<![CDATA[Affordable - Affa's Blog]]>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:59:08 +1000Weebly<![CDATA[AFFA's BLOG]]>Sat, 19 Mar 2016 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/seasons-greetingsPicture
Introducing... Everything You Want to Know about Writing and More, Much More

Click on the link above to read about the BIG book Affa wrote to help you make the most of your writing talent and opportunities. "Everything" is available in a three volume set (1. Six Powerful Basics, 2. Finding Worlds in Your Words and 3. You, the Author; the Authorial Life) and also in a giant omnibus "Kit and Kaboodle" volume.

SPELLING CHALLENGE

​How many of the following words can you spell without looking them up?

Accommodation  (double c double m)
Ambivalent (hmmm)
Ambulant (walking)
Bivouac
Caricature
Definite
Demesne
Facetious
Fahrenheit
Fiancé
Fiancée
Fluorescent
Guttural
Iridescent 
Manoeuvre
Mortgage
Naïve
Naiveté
Onomatopoeia
Ophthalmologist
Parallel
Personnel (not the same as personal)
Potpourri
Precis
Psychedelic
Relevant
Reminisce
Ricochet
Ventriloquist
Affa has a new ad on YOUTUBE.  Click here




​

AFFA's gift deal 9/5/15

Affa has been visiting her grandchildren. While she was there, her grandson requested a story about "a jet and a spider". Affa delivered a rhyming adventure called The Pilot and the Spider. Her granddaughter then asked for a story about a cat going over a wall and some flowers. Affa wrote The Kitten in the Garden. The children loved these stories and requested them again and again. 
Below are the beginnings of the stories...
 

The jet fighter was a wonder
Of sleek and silver speed
With Ashton as the pilot
It went so fast indeed

Rainbow the kitten has a garden of her own
With a cushion in a basket to make her feel at home


As you can see, rocket-science these are not, but the children loved them because they were written to order. Now you can have stories written to order for YOUR children or grandchildren or for random kids you would like to please. Just send Affa the subject (up to three things) and the child's first name and age, and order "adventure", "cosy" or whatever, and Affa will do the rest. Affa will also include three illustrations to brighten the proceedings. The cost for this exercise is $50.00 which covers the pictures as well as the text. For a bit extra, you can have the text and pictures printed in a REAL book. 
SEASON'S GREETINGS 2014

I wish you all season’s greetings, hope you had a great Christmas and that you are looking forward to the New Year with pleasure rather than panic.

I know some of you are still waiting on jobs, but I’m moving forward fairly quickly at present.

Here are some updates for those of you who are interested.

Affordable Manuscript Assessments is still at http://affordablemanuscriptassessments.com although it is at a different server from 2012.

We now have a page called Affa’s Log where you should be able to track your manuscript’s progress. This is at http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-log.html

Our pricing is still $25.00 for the first 5000 words (or part thereof) for assessing and for the first 3000 words (or part thereof) for editing. After this you pay $15 per 3500 extra words for an edit and $15 per 10,000 extra words (or part thereof) for an assessment. If it is a particularly difficult job it may be a bit more. If it is a quick job (with few problems) it can sometimes be a bit less.

The new site has a self-quote page at http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/self-quote.html so you can work out how much the job is likely to be.

We run quarterly accounts but if you have difficulty paying you can ask for an extension or make a part payment.

Over the past three years, I have dealt with around 250 clients, some of you several times. Thank you all so much for your patience, good humour and (of course) payments. My family (which includes nine dogs) do appreciate this.

The longest job was around 250,000 words, and the shortest, around 200. If I am editing, short jobs (that is, under 3000 words) take me around an hour. Assessments take around the same time for short jobs, because I have to type up the assessments and often reread and cut/paste to show edits. Longer works differ a bit, so editing a 30,000 word book (say) takes longer than assessing it. Editing ideally should be done in two passes, which includes a proofing pass, but that takes about half as much time again, which obviously makes the job more expensive in terms of dollars and hours. This is why it is helpful when you tell me exactly what you want and need in a job. For example, if you are self-publishing, a second pass edit would be more necessary to avoid typos in the published version.

