Not All of My Writing is Perfect – Neither was Every Step I Took as Learning to Walk – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Sept. 3, 2024

Writing Motivation: Not All of My Writing is Perfect – Neither was Every Step I Took as Learning to Walk
Ever hit a moment of frustration when you just can’t seem to get a sentence or a passage to sound right? The result is brain freeze. You keep working at the line only to suffer through the penning of seemingly even worse lines or passages, or you can’t even think of what to write next. The problem likely is that you are overly judgmental of your own work. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways you can overcome perfectionistic tendencies when writing. READ MORE

Marketing Tips: How to Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads
Most indie authors are nervous about buying ads for their books. They wonder if the ads really will work or if it’s just dumping money into a bottomless hole. They even have been told not to buy them. I used to think that way too. Then I began to hear from a small number of authors that they actually were having good luck with Amazon ads. A lot of tweaking was necessary, but eventually they figured out a formula that worked. So I gave it a try. Within weeks, I was earning twice as much as I spent on ads, and my sales tripled. My book Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads is all about how the ad system works, how to build an ad, how to read Amazon’s ad reports, how to optimize your ad, and more. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Your Story’s Main Character Must Fail
Typically a story is about a single character who overcomes some problem. This player in your story is called the main character. To write a truly great tale, your main character must frequently fail when trying to overcome the story’s central problem. READ MORE

Writing Course: Write Your Story’s First Page
The first page of your story is its most important page. Those opening lines draw readers into your story, hook them on it, make them want to read on, and even allow them to put up with a scene they later find dull. Many readers won’t give you more than the first page to engage them in the story. This course looks at the 11 must-have components of your story’s first 250 words. Length of course: 11 lesson readings and quizzes 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Getting Rid of a Line of Dots that Won’t Go Away
Sometimes when typing or formatting a manuscript in Microsoft Word, to indicate a change of scenes, you might center a group of three to five asterisks between paragraphs. Then you hit return. And the darndest thing happens: The asterisks turn to a whole line of them, and no matter what you do – highlight and delete them, cut and paste them to Notepad then cut and paste that back to Word – you can’t seem to delete the line. Here’s how to fix this problem. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Consider Structuring Story with “Plot inversion”
Several variations of a standard plot (inciting incident-rising action-climax-falling action-denouement) exist in storytelling. One you might use is called a plot inversion. This type of story generally tells readers the outcome of the plot before the action leading to it is presented. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Promote Your Book with Radio Interviews
As writers, we often limit our thinking of press coverage to what we read – newspapers, magazines, online reviews. But broadcast mediums such as radio interviews also are an excellent way to promote your book. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Castooli County to DC: Monster Hunt” by Mark Policinski 
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of editing this political thriller story, which would make for a perfect election year read. Mark Policinski’s Castooli County to DC: Monster Hunt tells the story of two different worlds. One is the hard life of Capitol Hill, where Joe Hickcock, top aide to the next President of the United States, is dogged by an evil that is with him every day and who he knows excruciatingly well. The other world is a bucolic county in Michigan where Sheriff Arthur Bract must confront and solve a most hideous murder. The two worlds are not disconnected. CHECK IT OUT

$25 Off Your Next Edit!
For being a newsletter subscriber, please take $25 off your next edit with Inventing Reality Editing Service. When scheduling your edit, be sure to mention you’re a subscriber and give the email where you received this newsletter. Minimum order of $200. Offer expires Sept. 10, 2024. SCHEDULE EDIT

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.