Filter Words – Who Knew? Not Me

October 15, 2018 Diane Tibert Editing, Lessons in Writing books, characters, editing, filter words, paragraphs, publishing, stories, story telling, words, writing

A week ago, I stumbled onto a YouTube video discussing filter words. Never hearing this term before, I watched, listened and learned…and discovered I was guilty of using filter words.

What are Filter Words

Although I’m relatively new to the idea, my understanding is: words that create distance between the reader and the detail the character is seeing, hearing, tasting or feeling.

In other words, we are not using one of our senses to digest the story, rather instead, we are being told through one of the character’s senses.

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Catherine MacKenzie interviews Diane Lynn McGyver at the Writing Wicket

October 3, 2018 Diane Tibert Author Interview, News Flash author, author interview, Catherine MacKenzie, Diane Lynn McGyver, interviews, publishing, Writers Wicket, writing

Today I’m at the Writing Wicket as Diane Lynn McGyver, my alternate ego who writes fantasy novels. Catherine MacKenzie interviews writers every Wednesday on her blog, so if you’re interested, drop her a line.

You can check out my interview here: Writer Wednesdays – Diane Lynn McGyver.

Also, since it’s my birthday, I made all my Castle Keepers Tale short stories free for the day. These short stories tie in with my fantasy novels, Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones.

Don’t Muddy Your Brand

October 1, 2018 Diane Tibert marketing, Thought for the Day, Writing Business #amwriting, algorithms, Amazon, authors, books, brand, branding, David Gaughran, Kindle, marketing, publishing, truck pulls, writing

My teen-aged son loves to attend truck pulls at exhibitions. He only has his beginners, but he’s itching to get behind the wheel and has created elaborate schemes that would see him get there before he has his full driver’s license. He has yet to successfully carry out a scheme, but his mind is always working on it.

The videos he captures at these truck pulls are mashed together and posted to his YouTube channel. After a big pull at the end of August, I told him I’d share his link on my Twitter feed, thinking I’d be helping him spread the word so he’d have more subscribers and more views.

“You can’t do that,” he said. “You’d muddy my brand.”

For a guy who has no problem getting muddy on his four-wheeler, he had a real problem with mud on ‘his brand’. He knows little about marketing – or does he?

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Two Vital Questions to Ask Yourself About Writing

September 24, 2018 Diane Tibert Challenges and Goals, Thought for the Day #amwriting, books, goals, planning, publishing, reading, stories, success, writing, writing business

We are all looking for our path to success, but our paths are drastically different. We all don’t get to success the same way, and we don’t all identify success in the same manner.

In my years of reading about marketing and writing, the same questions pop up, and by answering these two questions, it makes us better able to plan our writing careers. In fact, the answers to these two questions are vital in making important decisions in our publishing journeys.

Last week, I posed these two questions to members in my writers’ group. They have a month to think over the answers, but I’ve been thinking about my answers for much longer.

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A Hard Lesson Learned

September 10, 2018September 10, 2018 Diane Tibert Challenges and Goals, Lessons in Writing, My Indie Publishing Experience, Scattered Stones, Shadows in the Stone, Writing Business #amwriting, authors, books, ebooks, genres, hard lessons learned, indie publishing, learning, lessons, publishing, self-publishing, writers

Although it’s tough to admit it, six years ago, I made a horrible mistake in my publishing journey. After publishing the first book in my Castle Keepers fantasy series, Shadows in the Stone, I should have buckled down and completed the draft to the second book in the series, Scattered Stones.

However, feeling the pressure to get more books on my publishing shelf, I wrote a few short stories that were not in the fantasy genre. They were quick writes, quickly edited by my editor and quickly published. I soon had four books on my shelf. It looked impressive.

I was following the advice of those who believed the more books on a shelf, the more a writer gets noticed because they have a larger footprint.

However, those giving advice didn’t stress the vital fact that the books written should all be in one genre. Readers sometimes stick to one genre, so those who loved my fantasy novel might not like my contemporary stories about death, domestic abuse or a cranky neighbour.

Sigh.

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Summer is Over and Work Begins

September 6, 2018 Diane Tibert Thought for the Day indie publishing, new beginnings, publishing, self-publishing, September, summer, Summer’s End, thought for the day, writing, writing goals

We can all ask, “Where did it go?”, but I think most of us who live in the north know summer passed in the usual form: too quickly. What started out to be a very cool June with snow and hail in Nova Scotia, eventually evolved into hot July and August days.

With cooler nights and mild days on the horizon, school started today where I live. That means the house is empty because everyone is either in school or at work. This is the first time I’ve had the house to myself during the day for more than two months.

While I hope you enjoyed your summer and I’d like to reminisce about mine, as John Wayne said, “We’re burning daylight.” So it’s time to buckle down and get back to work full time. My batteries are recharged, new ideas are splashing around in my mind, and I’m ready to start the next phase of my self-publishing journey.

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No One is Surprised: CreateSpace Closes and KDP Print Takes Over

August 28, 2018 Diane Tibert My Indie Publishing Experience, News Flash, Writing Business Amazon, books, CreateSpace, ebooks, indie publishing, KDP Print, Kindle, paperbacks, print books, print-on-demand, printed books, publishing, publishing industry, self-publishing

Between putting the laundry in the washer and hanging it on the line and while I was making pancakes for my youngest child, washing dishes and waiting for the buzzer on the oven to go to indicate the cinnamon rolls were ready for extraction, an email popped up in my inbox.

The subject told me all I wanted to know, and if Amazon thought they’d surprise me, they couldn’t have been more mistaken: CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing to become one service

I didn’t bother opening the message; I was too busy, and I knew what it was all about.

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Catriona Wheatcroft

Bronwyn Darrow

Alaura of Niamh (pronounced ‘Neev’)