The Tidy Guide to Self-Editing Your Novel by Rachel Aukes – Book Review

This book seeks to provide clear-cut and practical tips to editing your novel.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

Review: Following the pattern of the preceding book ‘The tidy guide to writing a novel,’  this book follows a clear, organised method to self editing your novel. This method is divided into headings and sub headings in a chronological order so that the reader may follow this step-by-step guide as they progress. This prevents the reader from getting lost in a theoretical pile and helps in better execution of the information.

This book helps the reader get acquainted with the different obstacles one has to face while editing and the practices that help overcome these hindrances. The author further addresses each heading/ element of editing separately, providing insight on the questions we should ask ourselves while editing and the loopholes we must avoid. The author also mentions snags, overused words and styles one must abstain from.

This book ends with a list of tips regarding replacement and removal of words and the usage of numbers while writing. Further, being a concise, 30 minute read, this book proves to be convenient and swiftly applicable.

Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2J6qrk1

~ Saadia

 

 

The Tidy Guide to Writing a Novel – Book Review

This book aims to provide precise, lucid and practical tips to writing your first novel.

Review: Because of its clear-cut expression and division into bite-sized chapters, this book is a quick read. This concise book can open doorways for learning more about different genres and publishing but can also be treated as a summary of writing advice from a more thorough resource pool. I rated this book 4/5 stars.

It is a perfect read for someone with just basic knowledge about writing their first book. It gives out important information about word-counts and characteristics of different genres. The best way to read this book is to jot down the tips in your journal/notebook to come back to whenever necessary. This book also helped me understand why books with side-characters who play an important role in the protagonist’s development are more successful. (Think Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, Divergent Series and so on.)

A quick and beneficial read for debut authors or beginners.

Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2RmeRFb

~ Saadia

The Unmistakable Sun

I know when you abase yourself

To let others shine,

I see it all in totality

In your subtle smiles.

 ~ Saadia

 

Ashes

Would you kiss steel

Or play with fire?

It will dampen your soul

Or brighten the foyer,

Would you let the dead ,

Harden your skin,

Or the sizzling vitae,

Turn you to dust from within?

Would you stay unharmed ,

But intimately intimidated,

Or kiss the life that feeds

On a grey core of ashes?

~ Saadia

My Mountains

For Kashmir, my land, the broken place holding broken hearts,the place that lost a million sons, the disputed place with a striking, ironical beauty. Here is to the Paradise on earth, the place I gladly call home. 

Poetry : A gallery

This is something so special for me. It took me such a long time to do all of this even-though it may not seem like it. I’d be the most content person if you’d share and spread this piece of art, crafted with love by me. Keep the pieces you like and please keep circulating this post. That would be my wreath. Thanks a lot for everything. 🙂

 

 

Flame

I was burning

Set before all eyes,

And life thought of rescue,

‘What if the girl dies?’

So it rained down on me,

but no one could decide ,

If it was possible,

to extinguish,

a fire that flames,

from the inside.

~Saadia

If Only

This is a ballad about the journey of a snowflake which was afraid to lose itself.

 I guess all of it was certainly meant to be, for us

I guess my eyes were already adjusting to see the dust.

What I had to be, was forced on me for the rest of eternity,

As I fell from the sky, I calculated the time left,

If only I had more of it, if only time could be gained by theft.

There were many like me in there,

who had tried to stop what they had to dare.

But they’d eventually helped each other to be,

If they could be individuals, I thought, so could be me.

But I raced towards the ground, to be what I was forced into being.

A part of a million flakes, none of them to be individually seen.

As I saw myself fall, I accepted things their way.

Because we’d finally perish, all on a sunny day.

But I landed softly on a fellow flake,

It felt different than I’d expected to take,

If only I’d been positive, I’d have known why,

I was made to be with my mates, aimlessly in the past I’d cry,

I was ashamed of my thinking, but I recovered,

Because my company gave me care, true love I’d discovered,

If only I’d thought of this, I wouldn’t have felt lonely,

But that would have happened, if only, if only…

~Saadia

Dear Pen

I make you bleed,

the blood stains my hands,

takes away the pain,

that had settled,

right here in my heart,

I love you for that,

for bringing back my sanity,

Picking you up and scribbling,

my thoughts, pouring my heart out,

I love you for that,

for always being there,

ready to lighten the weight,

I carry in my head.

I love you for when,

there is no friend left,

only you, dear pen,

I love you for that.

~ Saadia