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Working With Your Kids

3/11/2015

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Let's give a warm welcome to one of our writing sisters, Jean Carroll. She's joining us today to talk about a unique relationship opportunity in the writing workforce. Without further ado, here's Jean. 



Several people had warned me off about collaborating with friends, relative 
and especially children on book projects. I thought about it and decided I wanted to work with my son on my book cover. He’s very talented and was willing to help me. We talked about the kind of book I had written and looked at a lot of covers as he wasn’t familiar with the genre. We both felt that the cover we wanted to put out there should represent what was inside the book and therefore readers would be comfortable with the content.

            My son is a good photographer and we had fun driving around the countryside as he took a lot of shots we thought would look good on the cover. We chose one particular shot and he worked it into a beautiful cover along with the font that I wanted for the title, my name, the tag line and the logo he created for me several years ago using PhotoShop. He did the same for the back cover and spine for the paperback creating a very beautiful overall package design. He has also done some critique and edits for me.

            I have to say that the book now means so much more to me than just me writing it because we worked on it together. When I look at it, it’s not just a cover I paid some artist to do that I didn’t know. It’s way more personal and very special to me. I’ll always have those memories of the fun we had working together to put out something that we’re proud of.



Meet the Author



Jean Carroll
I started writing The King of Ireland series in 2008 when I had my second knee replaced. I was immobilized with ice on my knee for hours during the day and was, of course, bored to tears.
The "King' story was something I had played with in my head for maybe twenty-five years.
Watching one more TV show, I decided to write it down. I wrote long-hand and quickly filled many yellow legal pads and kept on going. Luckily my sister-in-law was a very good typist, so I enlisted her help.
I made a lot of mistakes at first and along the way learned a great deal about the craft of writing and I'm still learning. I got a mountain of advice and help from agents, editors, contest judges, critique groups and friends. I found quickly that their was something called "word count" and it was frowned upon to have too much of it. So I had to pare my 300K word novel down to where somebody might look at it. Hence I now have a three book, one prequel novella series and might add more if my readers get invested in my characters.
I love my characters by the way and feel very close to them. I got highly insulted when a family member said Blackie just wasn't her cup of tea!
I have a passion for horses just like my characters and have since I was a little girl and saw my first horse. Our property backed up to the Garrison Forest School for Girls in Maryland and they rode their horses through our woods. 
I started riding when I was about eight years old and rode consistently until in my thirties and was lucky enough to have my own horse and pony for ten years. I did a lot of showing and did mostly jumping. Later I discovered dressage and became fascinated with it just like the main characters in my book.
I retired in 2010 and briefly before that I started riding again and it was glorious to on a horse once more. I'm retired from Johns Hopkins University where I worked for 27 years as an Electron Microscopist. I still work there part-time. The best thing is now I get to write full time and feel very blessed to be able to do so.


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Insane in the Membrane. 7 Tips on Staying Sane and Organized. #TheWriteLife #MondayBlogs

3/10/2015

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Thank you to Pavarti K. Tyler for the use of her article from Monday, March 9th on her site about managing our work loads and schedules: 

Managing the complete and utter insanity of the writer’s life is a skill in and of itself.  How do I keep straight the number of projects I have in editing, that I’m writing, in production, plus marketing my backlist.  Because it never stops, neither can we.  Kind of like the laundry, which I’m totally behind on.

One of the things I liked the most about being an accountant was the sense of accomplishment that came with finishing something.  Column A = Column B and you’re done.  Print and move onto the next thing.  My life no longer works this way.  Nothing about it works that way actually.  Between kids, pets, home, writing, and marketing for myself and my clients, I’m always spinning in circles.  As soon as I finish, it’s time to start again.

