Blog – Page 11 – Serena Wills

March 14, 2019April 11, 2020

Writing Tip #3: Read Your Own Book and Then Copyright It

Once you have written the book and are holding yourself accountable (or have an accountability partner to assist you with getting your book done) the next step as a writer is to read it yourself and go through your own set of edits. Yep, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and see if you like your own book and to start smoothing it out.

I am not a professional editor but I hire one after I read through my own book once or twice and flush it out so it makes sense and is grammatically sound. Afterwards I then submit my book to get copy written before it goes to the editor.

You may ask, “Why should my book be copy written before getting it professionally edited?” I have an editor who is trust worthy, but you want to be careful of your work of art. I have a built trust with my editor but even she told me she would rather read it a copy written book. If your book is not copy written then anyone can state that your book is there’s unfortunately if they are dishonest (it has happened in this industry)! If by chance you love to write but you know you need a lot of assistance with sentence structure and your book still won’t be grammatically sound even after you do your own set of edits, then make sure to add a clause into your editing contract that states that your book is owned by you and you only and even after the book is edited it is your property (you get the gist). Then maybe after the first round of edits from that editor send it in for copywriting.

You definitely want to make sure your book is edited and copy written before you even put it in the hands beta readers (we will review that part the next step) you want to start the copyright process once you write the book. Get your book legally protected by going to www.copyright.gov

This website is the Library of Congress’s website solely for getting your materials copy written. You can upload your manuscript as a PDF into this website and generally the cost to copyright your book is between $45 to about $60. The minute you submit your work it is copy written. It will take weeks to months (depending on how busy they are) for you to get the copy right number and certificate in the mail. You will put the copyright number into your book as you can see in the picture below and it goes towards the front of your book.

Your copyright certificate will show the date of submission. This way your book is legally protected from the moment you click the submit button on the website unless there are any issues with your book. Once you receive it, please put it in a safe place (I know you know this already…but just in case you forget). Lock it away in a file cabinet for safe keeping.

Some issues that arise that my delay the process are using another author’s work without their permission or not mentioning them, if you are co-authoring a book you have to alert copyright.gov and the website will walk you through step-by-step and ask you if you were the sole author or of there are other authors and if there are any major contributions to your book.

As stated you also want to start the copyright process before you even let another friend or person read your book as a beta reader and in most cases before it is professionally edited unless you put a special clause in your editing contract. Better to be safe than sorry!

Thanks for reading this blog. Stay tuned for the next step which will talk about beta readers! Everyone doesn’t need to read your book before it is published (trust me)!

Cheers!

January 21, 2019April 11, 2020

Writing Tip #2: Write The Book

Now it’s time to write. Usually by now writers know what they want to write about. Some writers like to do an outline (table of contents), some already want to have the chapters laid out in advance.

I like to get into it and start writing and put them into chapters as I write or I backtrack and look at the chapters later (it depends on the book). Every writer is different. The goal is to get writing. Do not over-think how you want to write your book.

Find out how you want to write it. I have written chapters of my books in my phone, journals, memo pads, on my laptop. Sometimes when I’m in the midst of writing a book I make sure I have a journal on me or in my car at all times because sometimes it just hits you and you have to start writing.

I have a dear friend (Tresniece Perry) who came out with her book recently and she wrote her entire book in her phone. She would write during her lunch breaks, after work, at night, whenever it would hit her she would write. She found it best to write most of her book in her phone since she had it on her most of the time and would pull it out when she felt the urge to write.

Some people need accountability partners or a group to help them along the writing process. It’s important to have accountability when writing your book. (You can refer to my blog post on titled, “Hold Yourself Accountable.” When I lived in Dallas I belonged to The Writer’s Block which is a membership group that meets every month. There is an additional meeting each month if you have a book you want critiqued and you have a partner who will read part of your book and you read part of theirs and you give each other feed back. I went to writers retreats as well which helped me out a lot through this same group.

I remember one great author who presented at the retreat, (Michelle Stimpson) told us if we wrote one page a day, by the end of the year we would have a book and that depends on how long you really want your book. Some people write 5 pages a week, one page a day, Mon-Friday.

I have a friend who once drove a couple hours away from her house where there were no distractions; she got a hotel for a few days somewhere remote and it was just her and her laptop and by the time she left that hotel her book’s first draft was done. In a busy world it is sometimes hard to shut off; but your dreams are waiting for you to go after them. Your book won’t write itself, so let’s get to it! Find out what’s going to work for you and write your book. Stay tuned for the next blog post on writing tip #3: Reading Your Draft and Copyrights!

November 29, 2018May 1, 2020

Writing Tip #1: Hold Yourself Accountable!

Peace and love everyone. People have been asking me about my writing journey and if I could share some tips on the steps I took in writing a book. The first step I’m going to share with you is one that some people shy away from or don’t like to talk about and that is accountability. Yep I said the “A” word Accountability! Its time to do some soul-searching and find out what is going to work for you so you can hold yourself accountable from writing your book all the way to promoting it.

A couple of things that have worked for me is that I have an electronic list of things of what I want to do for my book and as I get them done I check things off. (Such a great feeling when you can check things off)!

