Tips and Tricks...

This month's blog is on hyperlinks. Hyperwhat? Hyperlinks...those little blue underlined words you see in the middle of articles that when clicked, link you to other places on the web.

So? What about them?

I'll tell you...

If they end up attached to your manuscript, even in a hidden, innocuous way, they will wreak havoc in your digital formatting.

Like a parasite, they attach themselves to words or phrases in your manuscript, and you most likely won't realize it until it's too late. Trust me...I just went through the nightmare of cleaning up the mess they can cause.

If you're like most writers today, you use the internet to do research. You look up facts, double and triple check the sources, order books on historical topics or locations...all with the aim of giving your readers the most factually correct information you can within the fiction you create. This is where a hyperlink can attach itself without your even knowing it. All it takes is one cut and paste. It can be something as simple as cutting and pasting the proper name of a place or historical person, (even if it's just for the correct spelling), and BAM! Hyperlink. The source text doesn't even have to be blue...or underlined, to contain a hyperlink. That's what makes them so hard to catch.

So, what can they do to your manuscript?

How about missing words or even missing blocks of text, for one. In my manuscript, the entire second half of my book ended up underlined. The hyperlink was attached to the name of a town in Spain that I had gotten from a source article. One word caused a tremendous amount of trouble, and the problem wasn't detected until a reader emailed me. Even the master digital copy my publisher had didn't show the problems. It wasn't until the digital file was converted for Kindle and Nook that the problems became visible.

Needless to say, the hyperlink had embedded itself in the last half of the document, three layers deep. It took days of line by line reformatting to fix.

I have since emailed Microsoft, and found that removing a hyperlink when the manuscript is still in word format is the easiest way to handle things. Select all and hit CTRL+SHIFT+F9 and that should remove all hidden hyperlinks from your document.

I'm not sure how well that works, but I do know one thing. I will NEVER cut and paste a proper name from the Web...or anything else for that matter...again.

Readers are hard enough to come by and keep, without adding to things.

I hope this post helps some other unsuspecting author from making the same mistake I made.

All the best,
Marianne Morea

Author,
Hunter's Blood
Blood Legacy

Fearing Rejection

I recently read an article on "fear of rejection". The writer focused on how to overcome rejection in a social situation. I read every word and found myself quaking in my shoes, just contemplating doing a few of the things she suggested.

Since I have a fear of meeting new people and making a total fool of myself, I wanted to panic, bury my head in a drawer of old mismatched socks and ignore any of the suggestions she made. But something held me back. Something spoke to me. Something beyond the need to break out of my self-imposed shell.

This writer could have been talking about my writing as easily as she was talking about getting a social life. What about you? Do you have the same fears?


How often do you avoid writing? Maybe you tell yourself you just don't have time to write. Do you feel writing the story that lingers in your mind, whispering to you late at night, is useless? Nobody would want to read your work. Or maybe you don't see yourself as having the talent, the gift of writing. You know, like all those successful writers. Do you feel hopeless, as if writing is a waste time? Do you waver back and forth about pursuing your dream of being published?


You are not alone.


Seriously, you are suffering these fears with the masses. Every writer out there (okay, there may be ONE writer out there, who has never experienced this fear, not likely though) spends hours, days, weeks, even years in fear of what others will think of their work. The difference between many of them and many of us is that they willing face that fear head on. They write through the fear. On top of that, they are willing to send their work out for other writers to critique and submit to editors for possible publication. You need to adjust to this way of thinking.


Do you want to face your fears? Do you want that story out of your head and down on paper? Do you want to be published?


Only you can make the decision to go forward. You don't have to do it alone, though.


1. Step out of your comfort zone--take a chance.

2. If you are not part of a critique group, join one.

3. Look for a mentor--someone willing to listen to your fears. Let them push you past your fears.

4. Write a goal list, for your writing. As part of this list, add a section for failures achieved. Why? So that you can mark off everything you've learned along the way.

5. Look at writing as growing process. By changing your perspective of failure, you'll note that each lesson learned makes you stronger and more skilled as a writer, moving you one-step closer to achieving your dream.

6. ALWAYS, remember the difference between defeat and success is PERSERVERENCE.

Failing is not failure.

As Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."


DeAnn Sicard
http://AWritersGuidetowords.com