Nice Mommy~Evil Editor

Months ago, I asked people if they had editor questions. I found this one in my drafts and decided to post it. Today’s was from @patrickdoris who asked: does a bad first sentence doom a manuscript? Not at all. I know authors agonize over the first sentence, wanting it to be perfect. And certainly it’s fun [...]

I’ve had many inquiries about when the next installment of Before You Hit Send, my self-editing workshop for authors–both aspiring and established–will be held again. That time is here! January 10th-30th, I’ll be holding a three-week session of Before You Hit Send on Savvy Authors. You can go here to register. And for more information. [...]

In past years, it would have been impossible for me to do this post. During my time with Samhain, I edited just over 250 titles in 4 years. I worked for royalties and more editing equaled a living wage! But since my situation with Carina is different, and editing is not actually in my main [...]

Every other week or so, we get a newsletter from Brianna’s swim team. Often, the newsletters are short and contain only a line or two of information, but they always come with an article about swim team and young athletes. I’ve started making sure I read the articles, because they’re always full of great info [...]

I think it’s only fair to follow the “what do you hate” post from earlier in the week with a post of the three things that are just about guaranteed to grab me when I’m reading 1) Injure the heroine: Yes, I’m a bit sick in the head, but I love it when the heroine [...]

I am so fortunate. Today I said on Twitter and Facebook,  “Do you have a burning question for an editor? I need a blog topic.” I got a tremendous response of some really great, amazing questions. Not all of them about editing, either! So I’m going to be using my blog, and the Carina Press [...]

Last week agent Rachelle Gardner had a guest post from one of her authors. The post is a great one, about what happens when you receive edits–after your book has been contracted. You should read it, it has wonderful things to say. But in the course of the post I read this: The story had [...]

On Twitter this weekend, Viv (@VivWestlake) asked me: Curious @ your opinion: When contest responses are polarized, how does writer know what to change/edit? 2 judges love & 2 hate. There’s no simple answer to this so I didn’t try to respond on Twitter. The truth is, contests can be an excellent source of feedback [...]

I just realized I was remiss in not posting this here (as I’ve been remiss in not posting here at all, which has really been nagging at me). Starting Monday I’ll be hosting a self-editing workshop on the ESPAN RWA forum. It’s not too late to sign up and the sign up cost is extremely [...]