I also like visuals. I’m a visual learner and I have that same electronic list on a huge piece of chart paper that hangs up on a wall so I can see it everyday.

(Image doesn’t belong to me).

Whether you want to carry your list in your phone, write it down in a journal, put it in your calendar or get big and use chart paper you want to make sure it’s somewhere accessible and where you will look at it. If it gets too hidden or buried chances are you’re not going to look at your writing things to do list.

Some of us need accountability from an outside source so whether that’s a friend or a writer’s group or center that you find. You want to make sure that you have a good accountability partner and set up times where you would like for them to check in on you to see how you’re doing with the writing process.

Another thing I like doing is what I call an editorial calendar. I’m old school. Have an actual planner that I carry around (it’s cute and vibrant) and I lay out how many pages a week I would like to write. If I’m writing an article I have the deadlines in this planner and my planner is only for writing. Nothing else is in this planner except for my writing endeavors which makes a huge difference. My writing does not get lost in the shuffle of everything else I’m doing in life. I’m also honest with myself and if life happens and something comes up that’s important and I have to reschedule my writing plans then I will put it in my planner but hold myself accountable to doing it when it’s time.

(Image from Anthropologie).

Stay tuned for another step coming up in the near future which is writing your book! Be blessed.

September 19, 2017May 2, 2020

My Passion for Writing!

My Passion for Writing!

Welcome to my blog and my website. I wanted my first post to be about what led me to be a writer and down the road to becoming a self-published author.

Throughout my blogs I will post poetry, inspiring articles, talk more about my journey and share some tips that I’ve learned through publishing. I love writing everything from poetry, children’s stories, fiction and memoirs.

I’ve been writing since I was a little girl and I always loved to write children’s stories that were a reflection of me. I grew up mainly in the 80s and born in the 70s and that was during the era of roller skating, disco music, rap, block parties and great times. The first book I ever wrote was on construction paper and it was titled, “Cinderella the Disco Queen.” I loved the story Cinderella but she didn’t look like me and my Cinderella had a big afro puff and roller skates instead of glass slippers. Her goal was to get to the ball that was at the roller skating rink to meet the prince. From there I just wrote stories because I love to write and I was really shy to the point where I barely talked to anyone and at that point of time I didn’t know that I was using my voice through writing.

When I entered a specialized Elementary School in Harlem , NY called Central Park East 1 my beloved principal and my teachers really pushed me to keep writing. They gave me journals and I would go through a few of them in one semester just writing stories. When I got to the high school (Central Park East Seconday School) one of my portfolios in order to graduate I wrote an African folktale or myth. My teacher’s at that time and a couple in particular said we really see you being published one day. We see this portfolio in particular becoming a published children’s book. I thanked them for the compliments and never saw myself as published and I brushed off what they said. I never thought I could become published.

I kept writing all through college and then I started writing poetry when I graduated. Poetry for me was a way to get through life’s tribulations, help heal me through pain with bad breakups and then I started writing poetry about the beautiful things I experienced in life and what inspired me. I wrote lots of poetry, kept writing children’s books, and then I even delved into fiction books. One article that I wrote for a magazine started off as just a simple few pages and then before you know it years later I was writing “The End” as it was now a fiction book which will be dropping in 2019 titled, “Losing Yourself in a Man.”

Writing for me is freedom, creative way to express myself and what I’ve learned with my writing is that some of it is even helping others as they go through things in life. It’s healing for my soul and it is something I am deeply passionate about.

My first book “Reconstruction, Pieces of Life Volume 1” came out in 2014 and that was originally a journal that I had pieced together for a silent auction for beautiful organization called Arts Conspiracy in Dallas Texas in 2008. I collaborated with artists and I had artwork in my journal and it sold for $100 that night. The woman who was outbidded asked me a question that sat with me for years, she asked, “Where can I buy a copy of the published book?” The light bulb went off and I told her I will start working on it!

Life happens and I put my books to the side to tend to my mother who became ill with ovarian cancer and then eventually passed away and then I started my own family. It wasn’t until I got bitten by a tick which will be in another blog in itself and was diagnosed with Lyme disease and was at a very sick point in my life when I dusted off Reconstruction, Pieces of Life Volume 1 and that was a year-and-a-half of writing and collaborating with artists all the while going through IV treatments and trying to get 35 symptoms down to zero. I wanted to leave a legacy for my son in case I died because I felt that sick. Hence the book being birthed in 2014 during one of the darkest and sickest moments of my life.

I’m sharing all of this just to give you a glimpse of my personal writing journey and I have now published two poetry books and I have more books on the way. There are also numerous articles out in the universe too since I’m a health and wellness writer for blogs and online magazines and have poetry published in a variety of places. I’m hoping that I can inspire someone who is thinking about writing, has stuff in their laptop and put it to the side like I did because life happened and I’m hoping that I can encourage them to dust that journal, laptop, notebook whatever they used to write and to just write. Even if you only write a page or two a week. If the pen and pad are calling you then don’t ignore the call like I did. Ever since I got a second chance on life I have not stopped writing. Birth your book, article, research, art…whatever it is. It’s time to birth your dreams and follow your path!