To write is to be free
Had a supremely productive day today. I created two new ebook covers and went through my works with Grammarly. I feel like with each new cover creation I get better at design. Plus a Canva subscription helps 🙂
I’m hoping in the next few months I’ll get my writing mojo back and maybe finish at least one story I’ve got going on.
Since buying Grammarly I’ve seen how much it improves my writing. It made me think that I should go back and go over my old stories. This is the first story I’ve gone over. I figured a short story would be perfect. I found that I have a lot of issue with commas. Like where to put them or that I need to add them. Anyway, I went through the story and fixed many things. And I figured that since I was updating the manuscript, I should update the book cover. So I hop onto Canva and create a free cover by just adding the sketch drawing of the seaside cliff, the circle and adding a transparent vignette over the teal background. I’m surprised that I was able to put something together so quickly.
I also changed the name from The Witch’s Room to The Witch Room as I thought it sounded better. I updated the blurb and decided to celebrate this event I’ll make the short story free on Smashwords for a month. The coupon code is XG79P. I would really appreciate it if anyone who downloaded a copy would leave a review.
So I went and bought the premium version of Grammarly last night. I figured that since I want to go over all my work and revamp it, I should invest in some quality help (but on a budget). Well, if I had any inkling that there were parts I should improve on, I now have confirmation. Red and blue underlines everywhere. Makes me wonder how I managed to string two words together, let alone two sentences without sounding like a mess.
Here’s a joke. How do you show an impressionable writer with 10 years of writing experience that thinks they are somewhat decent, they’re actually still just a novice?
I’m dreading going back over Feet or Fins. Anyway, this one novella I’m working on, I can’t go a paragraph without at least three issues. Well the only way to fix them is to fix them. After my initial shock, I started going through the suggestions and saw that they kind of made sense. Sentence fragments, commas and the need the re-write bits and pieces.
Just goes to show that thinking up a story isn’t the same as expressing it well in the written form.
I once read or heard somewhere that the biggest problem self published authors face is anonymity not someone stealing your work. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose anonymity because the thought of someone stealing my work is terrible. And fair warning now, if anyone steals my work I will hunt them down.
But that doesn’t mean that you are safe. There are many examples of people stealing other author’s works and posting it online as their own. Often the only time they are caught out is when the fans of the real author catch on to what is happening. Some examples are Shey Stahl who is accused of stealing a twilight fan fiction story and Kay Manning who has stolen multiple stories from multiple authors. Both people used Amazon and/or Smashwords to sell their books. Or this post that talks about an Argentinian politician drafting anti-plagiarism using plagiarised material from Wikipedia.
Before you think that the only way you can find out if that story you wrote was plagiarised is to wait for a random reader to stumble across it, then think again. This website, while it helps improve your writing also scans for plagiarism. Grammarly allows for chunks of text to be submitted and examined to see how plagiarised and grammarly incorrect your text sample is.
Also if you have any extra info about how to detect plagiarism feel free to list it in the comment section below.
Stephanie Haggarty 