Tag: writing

Why Every Writer Needs an Editor

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An acquaintance of mine, after finding out what I do for a living, asked me if I considered myself a writer. She’s an English professor, who has devoted her life to studying writers. So when I said, “I love writing, but I think I lean more toward being an editor,” she seemed surprised. When you’re a kid, you never say, “When I grow up, I want to be an editor!” 

Everyone wants to be a writer--but every writer needs a good editor.

When I tell people I’m an editor, they don’t really know what it means. If they have some idea about the profession, it’s that we spend our time looking for misplaced commas and typos. Of course, we do a bit of that, but in reality, that’s what copy editors and proofreaders are for. My time is spent assigning articles, and then making sure that the writers have hit the mark. I’m usually editing articles about business and technology, which means there are a few things I’m looking for.

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A Writing Shed of One’s Own

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I am smitten with Britain’s favorite gardener, Monty Don. A couple of years ago, I had no idea who he was, but then Netflix started airing Big Dreams, Small Spaces and I was hooked. But I’m not here to talk to you about Monty Don’s gardening prowess, his suspenders, or his loping walk. I’m here to discuss his writing garden–a lovely little woodland with a shed at the back where Monty types out his books.

Monty Don in his writing shed.
Monty Don is his writing shed.

The first time I ever thought, “Gee, I sure would like a writing shed” was when I read John Irving’s Last Night at Twisted River. The main character talks about the little shack he writes in on a remote island. Then, several years later, Pinterest and tiny houses became a part of my life. Before I knew it, I was very seriously coveting a writing shed of my own.

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I’m On a World Podcast Tour!

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I’m embarking on a bit of a book tour–by which I mean I have just kicked off a “tour” of podcasts! I have to say, I love being able to do publicity from the comfort of my home office instead of spending weeks on the road. I’m sure, somewhere, there’s an old-timey author lamenting the state of book marketing but as a homebody, I love it.

My first interview was with Byron at WriterAccess. We had a great chat about Inside Content Marketing, the future of the discipline, and more! Take a few minutes to listen (and hopefully learn).

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NaNoWriMo: 3 Tips For Writing a Novel in a Month

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Shield-Nano-Side-Blue-Brown-RGB-HiRes 4At the end of last month I decided to use this year’s NaNoWriMo as an impetus to finish the romance I’ve been working on — or at least make some decent progress on it. Before National Novel Writing Month even got underway I ran into a snag. I heard back from my editor about another book, and he needed me to go over a few small queries within a few days, and I happened to be going away for the weekend. I managed to get the queries answered in time, but over the past week I’ve developed a few practical tips for actually getting a significant amount of writing done.

  • Leave the House–When I was writing the aforementioned book (you know, the one I had to answer queries about) I would try to work at home, which has a dedicated office. But it just wasn’t working for me. I needed to get away from the house. Away from the cats who want to lay on my keyboard, and the dog who seems to be able to tell time and stares at me with a look that says, “It’s after 5 o’clock, time to call it quits!” So, I would head out to a coffee shop (usually the one in my local book store), order a chai latte, and sit down to work. My most successful NaNoWriMo moments have been in that same coffee shop.
  • Don’t Forget to Charge Your Battery–This is not a metaphor. I am not going to suggest you do some yoga to get your creative juices flowing (though, walking has been shown to enhance creativity). If you aren’t going to be working at home, where you have exclusive claim to all the outlets, you need to remember to charge your laptop battery before you head out. There were at least a few times where I did not, and I have been sorry.
  • Don’t Edit–I don’t always follow my own advice. I edit all day, it’s hard to stop. When I’m stuck in my own writing, I go back and start adding, subtracting, and rewriting. But if you actually expect to finish a novel in an entire month, there’s just no way you can waste time on editing. Besides, editing is not really the point of NaNoWriMo, right? Just get the words on the page. You can spend December editing.

These tips can only help set you up for success. The truth is, writing an entire novel in a month is not easy. At times it will feel practically impossible. The only way to make it happen, is to just do it.

