Write great protagonists!
I'll be at Storymakers
Tips organized by topic
Read about me
Editing Services
Read Testimonials
Learn the "bones" of story

Monday, December 4, 2017

Giveaway--10-page Edit + 5th Blog Birthday!




This week is a special week, because my blog turns five years old. Five!

What's funny is that a year prior to starting this blog, I hated blogs.

I felt that they were egocentric, often a poor use of time, and that most of them would fade out in a matter of years. I mean, I really never thought that I would want to start one. Sure, I thought about it, because I wanted to work in the writing industry and 6+ years ago, they were all the craze--I actually jumped on the bandwagon pretty late.

But something happened about six years ago. A desire fell over me to start a blog. I managed to resist the desire for almost a whole year, but in the end, I gave in. And I'm so glad I did.

To quote Dumbledore:

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words."
 
When I started this blog, I looked at other blogs and many of them were five years old; I admit I was a little envious of their backlog, their audience, their comments, their length--five years seemed unimaginably far away! (In the end, I also admit I largely started this blog for myself, to keep track of my own ideas about writing.) So five years is particularly special to me.


Giveaway!

(Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Roberta for winning!)



To celebrate my blog birthday, I'm doing a giveaway: the winner gets a 10-page edit from me.


What can you possibly learn in a 10-page edit? 

Well, you might be surprised! You will not only receive specific feedback for those 10 pages, but you will also receive insight on your strengths as a writer and suggestions on how to take your writing to the next level. I've said before that usually I can discern what level a writer is at within the first five pages of a manuscript. To some people, that sounds crazy, but to those who've worked in the industry for several years, it's completely believable.

Who is doing the editing?

In case you are a newcomer, here is a little about myself:

Mentored by a creative writing university professor, an award-winning international best-selling author, and a full-time professional freelance editor, I have worked in the fiction-writing industry for over five years. I have edited for both award-winning and best-selling authors and have worked on manuscripts written for middle grade, young adult, and adult readers. I hold an English degree with honors and served as a fiction editor and managing editor for the literary journal The Southern Quill. When not editing, I'm penning my own stories and running a writing tip blog. I also serve as a writing coach on WritersHelpingWriters.net.

What can I send as my 10 pages?

You can send 10 pages from a novel or a short story, or anything in between. Heck, I'll even look at fanfiction.


How to Enter


Celebrate with me by entering to win (you know I do this because it's fun to give you guys stuff, right?) It's easy to enter:

    Share this giveaway post off my Facebook profile.

    Reblog the giveaway post off my Tumblr.

    Retweet the giveaway tweet on my Twitter.

    Comment on this post.


That means you can enter a total of four times. 

The winner will be selected December 18th! (Winner is selected randomly through random.org)

You must be a friend or follower of me to win. (Please note that if you "share," you must share publicly so that I can see it, otherwise I can't tell who shared)

For full editing needs, you can visit my editing website, FawkesEditing.com

~~~

Blogging Milestones and Expansions


December 2012--Published my first two blog posts here and here

January 2013--Published my first writing tip post.

April 2013--Got to be a guest on the Author's Think Tank Podcast

September 2013--Featured blogger on Glipho

Joined Tumblr (the reason Tumblr is significant is because it greatly grew my audience--in fact, I have more followers there than anywhere else.)

Became a regular blogger on Author's Think Tank

December 2013--First blog giveaway I participated in. 

2014--Had some posts really take off on Tumblr

Late 2014-Early 2015--Took on the name September C. Fawkes ;)

January 2015--Got my first piece of physical fan mail *heart eyes* (Thanks Jake!)

February 2015--Started writing more intensive writing tips, including some on breaking common writing rules. There is definitely a change here in my writing tips. I'd had a big growth spurt concerning writing in general that led to this.

August 2015--Started putting my writing tips on Youtube

September 2015--Was both a panelist and presenter at Salt Lake Comic Con (my first conference appearance as a guest), pulling from info on my blog.

September 2016--Got listed as a top writing tip blog on Writers Helping Writers *heart eyes*

October 2016--Got invited to be a resident writing coach at Writers Helping Writers.

July 2017--Added the Writing Tip Index to my blog and updated the appearance

September 2017--Opened Fawkes Editing--my freelance editing website.

October 2017--An editor from Penguin Books contacted me saying he liked my blog and sent me a copy of their latest writing book, Light the Dark!

December 2017--Five years of blogging!

December 2017--??? [some good news I'm waiting to be able to announce]


Most Popular Tips of All Time


#1--Writing Empathetically vs. Sympathetically and Sentimentally

#2--15+ Tactics for Writing Humor

#3--How to Write What's Not Written (Subtext)

#4--6 Things I've Learned as a Professional Editor

#5--5 Most Common Mistakes with Dialogue

* Excluding Tumblr Posts



Hopefully it wasn't weird to post the milestones and stats, but I wanted to take a moment to remember them since the number five carries significance to me.

Looking forward to 2018! There will be at least a couple of new career adventures for me.

Thank you for your support!


12 comments:

  1. Ooh, a giveaway!! I would love to win a ten-page edit from you! Congrats on five years of blogging!! I'm coming up on my first blog anniversary... I'm pretty excited!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats! As an amateur writer I would absolutely love some direction in my work. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations! I love your blog, not only as an amateur writer but as an amateur proof reader as well. I certainly can't turn down an opportunity to toss my hat in for the chance to learn even more. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just found your blog from K.M. Weiland newsletter. Now off to read some more of your posts. I would love to win your ten-page edit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on your five year blogiversary!
    I also found you from K.M. Weiland's newsletter, and jumped when I saw the opportunity to win an edit. Great way to celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi,

    I too found you on K. M. Wetlands site. I'm 75 and started learning the craft of writing 5 years ago when my 5 children and 17 grand children asked me to write "My Story" for them. After ten thousand or so words I reread it and discovered it was garbage. Only a masochist would get pleasure from those words.

    Thank you for offering this give away service.

    Paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul,

      hahaha, oh yes, who hasn't experienced something like that? I've written plenty of old garbage.

      Delete

I love comments :)