Occasionally the colour coding on the Affa’s Log page glitches, but it’s usually restored after a few hours. If you have any concerns, let me know.

If your job disappears there are two possible reasons; One, it’s been paid for. Two, it’s a glitch. If your job is not listed, let me know as my email synching now and then dumps an email in an obscure place. Also, I’m human and thus fallible.

Affordable Manuscript Assessments runs writing courses and sells PDF writing workshops at affordable rates.

The ebooks can be seen at http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/ebooks-and-e-courses-in-more-detail.html

We also have a six-week writing-for-children course for $50.00.

We also run one-on-one children’s book writing courses, which take students right through the process.

Finally, if you like a writing challenge you might like to visit Prints Charming Books, which is our anthology-publishing collective. We do anthologies which include advertising for writers. No one gets paid (and that includes me!) but conversely no one has to pay anything either (except for me). I think we all have a good time. http://www.printscharmingbooks.com So far, we have brought out anthologies called CHARMS and KEEPSAKES. LUCKY DRAW, PRINTS RHYMING and ZOO-THOLOGY are due out next year and LODESTONE and THE GIRL AND THE UNICORN are open for writers right now.

Thanks again to everyone who has dealt with AFFA at any point. I hope to encounter you all again in future. And a HUGE thank you to those who have sent me copies of books AFFA godmothered or who have let me know of your successes. That really warms AFFA’s middle-aged heart.

 

Sally Odgers for

www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com

Manuscript assessment you can afford

Editor and compiler and head utter-nutter at Prints Charming Books

www.printscharmingbooks.com

 

 

]]><![CDATA[Happy Birthday Lenny!]]>Sun, 19 Oct 2014 05:08:18 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/happy-birthday-lenny
Picture
Happy birthday Lenny! 
Who is Lenny, you might ask? Lenny is a young American poet and blogger. I had the good luck to work with Lenny while producing the CHARMS anthologies in 2013. Lenny's contribution of the poem "Island Country Bus" is something special that makes me smile every time.  I'm sure everyone who knows Lenny on and off line joins me in wishing him a happy birthday and a lucky and productive year in 2015. 
]]><![CDATA[Market Opportunity]]>Mon, 29 Sep 2014 00:30:44 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/market-opportunityD B has a call out for general submissions.  
click here
for guidelines]]><![CDATA[Would-He-Really?]]>Sat, 19 Jul 2014 05:24:22 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/would-he-really
One thing you need to concentrate on when plotting your story is what Lawrence Block called the "would-he-really?" question. There's an art to this. As a writer, you owe it to your story and to your readers to make incidents "the most interesting choice", but you also need to pay attention to "would-he-really?" The questions you put to yourself as you write go as follows:

What could happen now?

What is the most interesting thing to have happen now?

What is the most likely thing to have happen now?

Then comes the important part: "Given this character, in this situation, would s/he really do this most interesting thing?

If the answer is "No", then you have to change the imperative to make it work. That is, you fix things so the obvious thing (which is usually not interesting) becomes impossible or less likely. For example, if people are outside a burning building, the most likely thing is for them to stand there and gawk. The most interesting things are either to leave immediately or else to enter the burning building. Under what circumstances would the character choose one of these interesting alternatives?




]]><![CDATA[July 13th, 2014]]>Sun, 13 Jul 2014 03:57:09 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/july-13th-2014
The Secret of Selling


Many of us have written a children's book, and have written it from the heart. We write for children because we love to tell stories, because we have memories of the magic of reading or because we know children who delight in stories. Whatever the reason, we write that story. 

Then we try to sell it. The high odds are that it will be rejected without any comment apart from a two liner wishing us luck placing it elsewhere. 

Here, for one night only (nah, for as long as I leave it here) are the rules of the road as I have come to know them. 

1. Write your manuscript for children-as-they-are-now. (Subtext, not for children-as-they-were, or for yourself-when-young, or for children-as-you-wish-they-were.) 

