Writing a draft isn’t easy, but it is easily measurable. Every day, your word count increases. You probably know how many total words your manuscript needs to have in order to meet your genre conventions. By analyzing your typical daily pace, you can even plan how much time you need to get to the finish… Read more »
A while back, I talked about the separation between writing and editing. Writing is a process of accumulation, while editing is a process of curation. It is difficult and often inefficient to complete both of these tasks at the same time. But how do we know when to stop writing and start editing? Is it… Read more »
For the past two and a half years, I’ve worked as a freelance editor. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of coaching and editing for amazing writers and their stories. But during that time, I’ve also been writing. I’m currently working on a middle-grade fantasy. I finished my first draft in May of this year. It… Read more »
You know those graphics with the six squares labeled with titles like “what my family thinks I do” or “what I think I do” and then always ending with “what I really do”? Well, I’ve been seeing those floating around again (yay, for revolving trends), and I figured it might be time to clarify what… Read more »
What are revisions? An edit by any other name would be just as damn difficult. But seriously. What do we mean by “writing” and “editing”? Are they really as black and white as the separate words make them appear? Yes, and no. Writing and editing are forever intertwined, causing debate and confusion over what these… Read more »
Editing. Just mention of the word is enough to send chills down many writers’ spines. That’s because they’re taking the wrong mindset when they approach the editing process. Keeping the following five things in mind during the editing process can turn a frustrating experience into a joyous one. 1. You managed to write all of… Read more »
There are a lot of questions I see come up over and over again when it comes to self-editing. Perhaps the most difficult of these to answer—how do I know when I can stop editing? Here’s why we get trapped when it comes to this question. There’s no such thing as a perfect book. No… Read more »
Browsing Twitter last week, I saw a tweet from a colleague of mine that read, “I’m curious, for writers who have published books, what was the editing process like? Especially curious about your first book. From whom and at what stage did you receive edits? To what degree? Does this question even make sense? Why… Read more »
As writers, I think we can all agree that copyediting is an important part of the publishing process. We know that if a reader notices an error, it will probably take him out of the lucid dream of reading. Do that enough times, and he’ll sigh with disgust and toss the book/article/essay aside for good…. Read more »
From big picture elements to sentence-level style, editing is a natural and necessary part of writing. It can also be terribly intimidating. While there are plenty more aspects to review, here are eight essential things you should be editing for in your own work. Be sure to take care of these essential edits before sending… Read more »
