Scrivener Giveaway

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably already know that I use Scrivener, a writing app that blew my mind when I first tried it and changed the way I write for the better. If you want to know more about this, go read this post by me. And this one by Kiersi Burkhart.

And now kingsumo.com is giving away Scrivener to two lucky winners, so if you're a writer who hasn't tried/bought it yet, here is your chance to get your hands on it for free.

That is all.

Interview with author Zoey Derrick

This month I'm pleased to bring you an interview with self-published romance author Zoey Derrick. Her first novel, Finding Love's Wings, was released in both ebook and paperback formats in May 2013. She is one of my editing clients and is also the person who has taught me the most about DIY book publicity. I'm thrilled that she agreed to do this interview and share her experiences with us.


I encourage you to connect with her on Twitter and Facebook and to check out her website, www.zoeyderrick.com

And with that, I'm pleased to bring you the interview.

ZOEY: I want to start off by saying thank you for having me on your blog today. Over the last 7 months you and I have worked very closely together on Finding Love’s Wings and we are coming back together again for Give Me Reason (Book 1 of The Reason Series) and I’m honored to be a part of your blog. I was so excited when you asked me for an interview and it means the world to me that we get to keep working together. <KISSES>

[Sione's note: Yes, she really is that sweet. Seriously, you should connect with her. She's awesome.]

What are your goals as a writer?

I want to create enjoyable, engaging stories that readers love. I want them to be able to relate to my characters, my settings, and my style and love every minute of what they’re reading. Of course, eventually, I would love to be a part of a publishing house and who knows, maybe even have an NYT or USA Today bestseller. For now though, I’d love to be an Amazon bestseller.

Tell us a little bit about your work(s) in progress.

DigiWriMo!

Twelve days until DigiWriMo! It's going to send me into a writing and self-publishing spree like no other.

What is it? 

Digi the Duck

DigiWriMo is short for Digital Writing Month, and it's an online, month-long event happening in November 2012. It's modeled on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but instead of writing a 50,000-word novel in one month, you write and self-publish 50,000 words of digital writing in one month. That could be blog posts, online articles, Tweets, Facebook status updates, Wikis, emails--whatever, so long as it's digital. They'll also have weekly writing challenges posted on the digiwrimo.com website; weekly Friday night Twitter socials; and a free, face-to-face, write-all-night event at Marylhurst University on November 17th (registration required).

Why I'm excited about DigiWriMo

1. I like to have goals with firm deadlines
2. It'll challenge me not only to produce a significant amount of writing each day but also to publish it
3. And therefore will give me more practice at sharing things that are still in draft form
4. DigiWriMo doesn't confine me to writing about just one thing, like NaNoWriMo would; I can write lots of little things on all sorts of subjects
5. @Jessifer promised me it would help me get new Twitter followers

Cool tool for writers: Scrivener

It seems like every writer has their preferred tool. Maybe it's a particular kind of pen. Or a certain kind of paper. Or maybe, like David Sedaris, you prefer to use a typewriter.

But regardless of how you get yourself going, in this day and age you're eventually going to have to get it into an electronic format of some kind. Even Sedaris, who has written at some length about his aversion to computers, seems to have relented and joined the ranks of the computered...unless someone else does his Facebooking for him, which is quite possible. But I digress.

When it comes to putting our work on the computer, our only option for decades has been word processing software: Microsoft Word, Pages, Open Office Writer, etc. But now there is something different: Scrivener. And friends, let me tell you, it is a beautiful thing.