•About Writing
About Writing
by: Michael LaRocca
In this free email course, I'll tell you everything I know about improving your writing, publishing it electronically and in print, and promoting it after the sale.
Two questions you should ask:
(1) What will it cost me?
(2) What does this Michael LaRocca guy know about it?
Answer #1 -- It won't cost you a thing. The single most important bit of advice I can give you, and I say it often, is don't pay for publication.
My successes have come from...
•Apostrophe Usage Explained
Apostrophe Usage Explained by Michael LaRoccaAPOSTROPHE USAGE EXPLAINEDCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaAccording to one of my previous articles, whenever a Southernersays "Y'all watch this," get out of the way because those areprobably the last words he will ever say.Well, I am a Southerner. I used to live in the southern US, butI moved to south China. And, I'm about to say the magic words:Y'all watch this.The word is "week." If I want to talk about more than one week,like I did near the end...
•Can An Old Indian Engineer Write Fiction?
Can An Old Indian Engineer Write Fiction? by Michael LaRoccaCAN AN OLD INDIAN ENGINEER WRITE FICTION?Copyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaAn author emailed me three "disadvantages" to her decision tobecome a writer. Let me answer them one by one."1. I'm seventy now and retired."You are seventy years old. Do NOT list this as a drawback. I'malmost 30 years younger than you but I'm gonna harp on you likeyour grandmother. NEVER call your age a drawback. I startedwriting when I was 17. I was terrible....
•Car Horns
Car Horns by Michael LaRoccaCAR HORNSCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaLet's pretend that you live in China. Perhaps not in my neighbor-hood, but in China. Let's also pretend that, unlike me, you owna car. A Volkswagen Santana, of course. Who do you honk the hornat?Well, you honk at everyone who's in your way, and who you thinkis in your way, and who you are passing, and who you think istrying to pass you. Every bicycle needs a honk in case the drivercan't see you. Every pedestrian, most...
•Comma Usage Explained
Comma Usage Explained by Michael LaRoccaCOMMA USAGE EXPLAINEDCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaDon't they drive you nuts?You can visit all the rules of style you want, and you can readall the books and articles you want. You will still beconfused. You will see inconsistency. You will see experts whodon't agree with each other. And, you'll pull out your hair.Unless you're Michael, since my hair's falling out all byitself. I think it'd do that even if I weren't an editorhunting down errant...
•Common Writing Mistakes
Common Writing Mistakes
by: Michael LaRocca
Most books aren't rejected because the stories are "bad." They're rejected because they're not "ready to read." In short, minor stuff like typos, grammar, spelling, etc.
I don't mean places where we, as authors, deliberately break the rules. Those are fine. That's part of our job. Language always changes with use, and we can help it on its way. No, I'm referring to places where someone just plain didn't learn the rule or got confused or...
•How Not To Get Published
How Not To Get Published by Michael LaRoccaHOW NOT TO GET PUBLISHEDCopyright 2001, Michael LaRoccahttp://free_reads.tripod.com(This article may be freely published with author's information intact.)One morning, I decided to sleep late for a change. I stumbled out of bed at 10:00, not my usual 7:00, and fired up the computer. Little did I know what I'd find in my mailbox on this particular morning.The first thing I saw was about a dozen people congratulating me for something. I opened an...
•How To Break Into Print Publishing
How To Break Into Print Publishing
by: Michael LaRocca
The big question. Do you submit directly to the publishers, or do you find an agent who will do that for you? Based on anecdotal evidence I've heard, it can work either way. The bottom line is, if a publisher reads what he can sell, he'll buy it. It doesn't matter if it comes from an author or an agent. The trick is getting him to read it. That's always your focus.
Some people swear by agents because they're the ones who will get you...
•How to Create a Useful, Popular Website
How to Create a Useful, Popular Website
by: Michael LaRocca
In this free email course, I'll tell you everything I know about setting up your website and placing it highly in the search engines.
Everything I tell you will also be free. You'll spend some time, but you won't spend your money.
Your two goals, useful and popular, are related. Search engines can bring you a lot of first-time users, but quality will keep them coming back.
How technical will I get?
Well, you have two choices....
•How To Write
How To Write by Michael LaRoccaLEARNING HOW TO WRITECopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaAs a student of Spanish, my goal was to think in Spanish. Skipthe word-by-word translation so I'd have the necessary speed tospeak and listen. I know words in Spanish that I'd be hardpressed to translate. Usually profanity, I confess. Chingow!For years my students here in China have studied grammar, andknow it better than you or I. They read. They write. Butspeaking involves moving faster than that. In...
•Print-On-Demand Publishing - A Definition and a Comparison
Print-On-Demand Publishing - A Definition and a Comparison by Michael LaRoccaPrint On DemandA Definition and a ComparisonCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaThe purpose of this article is to consider Print-On-Demandpublishing as an alternative for the aspiring author. It has itsstrengths and its weaknesses. You may wonder as you begin readingthis, but in the end I'm going to say some good things about it.To a large extent, the title explains the technology. The waythat literature has...
•Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical Questions by Michael LaRoccaRHETORICAL QUESTIONSCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaHere's a question I ask as an avid reader. It's rhetorical,which means you don't have to answer it. Which is convenientwhen you think about it, since I won't hear you. I'm nottalking to you, I'm writing. The floor is all mine.Why is it that when someone's in a fight, and someone hitsthem hard enough, bright lights always explode behind theireyes?I've been clocked a time or two. Sows, boars, horses,...
•Santa For A Day
Santa For A Day by Michael LaRoccaThe year was 1981. I was eighteen years old. Much too young to be Santa Claus, right? Especially with my short skinny self. Right? Wrong!It’s all my fault. I can blame nobody else. I was the one who opened my big mouth, and I paid the price.I was working at a restaurant called The Village Inn, down in Tampa Florida. There are no white Christmases in Tampa. Nope, it drops to about 60 in December. (16 to those of you measuring in centigrade.) The coldest month...
•Slammin The Doors
Slammin The Doors by Michael LaRoccaSLAMMIN THE DOORSCopyright 2004. Michael LaRoccaC'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon now touch me babyCan't you see that I am not afraid?What was that promise that you made?Why won't you tell me what she said?What was that promise that you made?Now I'm gonna love you 'til the heavens stop the rainI'm gonna love you 'til the stars fall from the sky for you and ISLAM!!Great song, but it's time for Michael to slam The Doors. Michael,self-appointed grammar police. Bad...
•The One-Plot Wonder
The One-Plot Wonder
by: Michael LaRocca
Back in the mid to late 1980s I was a security guard. The pay was lousy, but it gave me many hours in seclusion to write short stories and novels. However, I usually worked over 80 hours a week. No one can write that much. Well, at least not me. Thus I discovered the joys of my local libraries.
Recently, I decided to look up an author who gave me great pleasure in those days. Most of his books are now out of print, I've learned, even the one that...
•Voice in Narrative and Dialogue - A Contrast of Writing Styles
Voice in Narrative and Dialogue - A Contrast of Writing Styles
by: Michael LaRocca
One of the nice things about being an author is that we can break any rule we want. (I just did.) It's part of our job description. Language changes through usage -- definitions, spelling, grammar -- and authors can help it do this. But on the other hand, we have to have some sort of agreement on the language or we won't be able to talk to each other.
When we as authors break a rule or two, it's not because...
•Websites and Newsletters
Websites and Newsletters by Michael LaRoccaIf you are selling anything, you should have a website. If youare selling ebooks, you should consider it mandatory. How manypeople do you know who read ebooks but don't access the Internet?None come to my mind.The best thing about having a website is that you can quiteprobably do it free. Later, once you know what you're doing, youcan choose to buy a domain name and pay a hosting service if youwant.You can pay someone to design a gorgeous site for...
•Why Do We Publish?
Why Do We Publish?
by: Michael LaRocca
A major "character" in Mark Salzman's first autobiography is his father. Sometimes his father paints. But his father hates painting. He likes it when his painting is done. He likes having painted. But the act of painting itself is, in his opinion, a big pain in the backside.
Nobody reading this approaches writing like that, do they? I know I don't. Of all my experiences as an author, whacking those words down onto the paper is the best of the best....
•Writer School?
Writer School? by Michael LaRoccaWRITER SCHOOL?Copyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaHere's something from my mailbag. "Dear Michael, do you need todo good in school if you want to be a writer? I stink at schooland all my friends laugh at me when I tell them I want to write,but I'm serious." Followed by a sentence or two of "I need yourwords to encourage me" or some such nonsense.Fortunately, a writing sample is rarely attached. If it is,either it's excellent or it stinks like rancid yak...
•Writing Fiction to Get Rich
Writing Fiction to Get Rich by Michael LaRoccaWRITING FICTION TO GET RICHCopyright 2004, Michael LaRoccaSome of us write simply because we can't not write. Ideas grabus, move us, and demand to be written. We strive to make it asreal as we possibly can, to improve at our craft every day,hopefully to make it into the realm of literature as well asentertainment. We want to craft an entire world where the placesand people are so real that the reader doesn't feel like he'sreading a book as much...
•You're Published! Now How Do You Tell The Readers?
You're Published! Now How Do You Tell The Readers?
by: Michael LaRocca
The first thing you must do is quit thinking like a writer and start thinking like a reader. That shouldn't be a problem, because you are one. If you don't enjoy reading, you can't write something that someone else enjoys reading. So, when you read, how do you choose what to read?
My wife can walk into a bookstore, look at the cover blurb of a book, conclude "I'll like this," and buy it. Then she'll read it and be...
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