I keep myself organized in a few different ways:

  1. Dropbox: Dropbox is my greatest tool.  Everything I do backs up there.  This way, I never lose anything, I can share anything anywhere, and no matter where I am I can get to my files.  I keep my promo art, my covers, my writing, my to-do lists, everything there.  It’s important to have an organisational structure for your documents though or it’ll become a hot mess very fast.  I probably go a little overboard, because I have folders inside folders inside folders, BUT it means I rarely lose anything and I always know where to find what I need.
    If you don’t have Dropbox you can sign up here: https://db.tt/6xKJPIsv Using this link will get me more storage space so it’s kind of like an affiliate code, but I can ALWAYS use more space!
  2. Google Calendars: I have a color coded calendar for my family.  Colors indicate for Kids, Me, My husband, or whole family events.  I have another separate calendar for Pav items.  On here I keep writing deadlines, release dates, online events, in person events, WIP benchmark goals, anything and everything I can think of and then I set it up so they send me reminders.  This way, even if I forget what I need to be working on, I get an email to shove me back on track!
  3. Paper and Pencil: Every time I sit down at my desk, I take a blank piece of paper and write down my goals for the day.  Not a long term big idea to-do list (I have that too) but a simple list of 4 or 5 things I want to accomplish immediately.  If I finish those things, I refer to my big master list and add my next 4 or 5 things.  Sometimes I only get 2 things done, but by having a short actionable list, I keep from getting overwhelmed.
  4. Alarm Clock: I have alerts on my phone for when I should take my medication, when I need to pick up the kids from school, when to wake up, when to eat lunch (because I’ll totally forget).  I use the alarm to remember to stay on track.  If I have client work to do, I set it for 2 hours so I have time set aside to do that, and then write.  If I have house stuff, I use it to do 45 minute sprints of writing work and then it reminds me to stop and go flip the laundry (crap, I need to do that, hold on).
  5. Evernote: I use the Evernote plugin when I research online.  Keeping folders for each project.  This allows me to keep track of my references and easily snip and copy important information in one place for all my notes.  This has been really useful these days as I’ve been writing Sci-Fi because I’m researching all kinds of discordant topics.  Now I can keep them organized and easy to look back at when I need them.
  6. Scrivener: Scrivener has saved me countless hours in the writing process.  It has both made plotting my work simpler and more visual, but it’s also made the necessary reshuffling of chapters and scenes so easy.  In Word with one big document, I’d get lost, never sure where in time I was as I edited.  Is this scene before or after that big thing that happened?  With Scrivener I never lose track of the big picture.  This is especially useful in books with multiple POVs because I can color code it and keep track of which story line I’m working on when and how they interact.
  7. Text to Speech Ap on my Phone: There are a lot of these, some better than others.  I have an android phone and honestly, the best one I’ve found is the one that comes with the email ap.  By using this, no matter where I am, if I think of a snippet of dialogue or a great idea I can quickly record it and email it to myself.  I’ve written entire chapters this way, sitting in my car, waiting for my kids to get out of school.
Good luck as you work on your masterpiece!  Do you have any tricks I’m not using?  Share with me!




About the Author

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Pavarti K. Tyler--Award-winning author of multi-cultural and transgressive literature, Pavarti K. Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree inTheatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway. Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry for several international law firms.

She now lives with her husband, two daughters, and one very large, very terrible dog. She keeps busy working with fabulous authors as the Director of Marketing at Novel Publicity, and by penning her next novel.


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Looking For New Articles

3/5/2015

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PictureVarna Dragons in Varna, Bulgaria--Photo by Grantscharoff
Now that Spiridus House is up and running we are now looking for a constant supply of articles to post in our blog and links to helpful sites (see our pages/rooms to visit). Plus, if you have an idea to help our house expand, we are always up for suggestions.

I'll make this easy:

  • Any articles pertaining to writing/publishing/or marketing
  • Can be previously used/posted articles (with permission from the acutal author or site manager)
  • You don't have to be published. Non-published authors have a lot to say and share.
  • Do you have something on time management? An easy meal recipe for those nights of Fast Drafting or Deadline Deals? (I love my Crock-Pot on those evenings.)
  • I'll say it again...this is YOUR home...make it comfortable for you.


Please contact me on the Contact Page concerning an article/idea or joining the family.



We are constantly on the look out for new family members. 

Family Members receive:
  • Picture
  • Short Bio
  • Link to their site
  • Amazon Links to their books on the Family Store page-if their books are available.



Share our home with others you may know...the more the merrier!

--Mom

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