of Contents
• Microsoft Word document (doc, docx) with Clickable Table of Contents

Professional Articles Database Organization System:
 Create unlimited categories and sub categories as deep as you want
 Categorize and organize 1000s of articles and content (Text, images)
 Search 1000s of articles is seconds - simple and advanced search features
 Import 1000s of PLR (Text) articles in just a few simple clicks

30 Professional Customizable Ebook Cover Templates - Limited Time Bonus Offer:
 Check out these sample ebook templates that you will receive when you purchase the Ultimate Ebook Creator - Sample eBook Cover Template
 5 Travel ebook Cover Templates
 5 Natural Remedies ebook Cover Templates
 5 Cooking & Recipes ebook Cover Templates
 5 Children's ebook Cover Templates
 5 "How TO" ebook Cover Templates
 5 Craft ebook Cover Templates
 7 Step by Step Video Tutorials shows how to Customize each template.

Learn more about this product and get it for yourself at; http://bit.ly/1c4DFpA

Download it Here $0.00 (http://bit.ly/1fqBP2K)

Tap Into The Kindle Publishing Market By Producing Your Own Amazon Kindle eBooks. Create a ready to upload Book using this software. This Kindle generator will save you time and effort as you just simply copy and paste your text into the software, add titles, chapters and then upload to Amazon DTP. This Kindle software is very easy to install.
1. Create a folder on your computer where you'd like to install the software, for example, C:\kindle.
2. Double-click the compressed file kindlebookgenerator.7z, which will open in your compression software. If the file doesn't open then you need to install file compression software on your PC. You can download 7zip free of charge from the following link: http://download.cnet.com/7-Zip/3000-2250_4-10045185.html.
3. Click the 'Extract' button to extract the files from the compressed 7Zip to the new folder you created.
4. Please make sure that all the following files are in the folder you created: KindleBookMaker.bin / KindleBookMaker.exe / KindleBookMaker.ini / KindleBookMaker.lib
5. To run the software, click the KindleBookMaker.exe file (it's the one with the magic wand/3 gold stars icon!)
For HTML & PDF file conversions (with illustrations) we recommend using this free software; 
Enjoy.