Kathi Macias and I met at a writers conference last year. She's become a good friend and mentor. When I asked her to guest post for my 4th Blogoversary, she not only agreed but offered to do a giveaway. The details are at the bottom of this post. Here's Kathi!
THE TRAIN-OF-THOUGHT WRITING METHOD:
Practical User-Friendly Help for Beginning
Writers
By Kathi Macias
It
is said that writing is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. I
absolutely agree, and I’m sure most successful writers would echo my sentiments.
Inspiration is the easy part.
Over
the years I have spoken with and taught beginning writers from all around the
world, in all sorts of settings. I have helped them review, edit, and rewrite
their work, and I have found one common thread among those would-be writers who
eventually become published authors: They are willing to devote themselves to
the not-so-easy part of writing—the 90 percent perspiration.
As
I worked with these many writers I discovered what I consider to be the
simplest and most practical writing method available: the train-of-thought
method. This excellent, well known writing method did not originate with me
(though I’ve tweaked it a bit), but it seems no one had ever taken the time to
put the method into book form. I therefore decided to do so myself,
personalizing each chapter with my own experience.
This
is not a book about proper grammar or punctuation, or how best to choose the
voice or set the scene for your great American novel. There are already
countless books covering those subjects, if that’s what you’re seeking. But if
you want to know how best to take your thoughts and dreams and put them into a
clear, compelling, readable manuscript, then this is the book for you. Having
personally seen the train-of-thought writing method help so many new writers
learn to organize, write, and polish their ideas into successful manuscripts, I
offer this book to those who would do the same. May it direct and encourage you
as you enter into the 90 percent perspiration phase of your writing career—the
serious phase through which true writers are formed.
***Direct order link (available in
soft cover and Kindle):
Giveaway Details:
1. The contest is open to Followers of Christian Writer/Reader Connection.
2. Only U.S. residents are eligible to enter the drawing.
3. One entry per person by commenting on this post.
4. Deadline: Saturday, May 12, 2012 at midnight. The winner will be announced on Sunday, May 13, 2012. If the winner doesn't contact me by Saturday, May 19, 2012, another person will be drawn from the entries. Instructions will be given on the blog on how to contact me.
5. Once I have the winner's name and snail mail address, I'll forward them to Kathi Macias, who will send out the book.
Question for writers: How do you organize your thoughts when writing a manuscript?
Question for readers: When you write something for school, a letter, or some other correspondence, do you put them in some kind of order prior to the actual writing? How?
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