Writing advice and tips.
For those of you who missed last month’s Facebook live Ask the Editor video, I’m sharing it here today. Never mind that I couldn’t seem to say my name that day–the hazards of live video. 🙂 The question is “Should I use real restaurants, stores, and places in my story?”
There are hundreds, probably thousands, of books on the market that deal with the craft of writing—learning plot, character development, story arc, and such. But sadly missing from the list is grammar. I know it’s a school subject many people hated. Do they still make kids learn how to diagram a sentence? Maybe diagramming a…
I’ve been hard at work lately, developing a booklet just for you. Yes, I notice your reluctance to hire a freelance editor. I understand that hesitation. You don’t know whom to hire; you don’t know if you’ll get scammed; you don’t know how to evaluate the editing you get back. No doubt, though, residing at…
Because my kids graduated from school long ago, I no longer know what’s taught in English class—aside from the “cursive writing” controversy. I only know I see a wide variety of grammar and format errors in the manuscripts I edit and proofread. Many writers incorrectly format numbers, dates, and times, so I thought I’d give…
“I can’t afford to hire a professional editor,” you say. But you can’t afford not to hire one. The quality—or lack thereof—of your story directly impacts your ability to land a traditional publishing contract. If you publish indie, it impacts your sales. And who doesn’t want lots of sales? I don’t say this just because…
When I went to high school, teachers taught us to underline book titles. With the advent of all things digital, that changed. In fact a lot got changed. What I’m talking about is the stylized treatment of text. In the world of publishing, there are two style books that pull most of the weight. In…
Today’s my birthday, so I decided to take the day off and have my friend Donna Wittlif guest post. I first met Donna through an online group I belong to and then had the opportunity to edit one of her books—fascinating sci-fi. She is a retired special education and English teacher who loves writing. Her…
Punctuation. I can visualize readers cringing as they read that word. “I don’t understand all those rules and I don’t want to.” “Let editors worry about the correct punctuation.” “I just want to write, not worry about where to put a comma.” Do you see yourself in the above sentences?