E-sponding with a writer/editor of an on-line writer newsletter to whom I had sent a contribution, I mentioned my last April book tour where I spoke to eight groups in five cities.  She responded that she loves to write and share with members of writer groups on an informal basis  but "put me in front of a crowd, and I freeze."

When I enrolled in a class in Public Speaking in college, it was not because I longed for an opportunity to speak in front of a group but because I KNEW that if I wanted to pursue a writing career, I'd better learn to speak to someone other than the person sitting next to me in a social setting.  I simply could not think of anything I wanted to talk about in front of the class. In that group was a young woman, Kathleen Freeman, who went on to make a career as a character actress in the movies.  She could always rise to her feet and give a spontaneous talk to the class.  I was baffled.    I spent more time preparing for that 2-unit class than for any of my 3-unit classes and it was the only one for which I received a grade lower than "B."

Many years later I enrolled in a class in creative writing at the local community college.  By that time I had a young family and had sold a number of articles to Parents, Boys Life, Westways magazines.  After I had completed the class, the teacher invited me to come speak to her successive classes through the next two years and tell them how I got started writing and some of the marketing successes I had.

MIRACLE!! Finally I found I had something to talk about that could possibly be of interest and value to others. By now ,in my 80's, I have spoken through the years to groups in more than 30 different cities in California, Nevada and Arizona and lead four workshops in my home community of Sedona, AZ.  

If you plan to write and publish books, you will be the prime promoter and marketer of your wares.  You had better learn to speak on your feet.  Get me on mine, these days, and in front of a group of writers, and it is very hard to shut me up.–  Write your best, Willma Gore 

Taking longer than I expected, I've finally got that novel manuscript properly paginated and formatted and iI'll get back to regular blogging as the more I learn, the more I have to speal.

I printed a copy this morning, 238 typewrittne pages, 60,000 words, 31 chapters after reading and editing the entire Ms.  My astute son and his wife will both read it, but I will do another  read-through on paper and read the final chapters aloud to my Scribes writer workshop before I consider it really ready. Scribes ALWAYS catch things I mss.  Then it will go to the agent.  Despite what Jerry Simmons and other very knowledgeable members of the writing/publishing community recommend, I will not pay a "professional editor" to go over it again–unless the agent asks me to do so. She has not asked for this after reading the two novels of mine she is holding.  

Next blog I will discuss a new "self-testing"  idea that I think we all can use.  Until then, Willma 

Novels can do this to you.  For the last two weeks I have been spending every minute available  on editing a novel I'm readying to send to an agent.  This novel has been written over a period of about ten years, and I have several CAUTIONS to suggest.

If the hero drives a maroon-colored van in an early chapter, be sure that it is still the same color in Chapter 10 as it was in Chapter 2.

If the heorine's name is Anne in the first chapter, check all the places in later chapters that you have called her Anna.

I discovered that the heroine's daughter was named Angela in an early chapter and called Amy in a later chapter.  

My heroine listened for the mail to drop through the door slot in one chapter.  In a later chapter she walked to the curb to retrieve it from the mailbox.  No, she did not move to a new home in the later chapter.

These little problems can sneak into the writing and MUST be corrected before the 60,000-words in 31 chapters leave your desk (or your computer) to seek their fortune in the marketplace or even get a reading from the agent.

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT.y  I do not outline. My characters tell the story as they evolve.  However, to make sure the mistakes noted above do not invade your writing, it is a good idea to make a list of all the characters names and the correct spellings so that you can refer back to them if a long gap occurs between the time you launched the novel and the day you type "The End"    

I'll kept up better with my blog tips now that this large project is about ready to go!