2. Write your manuscript with recognisable emotions and/or situations. The main character(s) need not live in Everytown, but do tie into basic human desires for friends, for status, for status-quo, for power. 

3. Write that manuscript to fit. That is, try to make it fit a specific genre, type of book, and audience that is common now. 

4. When writing for the younger children, remember you have to appeal to adults too, because they are the gatekeepers and providers. 

5. Write something that should have broad appeal, because publishers want to sell lots of copies. No matter how glorious and original, a rarefied piece pitched to a tiny percentage of readers probably won't sell. 

6. Write it well and polish it. In other words, don't sub something that needs extensive editing. Oh, and unless you are at the top of your game, don't write it in present tense. Seriously, don't. 

Even with all these road rules ticked into obedience, it can be difficult to place good texts, and of course there are always exceptions to every rule. The thing about exceptions is that they are (duh), exceptions and you can't depend on them. Too many people for their own good depend on exceptions, simply because exceptions are the ones that get the attention, and so look like better bets than they are. 

This all seems harsh and indeed it took me decades to get my head around it. It runs counter to the gut feeling writers have that excellence will always succeed. It also runs counter to the mantra of to-dream-is-to-achieve. I've found the best way to handle this situation is consciously to split one's writing into two camps: books-written-for-market and books-written-for-me. I've been doing this now for a long time and sometimes I do manage to sell a book from the second category. Mostly I don't. I know I'm a reasonable writer because I've been published quite steadily since 1977, but I can't avoid the fact that most of my published books were written specifically for a market and a great many were commissions. This means that books I consider far and away my best work have never sold and probably never will. To make matters worse, the situation is still tightening so publishers who were once willing to take a risk will now settle for the low-hanging fruit. 

The line in the sand is this: write what you love for yourself. Then go and write what others love for sale.]]><![CDATA[Australian Children's Poetry blog]]>Thu, 26 Jun 2014 06:53:57 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/australian-childrens-poetry-blogAs writers (authors, editors, illustrators, readers) it is vital that we support our industry. I know a lot of us take to Twitter and Facebook to talk up our books, but have you considered giving a push to other books and sites? The success of any literary endeavour adds to the health of the industry, but it's human nature to give a push to those things we love. Next time you tweet, FB post or blog about something literary, why not select a site/author/blog/project belonging to someone else and give it a boost? Today I'm tweeting and FB-posting about the Australian Children's Poetry blog run by the diligent Di Bates. Di is working hard to bring Australian children's poetry and poets (and children's poetry in general) some well-deserved limelight. So, if you'd like to check out the state of play (and have some fun) visit http://wwww.australianchildrenspoetry.com.au and leave a comment.]]><![CDATA[June 19th, 2014]]>Thu, 19 Jun 2014 03:00:56 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/june-19th-2014Eating Healthy? never!
Why not? Because "healthy" is an adjective. "Eat" is a verb. Get a grip, people. The adverb form is "healthily" or, if you really can't bear the "ly" word, say "eating healthy food" or "eating a healthy diet".
]]><![CDATA[Chic, chick, Check, Cheek, chuck, chock, choc, cheque + 1]]>Wed, 28 May 2014 12:28:50 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/chic-chick-check-cheek-chuck-chock-choc-cheque-1Here are yet more words that can check Affa's progress through a ms. Meet the CHs.
Chic is a word meaning smart and up-to-date, usually used for females. It's pronounced SHEEK.
Sheik, on the other hand, is pronounced more like SHAKE.
Chick is a baby bird or, colloquially, a girl.
Chicken is where the fun really begins. In Australia, a chicken is a chick, or a baby bird of the hen variety. The only exceptions are when an adult hen is cooked and it mysteriously morphs into a chicken, or when we are insulting someone by implying s/he is not brave. Overseas, a chicken may be an adult hen. In Australia that is generally a chook or, if we're being "correct", a fowl or a hen. 
Check is a pattern of lines or squares, to look something over or to make sure something is correct. A check-mark is generally a cross in a square. Overseas, a check can also be what we call a bill or a cheque.
Cheque is a piece of paper carrying an official promise to pay. These are becoming less common.
Cheek is bold-faced rudeness (the cheek of her!), or the side of the face. When listening to a Russian wildlife commentator, I could swear he used it to refer to baby birds, but I think he was really saying "chick".
Chuck is to throw something or, colloquially, the throw up. It is also sometimes a nickname for someone named Charles. 
Chock is a bit or wood or rock put behind the wheels of a car to stop it rolling.
Choc is a pet name for chocolate.
Chocolholic is another word up with which Affa will not put. It is a false construction derived from the term "alcoholic" which is "alcohol + ic". Thus, clearly, the chocolate version would be either "chocolatic" or, if we're being playful, "chocic". 

