I was recently invited to write a guest blog for LiloQui, a new digital publishing company. I decided to tackle a subject that separates many published writers from writers who never get past the query letter: bad grammar.

As a former English teacher, I have a lot of experience teaching others how to write and improve their grammar. Despite this, I still make an occasional grammar error. I have never hidden the fact that I am not the best speller in the world, but I do go back and edit. A lot. The key for me is laying the piece to the side for a while and coming back to it with fresh eyes later. Never. I stress this point. NEVER write something and then go straight to publication. Mistakes will get through.

For more information about how to avoid common grammar mistakes, read the LiloQui post at  http://blog.liloqui.com/post/6319028137/a-road-block-for-writers.

I was interviewed this first week by LiloQui, a digital publishing company. It was my first author interview and I was very excited. I felt that it authenticated me. It was officially my name with the word "author" attached as if somehow I wasn't an author before. There have been other times when I felt that small sense of excitement like when I saw my name on my website then my business card, then my first digital short story. It is probably pale in comparison to when I finally publish my first full length novel.

The interview did make me realize something, however. I realized that I am still second guessing myself and my skills. For several days after the interview, I questioned every single word that I said. I was afraid that the interview would make me look unexperienced. I was afraid that I would not look good enough in comparison to other author's highlighted on the site. It is the same issue that has plagued me for years and kept from putting my work out there. It is the same issue that keeps me from finishing a piece because I am in a constant state of rewrite.

It is no secret that I, like millions of others in the world, am afraid of failure. Even though I logically understand that all published authors go through hundreds of rejections before someone accepts their work, it does not diminish the expected pain of hearing someone say, "you're not good enough". When you pour your heart and soul into something, you want others to see your worth.

That is one advantage of digital publishing. It opens the world to many new authors who have yet found their audience. It allows authors, like myself, who lack confidence to test the waters and improve their skills before tackling traditional publishing with its tiny window of acceptance. Having a stranger read my work and comment about how it moved them was the highlight of my day. Digital publishing has also allowed me to read a lot more work of others than I was previously able. Not only that, if trends continue, digital publishing will out run circles around traditional print publishers in a matter of years.

Don't get me wrong, digital publishing has its drawbacks as well. There are people who are publishing digitally that have no business publishing anything. Anyone can put anything up on Smashwords, for instance, and I ghost wrote a book for a gentleman a few years back using his content that was the worst book I had ever seen. I begged the man to reconsider what he was writing, but he was only interested in me correcting his spelling and sentence structure. It is cases like this that give self-publishing a bad name. Fortunately for us, that man's book never sold and he pulled it from the market.

So I will keep writing and working on my confidence. I will try multiple formats. I will try multiple styles. I will continue trying to build my network and leave my thumb print on the world--not so much to make a name for myself, but to say, "Hey! There is someone like you, and I have a story to share."



http://blog.liloqui.com/post/5638651284/author-spotlight-rachel-kovacs

A lot of people talk about becoming and author, and almost everybody thinks that they can write a book. The truth is that writing is very hard. I have made a lot of sacrifices to get where I am at, and honestly, it is not very far. I could easily spend all day networking on social media sites, writing blog entries, entering contests, developing my webpage, going to writer's groups, and still not write a word for my novel. That does not include going to conferences and promoting your material once it comes out.

How much do you earn during this process? Most likely ZERO, zilch, nada. Therefore, for all of the other writers like myself who have yet to "make it big", we must also work full time jobs. That means that our writing gets placed on the back burner and that's often where it sits. Obviously, this is not what I want, but I can't pay the bills on hopes and dreams. Creditors really don't buy that.

So how do I do it? I sacrifice. I took a thirty-thousand dollar pay cut to accept a job that allowed me more time to write. I get about 5-6 hours sleep at night so I can stay up late working on my writing when the house is quiet. I work during my lunch hours and write every spare minute I can get.

It also means sacrificing more than time and money. Sometimes the sacrifices are a lot more painful. Not everyone in my life is supportive of my writing. It hurts that I can't share the most important thing to me (other than my children) with those I care about the most. Writing is often solitary, as is reading. It does not open itself to interaction. Finding a balance is hard.

But for me, the sacrifice is worth it because I feel like I have a message. When you read my work, I am allowing you to read into my soul. That is something that a lot of people close to me are not allowed to do. There is something that I am trying to tell you about yourself, about the world, about me. I want you to think about what we as a society accept and believe. I want to shake you to your core. Hopefully, someday I will achieve that.

My name is Rachel Kovacs and I write romance thrillers, romantic suspense, mass market romance (under the name Sydney Pearl), women's fiction, YA and Children's books (under the name Anita Query), and dabble in science fiction and poetry.

Check back on this site regularly to get FREE short stories and get updates on when my longer works will be available.

You can also follow me on Twitter @Rachel_Kovacs and on Facebook @Rachel Kovacs.