The Road to Romance

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I’ve always thought it would be fun to write a romance novel. I don’t really read these books, but something about them makes me think I could learn a lot from writing one. They are notoriously formulaic, and writers have to adhere to very strict standards in order to be successful. Something about writing a book “by the numbers” seem like an exercise in discipline.

I have a tendency to “wing it” when I’m writing. I get a spark of an idea and I just go from there without any kind of roadmap–which leads to a lot of dead ends. If I was going to embark on this project, I thought, I should make it as structured as possible. To that end, I started a blog about it: The Road to Romance.  Continue reading →

On Writing ‘n Stuff

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Not my desk, or my photo.

Not my desk, or my photo. (Nancy L. Stockdale, Flickr Creative Commons)

You may recall that my cat was diagnosed with gallstones. I spent a month fearing that without surgical intervention my cat would get sick again as soon as she went off her meds. I didn’t know what to do. Then, one night, as I sat on my couch editing a book for a freelance project, I came up with an idea. I needed to write a book, get an advance, and use it to pay for the cat’s surgery.

I know that sounds like a bad plan, and it would be except that I work for a publishing company with a book wing — and the publisher had been trying to get me to write a book for years. We just hadn’t been able to come up with a subject that interested us both. But I’d recently been toying with an idea that I thought would work. So I quickly shot off an email and asked if it would be of interest.

It was.  Continue reading →

A Small Quiet Room

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The other day a friend sent me a G-Chat message asking if I’d ever ready anything by Cheryl Strayed. “WHY YES, I HAVE!” I told him and launched into my standard praise of Wild.  Then he sent me this “DEAR SUGAR” column, and it made me tear up. it’s the kind of thing we should all print out and give to any daughters we might have one day: Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo — Here I Come!

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I may be a bit of an absentee blogger over the next few weeks. I’ve decided to get a late start on NaNoWriMo and try revive a book I haven’t worked on much over the past few years. I don’t suspect I’ll “win” but if I get a few new chapters out of it, I’ll consider it a victory.

XOJane’s Addiction

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Now that’s an IKEA hack!

I have a new obsession: XOJane.

I just can’t believe some of the things the writers will admit to…but I totally appreciate that they do.

When blogs first started I was amazed by the way people would write in mortifying detail about the littlest details of their lives. They admitted things to the world wide web that I wouldn’t talk about with my friends. Reading XOJane is a little like that, only you have the benefit of getting to read these kinds of confessions from a variety of people (instead of one navel-gazing blogger) and the writing is better.  Continue reading →

Theresa Cramer–Indie Author and Then Some

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Thanks to Jason Matthews for reminding me how poorly I take a compliment, and letting me ramble about my garden.

How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks

theresa_cramer-bio-photoTo merely say Theresa Cramer is an Indie author would be a major understatement. She deserves extra attention and could quickly rise to the top thanks to talent plus major involvement in the field. Theresa writes books, articles, blogs, you name it. She’s the editor of EContent magazine and Intranets newsletter. She’s also a 10 year veteran with a background in both newspaper and book publishing and writes the Fiona Blake Seriesand publishes a Paper.li news-bulletin called DIY Daily: Self-Publishers Uniteand more. Follow her on Twitter @TheresaCramer.

Theresa, you’re among the over-qualified Indie authors I interview—don’t even know where to start.

So not true! When I look at how much work other indie authors put into copyediting and rewriting and just the daily grind of writing, I am ashamed. I feel like such a lazy writer. I totally wing it and hope for the best!

Ashamed?…

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She Bu De (Seh-Boo-Deh)

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For a while now, I’ve been mulling over my unconditional love of John Irving.

I’ve been plugging away at Last Night in Twisted River for almost two months. I picked it up before a Labor Day trip to New Hampshire. The Granite State’s most famous–at least in my world–son’s newest novel seemed like the obvious choice. But long before that a Colin McEnroe Show episode about “The Era of Bad Books” and a NPR essay called Proud and Unpretentious: Lessons from John Irving got me thinking. Continue reading →