because your story matters
Your Journal is a Judgement-Free Zone Most writers are familiar with Anne Lamott’s famous strategy of writing a Sh**ty First Draft. (Please excuse Anne’s language, it’s the only language that will do here.) From Lamott’s book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep…
Read More
Grammarly: Your Writing At Its Best If you are like me, you are overwhelmed by the availability of tools that can help simplify, streamline, perfect, organize, systemize, coordinate, and manage every aspect of our lives. With so many options how do we know which one to trust, which one is worth paying for, and which one is not. I, for…
Read More
VERBOMANIA The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines verbomania as the excessive use or obsession with words. And who doesn’t, in our line of work, love and obsess over words? It’s our job and passion. Words are what fuels us every day. Finding the exact and perfect words for your stories is pure gold, I tell you! {This post contains affiliate links.} So…
Read More
The Editor on Being Edited Oh, how the tables have turned! I am a longtime book editor, and I recently went through the editing process from the other side of the table, as my next book, Write. Publish. Market., will be published this fall. I know full well that “it takes a village,” no matter how clean a manuscript is…
Read More
What’s An Editor For, Anyway? You hired an editor, shipped off your beloved manuscript, and when you get it back, you are disappointed. It’s not ready for the printing press, or to ship off to the top 5 publishing houses! You have to do more work. Wait, what? Why did you hire an editor? Wasn’t she supposed to fix it?…
Read More
Writers as Readers For us writers and editors, books are our lifeblood, and we read because we must. To be honest, I sometimes listen to books because I spend about 2.5 hours in the car, driving four kids to 4 different schools, on the regular. I read (or listen) to books that suit my mood, assigned in my book club,…
Read More