(I’ve posted this before but it bears repeating.)

On good days, everything goes right and 1 have the whole script executed from start to finish within four or five hours. On bad days 1 write the whole script in four or five hours, realise that it’s useless, tear it up and start again. I repeat this process four or five times until I’m reduced to a blubbering wreck that just slumps in the armchair and whimpers about how it has no talent whatsoever and will never write again. Next day I’ll get up, get the whole thing right the first time and spend the rest of the day walking round reading my favourite bits to my wife, children, or visiting tradesmen. (This is why you should never marry an artist or writer. They’re bad news to have around the house, believe me.) -Alan Moore

I wanted to take a moment to highlight this fantastic tweet from Anita Doreen Diggs. You can follow her on Twitter here @AnitaDiggs

Finish your proposal (nonfiction) or manuscript (fiction) before worrying about agents, Kindles, e-books, the book tour, etc.

There is this fantastic Garfield comic strip (you know, the big fat lasagna eating cat) that some day I will remember to scan in and post here but, in the meantime, I’m going to just have to describe it for you.

In the first panel, Garfield is saying something to the effect of “Lots of people talk about writing a book someday but only some people actually do something about it.” Then, in the last panel, he is there is a little cat sized smoking jacket with a pipe, looking in the mirror saying to himself, “Yes, this is how I want to be photographed for the book jacket.”

I love this comic. Especially in this information age, no sooner do you get an idea for a book than you want to start researching publishing options, agents, queries, how you want the cover to look, who will play the characters in the movies, etc all before you have actually finished the book in the first place. Most of the people at the #askagent chat last night were people who had an idea for a book and were stressing about markets and query letter before they’d actually finished their texts!

It’s easy to make this leap. We come up with an idea for a book and immediately our minds jump ahead to how we will be photographed on the book jacket and how witty we’ll be at the booksigning, etc, making us forget that we actually haven’t finished the book yet.

Finish the book. Tune out all the distractions, the info, and finish the book.

Let me tell you from personal experience, I started my first book in 2002 and did everything you are doing. I researched the industry, the agents, the formats and now, 7 years later, when I actually have a finished book to shop, all that info I researched changed anyway. Don’t worry about what the publishing industry is like now. By the time you finish your book it will be a whole different world.

Wasting time stressing about eBook, agents, trends or whatever is capturing your interest right now is just keeping you from writing.

So my friend Diana (who makes freaking awesome jewelry, you should check her stuff out over here) gave me a heads up about One World One Heart, which is basically a yearly community building web tradition. The idea behind it is, you offer something as a free prize and Lisa from A Whimsical Bohemian adds you to the directory of participating sites. Therefore, other participants and just people looking for a free give-a-way will come and visit your site giving you a chance to find new readers, meet new people and discover new blogs.

If you have a blog, all you need to do to play along is to post about your give-a-way on your blog. The official entry details can be found here.

If you don’t have a blog or otherwise have nothing to give-a-way, you can still play along by entering some of the give-a-ways and getting some free stuff. People like free stuff, it’s a fact.  Just go to this page and pick any site from the list on the right hand navbar. There are some really cool crafts and other nifty stuff up for grabs so it’s worth a look. And you may find some cool new blogs to follow and people to chat with online.

So, that’s what’s going on. As you likely guessed from the title, I’m going to join in this little web party myself.

For those of you only visiting for One World One Heart, let’s take a moment to get to know each other. Hi! I’m Hillary DePiano. I’m a fiction and non-fiction author. I also am obsessed with The Muppets, The Sims and My Little Pony. These things keep me off the streets. Over here on this blog (Unpublishable Pennings) I write about writing but I actually write for several other blogs including The Whine Seller (e-commerce and selling online), My Little Pony Collecting.com (take a wild guess what that one is about) and The Cult of Cummings (voice-over actor Jim Cummings fan site.) I’m also on Twitter here and Facebook here. Feel free to fan or follow me on either and say hello!

The book I am most known for is The Love of Three Oranges which is a play (for the theatre) that has been performed all over the world. My newest book is The Author which is a novella that is part mystery, part thriller, part comedy. It’s won some awards so apparently people like it. I have other books but these are the two that are up for grab today. You can see the full list of the books I’ve written here.

Here are the terms of my give-a-way:

• I am going to pick two random winners from the people who comment on this post. 
• The only rule is that, in your comment below, you have to introduce yourself. It can be only a few sentences but, since the point of this is to get to know other bloggers, just give me an idea of who you are, what you do and where I can find you (link to blog, Twitter, etc).
• Those two winners will have their choice between a printed copy of The Author (my newest book, a novella) or The Love of Three Oranges (a play and also my oldest book). 
• Your comment has to contain valid contact info so I can contact you if you win. My comment system lets you log in through just about anything so just make sure it’s a valid email address, link to your site or Twitter, Facebook, whatever otherwise I won’t be able to contact you to send you the prize. You don’t have to post it in the comment, as long as you log in with valid info, I can see it on the admin side. Just no made up info is all I ask. 
• The contest is worldwide. Anyone from anywhere can enter. I will mail the winner a copy of the book they choose.
• My family cannot enter (sorry). But since this is totally random, my friends can enter if they want since it will be impossible for me to show favoritism. Enemies may also enter if they so desire. So as long as you are not closely related to me, jump on in!

Keep in mind that everyone who comes to this blog will read your comments so you aren’t just introducing yourself to me, you’re introducing yourself to The World so keep that in mind.

So, as we covered, I’m Hillary. And you are. . .