Over and over

How do you feel when you make the same mistake more than once, like get stopped by cops in the same school zone, twice in a week? I'm going to have to change the route I use to go to work. Seriously. Don't know about you but I feel stupid.

Same thing with edits. When my editor finds the same mistake several times, like cement instead of concrete, OK instead of okay. You know what I'm talking about. What are the mistakes you make over and over? Come on, confess, it's good for the soul.

And don't forget, only five more days to make a September comment for a chance to win a copy of Bloody Murder. Come on down.

Would Have, Could have

My last post was about writing mistakes. What your worst writing mistake might be. One person wrote that they waited until they were thirty to start writing.

I think that was the thing I should of done for my writing career also. I was in my forties before I knew I really wanted to be a writer and fifty by the time I seriously started thinking in terms of finishing a novel to market and over sixty by the time I finished the mystery and realized mystery and urban fantasy were what I loved to write. Now I'm feeling the pressure of time, however, I'm convincing myself I will be around at least as long as my mother, she's ninety.

I'm not knocking all the non-fiction I published, or the text books, but I wish now I'd put some of that time into fiction instead. Ain't hind sight great? Luckily I was published quickly. Later, will I say getting published in ebook format was a mistake, who knows?

Tell me the one thing you feel you should have done differently with your writing career.

Career Killers

Ten of the top ways to kill your writing career (or at least not have an editor read your stuff.)

1. Mis-spell the editor's name. (They are people and they want to know you did your research.)

2. Tell the editor what a mistake it would be to reject your project. (Scares them off right away.)

3. Fail to follow the guidelines for that publisher, editor, agent. (They want to know that you can follow instructions and that you care. Being too busy to read the guidelines or saying your other publisher did it that way, won't cut it.)

4. Leaving out a piece the editor, agent requested. (Just because you hate writing synopses and think your story should stand on it's own, don't leave it out. We're back to the business of following instructions and reading English.)

5. Bashing one publishing company to another editor. (Just as bad as bashing a former boss to a potential poss. Sounds like you are the problem.)

6. Typos-careless.

7. Sloppy manuscript, left out pages, messed up page numbering, margins and formatting that are not standard to the industry. (Making your manuscript stand out as one from an amateur will not help your career.)

8. Bad-mouthing other writers, or ignoring them. (You need networking. When writers work together to sell their work, wonderful things happen.)

9. Ignoring electronic media (Take the risk and put yourself out there, make that facebook site, web site, blog, My Space (You have to sell yourself. It's called marketing.)

10. Failing to continue learning and evolving your writing. Stretch your boundries and writing muscles. Try new things, new publishers, new publishing formats. (New York is not the only game out there.)

What is your worst writing mistake? Share with everyone by posting a comment.