It may appear to be a tiny little mark, barely bigger than a period. YET, the usage or omission of a comma can make a huge difference in your meaning and maybe even your wallet. Let’s take a look at three times when a comma could have or did change the course of history. Tariff… Read more »
I’m in a few writers’ groups on Facebook, and at least once a day, I see someone posting that they need an editor. Social media is a powerful tool for connecting writers with qualified editors. And I’m totally an advocate for using it—correctly. Unfortunately, most of the posts asking for editors get bombarded with responses… Read more »
I am a copyeditor through and through. I live, eat, and breathe punctuation and grammar. As such, I love the feeling of finding a moment in the manuscript where it can be strengthened. Depending on the writing, these changes and suggestions can reach the thousands. But what’s average? And what are all the changes this… Read more »
When it comes to professional editing, editors and their services range far and wide. Each editor will have different experiences, specialties, preferences, styles, rates, and timelines. Finding the book editor that’s right for you requires thought and active searching. Here is how I recommend finding an editor for your specific needs. How NOT to Find… 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 »
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 »
In grade school, my sister won our science fair with a project about putting sponges in the dishwasher to kill bacteria. She had a good hypothesis, ran a solid experiment, and had lots of imagery on her presentation board. She had very clearly (and successfully) applied the scientific method. I like to break the scientific… 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 »