 


]]><![CDATA[Mums, Dads and Plural Surnames]]>Fri, 23 May 2014 06:44:30 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/mums-dads-and-plural-surnamesMum, Dad, Grandma and Uncle, stand on notice: You do not always get a capital letter.
Here's the drill with those relative-name-substitutions that so many people get skewed.


If the word (Mum, Dad, Uncle, Granny) stands alone as a name substitute, then it gets a capital. 
I'm going with Mum.
Dad and Grandma took me to the beach.
Hey Uncle Arthur, are you really a time-traveller?


If the word (Mum, Dad, Uncle, Granny) has a personal pronoun (my, your, their, his) in front of it, then it does not get a capital. 
I'm going with my mum.
Jane's grandpa and grandma took us to the beach.
I asked my uncle if he was really a time-traveller.


If the word has a "the" in front of it, then the word does not take a capital.
I asked the mother if she wanted to come.


Now, for plural surnames.
If your name is Jones, then you and the rest of your family are the Joneses or the Jones family.
If your name is Blake, then you and the family are the Blakes or the Blake family.
If your name is Derry, then you and the family are the Derrys or the Derry family..
If your name is Odgers, then you and the gang are the Odgerses or the Odgers family.
If you want to talk about an address, you might say, we're going to the Blakes' house or the Blakes's house. You might also say you were going to the Blake house.]]><![CDATA[More Mistaken Words]]>Fri, 23 May 2014 06:32:57 GMThttp://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com/affas-blog/more-mistaken-wordsHere are some more words to look out for in your manuscripts.
Reign - to rule
Rein - a leather strap for controlling a horse
Rain - precipitation


So which is it?  "Free reign" and "to reign in" are the ones we see most often used incorrectly. The correct forms are "free rein" and "to rein in".


Sank
Sink
Sunk 
All forms of the verb "to sink".
I sank, he sank, she sank, they sank (past tense)
I sink, he sinks, she sinks, they sink (present tense)
It has sunk, he was sunk, (past participle)
Sunken eyes, sunken ships (used as an adjective)


Sink is also a basin for washing dishes or something that drains or subsides. 
A sinker is a lead weight used to keep a fishing line in place.




Lay
Lie
Laid
Lying
Laying
Verb "to lay" -  "Lay it down over there."
Verb "to lie" - "Lie down on the couch."
Verb "laid" - "She laid it aside." Or "She laid herself down"
Lying - "It is lying down"
"Laying" isn't much used, except as in "She is laying it aside" or "a laying hen".
Layby, lay-by, both terms used for a place to pull off the road to park and for paying down some money for an item that will be paid off in stages.
A lie is also an untruth.


Peak - top of a mountain or or whipped cream
Peek - A quick look
Pique - sniffy annoyance and also a kind of cloth.


Sneak - to creep or, colloquially, to tell tales. Also used as a colloquial noun for a tell-tale.
Sneaked - past tense of "sneak".
Snuck - nasty slang form up with which Affa will not put.


Creep - to sneak. Also a colloquial noun for an unpleasant,,, well, creepy... person
Crept - past tense of "creep".
Crupt - nasty slang form no one has yet used but which will not be tolerated if someone does.]]>