I guess I’m an extreme version of what I’ve heard called a “pantser.” Not only do I plot by the seat of my pants, I do everything that way. I’ve read the usual books on writing (Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, On Writing by Stephen King, Plotting and Writing Suspense by Patricia Highsmith) […]
As an author, one of the most important decisions you must make is what point of view you choose to use to tell your story. Point of view influences everything from how close readers feel to your characters to your word choice and sentence structure. It is the lens through which you tell your story. […]
When someone refers to point of view in writing, they are referring to the lens through which the story is told. This encompasses everything from who is telling the story to who the villain is to how close the reader feels to the characters and events. By choosing the right lens, an author can effectively […]
Mystery tends to swirl around ghostwriters and what they do, but it needn’t. I’m pleased to lift the veil . . . First, there isn’t one singular job description for a ghostwriter. Nor is there one uniform way a ghostwriter can help you. There are many possibilities, and the relationship can be explored and developed […]
A while back, I received a grammar tip sheet and learned it’s now deemed proper to style the word e-mail sans hyphen. Not long after, I read that the venerable Oxford English Dictionary has added OMG, BFF, LOL, and more to its pages—who would have thought this of the OED? All of which, in a […]
“What a dream job you have!” I’ve lost track of all the times I’ve been told that by nonwriting folks who’ve just learned a bit about my life as a freelance writer and editor. And invariably, their response has surprised me, for I generally consider my job to be plain and simple work—a way to […]
As a freelance editor, I spend a lot of time changing authors’ texts. That’s my job. It wasn’t until I experienced the editing process firsthand before publishing my book, Business Matters, that I truly realized what other authors may know: It’s hard on the ego to be edited. When I saw the edits, I didn’t […]
Many authors confuse the job of the proofreader with that of the copyeditor. Both are vital for helping create a polished version of your writing, yet these word experts work at two completely different stages of the editing process. After the copyediting stage—when overall content plus grammar and style are addressed—comes the proofreading stage. Generally, […]
With apologies to my mother (“Turkeys are done, young lady; people are finished”), I pose that question with sincerity, for the writer and editor in me has struggled with it for decades. When is a piece of writing or an editing job actually complete and ready to go out the door? When is “enough” really […]
Part 6: So, How Do Authors Actually Make Money? And, Is That What Matters? According to The Economist, “The open secret of publishing is that very few authors can live by books alone. Even some of the most successful ones make most of their money from public speaking, consulting, or teaching, and use the publicity […]