Ava Jae

It’s that time again! We are just days away from yet another fantastic Twitter pitch contest, this one on May 28 from 8AM to 8PM EDT. You can find all the details, rules and extra tidbits here, as well as a post on why you should enter pitch contests here.

That out of the way, on to the real meat of the post: Twitter pitches.

The basic idea behind WorkFlowy is to imitate our thought process—you start off with one bullet point, then build off from it to create more points, and before you know it you have several sub-lists with their own sub-lists and so on and so forth. It’s a clean, minimalistic layout and it allows you to open up and collapse your lists and sublists and create a nice, organized, outline-like list. 

Here’s a video that can explain it a lot better than I can: 

You guys may or may not remember my post from forever ago about how I’m a list person, and that has not changed since writing that post. I still enjoy working with lists, and when I begin my initial brainstorming, I do so with (surprise!) long, bulleted lists. I usually start this brainstorming with a pencil and paper, but there was always the issue of my bullets starting to not line up (straight lines? Who can actually draw straight lines?) and not really being able to add to the previous part of the list, and it can get a little messy on paper. 

You can imagine, then, that hearing about WorkFlowy made me a pretty happy writer. And trying it out made me even happier. 

The great thing about WorkFlowy is that it makes brainstorming ridiculously easy. The bullets work off of each other beautifully, you can move things around and add and delete points effortlessly, and when you’re done, you can export the list into whatever format or document you’d like and continue writing from there. The only downside is that while it is free, the free version only gives you 500 items a month, which seems like a lot, but if you fall in love with it as quickly as I did, you will use those items up faster than you’d think. Nevertheless, it’s still a great tool for brainstorming. 

So if you’re a list person like me, or would like to try brainstorming with lists, I highly recommend WorkFlowy as a wonderful writing tool. It’s easy to use, intuitive, and it makes what can be a very messy part of the writing process simple and organized. 

Have you ever used WorkFlowy or something of the like? Do you brainstorm with lists, or use another method? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

How one writer uses the free tool WorkFlowy to make brainstorming easy. (Click to tweet) 

Have you tried this writing tool for your brainstorming and outlining needs? (Click to tweet)

Its funny how sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for, are the ones behind the trigger.

— Ritu Ghatourey (via creatingaquietmind)

(Source: the-healing-nest, via teachingliteracy)

The writer’s job is to turn the unspeakable into words — not just into any words, but if we can, into rhythm and blues.

—Anne Lamott (via ilivetowriteandinspire)

(via yahighway)

I have written nine manuscripts. Four of them I have attempted to get published—three of which will likely never see the light of day—and four will need massive, book-altering revisions to stand a chance. Whether or not those revisions will take place remains to be seen.

Ten years ago, having nothing but a hard drive full of unpublished manuscripts and a dream wasn’t uncommon. Traditional publishing was just as hard to get into as it is today, and while self-publishing existed, it was extraordinarily difficult to be a successful self-publisher and was largely not taken seriously as an option.

But now things are different. Now self-publishing is a perfectly valid and wonderful option for many writers. Now you’re just as likely to hear about breakout indie writers as you are successful debut traditional authors. Self-publishing has proven itself, and there are opportunities for writers like never before.

And I’ve noticed for some time now, that there’s been a fair amount of pressure on writers like me—writers with books in the drawer who continue writing anyway without an agent, or contract, or other milestone of publishing success.

I’ve noticed people looking at writers like me and saying well, why haven’t you self-published? 

I mean, it’s a valid question, particularly for those with polished manuscripts and a lack of response from the traditional publishing world. But the thing is, self-publishing isn’t for everyone.

Those who have self-published know that going indie isn’t a decision you make on a whim—it’s a career move, and one that you have to be fully dedicated to in order to succeed. It involves taking full control of the book publishing process, from first draft to final, fully e-book formatted ready-to-publish draft. It means finding an editor and a cover artist and taking on the full responsibility of marketing, all the while writing the next book. It’s a lot of work, and for some people, it’s a fantastic choice.

But then there are writers who would rather trade the control over the cover and layout and marketing decisions for an opportunity to work with a publishing team—to have an agent by your side and some career guidance along the way. Some writers prefer the collaborative effort of creating a book, and don’t mind trading the lower royalties for the chance at wider, in-bookstore distribution. Not that there’s any guarantee of that, mind you, but for some, the risk is worth it. For some, that’s the choice that’s right for them.

I’m not going to say that I’ll never self-publish, because I don’t know that that’s true. Maybe one day I’ll decide that it’s time to wade into the indie waters, but for now, at least, I’ll continue to pursue the traditional dream. And if it never happens, then it never happens, but I’ll keep writing anyway and I’ll do it with no regrets because I’ll know I pursued what was right for me.

What do you think? For those who have self-published, would you agree that it’s not for everyone? For those that haven’t, have you ever been asked why not?

Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.

—Angela Carter (via quotesandnonsense)

(via fuckyeahreading)

shannahmcgill:

Now Novel shows you how to write a book: a tailormade toolkit helps you find an idea, create structure and stay motivated while writing a book. Start right now!

Seems interesting.