Author: Judy L Mohr

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Handling Feedback

At some point within a writer's career, they will start sharing their work with others, be it critique partners, beta readers, editors, or friends. Sharing that work with others comes feedback. How you handle that feedback is just as important as getting it.

From the feedback that makes us blush to the feedback that makes us angry or want to breakdown and cry, there is an art to handling that feedback and identifying what you can actually work on as a writer. So let's get to it.

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New Zealand

But in New Zealand???

2019 forced me to face a shift in my sense of reality. One day, my world was safe and calm, and my worst worry was how I was going to convince my husband to buy the new lounge suite that I wanted, or how was the next scene in my manuscript going to play out, or where does one find the money to pay for the writers conference that I wanted to go to.

But in March 2019, my worst worry joined that of many others around world.

Will today be the day that a terrorist takes my son, my daughter, or my husband away from me?

On Friday 15th March, 2019, an unknown number of madmen marched into two separate mosques on opposite sides of Christchurch, New Zealand (my home city) and opened fire. They then proceeded to locations north and south of the central city, attempting to evade arrest while causing more acts of terrorism.

For the first time in history, the entire city of Christchurch, New Zealand was on lockdown. All schools, all malls, and all businesses closed and locked their doors. Residents citywide were encouraged to stay inside. For nearly 4 hours, an entire city was held to ransom. And what makes it all bizarre... It happened in little, old New Zealand, one of the safest countries in the world.

Lives were lost in this senseless madness. Families ripped apart by an act driven by hatred. Nothing can make up for that. New Zealand as a whole suffered.

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The Real Costs of Editing. Here we go again!

Within my various editing groups, there seems to be a common complaint among editors, and it revolves around the issue of appropriate rates to charge. We editors seem to be in this "damned if we do, damned if we don't" position.

Most of us encounter those who look at our quoted rates and balk at the price — but as one said to me the other day, it's not necessarily the people we think either. (She sent out two quotes the week before, with the same rate quoted: one to a lawyer and the other to a retired gentleman. It was the lawyer who complained about the cost. The retired gentleman smiled as he paid the bill.) The flip side of this coin is that some look at our rates and compare it to the rates offered by others, and go, "Oh, you mustn't be very good. You're not charging anywhere near enough for what you say you do."

What are we editors to do?

Most of us encounter the former type of writer more than anything. Let's face it, there's this inherent nature that people have to be stingy with their finances, complaining that they can't get something for free. There's not a lot I can do about the second category, but with the first, I can educate writers about what it is they really face when working with freelance editors.

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What Exactly is VOICE? A Literary Term Defined

I love your voice. You need more voice. We're seeking a strong voice.

I don't know how many times I've seen strong voice listed among the desirable traits on an agent's wish list, or comments on those critiquing blogs about lacking a distinctive voice. Meanwhile, the comments from various writers climb: What exactly is voice?

To put it simply, voice is the personality in the writing. It's about understanding how to get your personality, or that of your characters, to shine through on the page. Everything else is meaningless.

Here's the thing about voice: it's something that develops over time as you become more confident with writing. Basically, there really is only one way to develop a strong voice: write, edit, write, edit, write, edit, lather, rinse and repeat.

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We Let Strangers Into Our Lives

For the last few years, I’ve been writing crime thrillers. Thinking in the head of a bad guy can be liberating. Not sure when these stories of mine will be published (the publishing industry really is a hurry-up-and-wait industry), but I keep pressing forward, and continue to write stories where the bad guys come after us in ways that we are all subject to.

I always wanted the novel to be a cautionary tale about oversharing on social media and the internet. The more I delve into various aspects of internet security, the more I get excited—and scared.

I'm excited, because I know exactly how my serial killer is finding his victims—how he's stalking them. And I also know how he has managed to elude capture for over twenty years. As the writer of this creepy tale, this is fantastic. However, it also scares me, because I'm consciously aware that there will be some sicko out there doing exactly what the bad guy in my story is doing.

I've decided to start this blog series on social media and internet security on my personal blog in the hopes that at least one person out there will take notice and start to examine their own practices. If my ramblings can save just one person from becoming the victim, then I'll be over the moon.

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