Welcome to the Blog
There’s No Wrong Way To Be A Writer
I recently wrote a post for Jane Friedman’s blog about adding meaningful words to lean manuscripts, and in that post, I shared that I struggled early on with the fact that I wrote lean when most of the advice I came across for revisions involved cutting words, not adding them. I became self-conscious of my short drafts and worried I was doing this whole writing thing wrong. After all, if I were a real writer, wouldn’t I have too many words to share, not too few?
How to Dig Deep to Show Your Character’s Thoughts & Emotions
One of the reasons I love reading fiction is the opportunity to jump into someone else’s point of view and experience their reactions to story events right along with them. I strongly believe this is what causes so many readers to lament that “the book was better than the movie” in most cases. Readers crave that connection with your characters—particularly your main character—so, as writers, it’s in our best interests to utilize these opportunities to do so to our advantage. One of the comments I regularly write as a developmental editor is encouraging the writer to “dig deep” and “show us your character’s thoughts and emotions here.”
Self-Editing Tips for Fiction Writers
While I’m a huge proponent of working with a developmental editor, I also strongly believe the best way to make the most of that investment is to get your manuscript in the best shape you’re able to on your own before handing it off to an editor. This is important because if your editor needs to spend time addressing issues that you could have fixed on your own, that’s time away from deeper aspects of the manuscript that you may not have seen or may not have known how to address.
3 Reasons You Want to Work with a Book Coach
I see a lot of posts in online writing groups asking about book coaches and wondering if they might benefit from working with one, and inevitably several other writers chime in to say that they don’t need to work with a book coach and doing so is a waste of resources. And while it’s absolutely true that no writer needs a book coach, it’s also true that working with one can be beneficial and helpful.
How to Write a Novel With a Full-Time Job
According to a recent survey, 81% of those surveyed said they want to write a book someday. That’s a lot of people who dream of writing a book! But the reality is many of those who want to write a book never start, and even fewer ever finish a manuscript. That’s not because they’re lazy—most likely, it comes down to the realities of life. We need money to live, and writing a novel is not financially lucrative.
Why Filter Words Hurt Your Writing
Overusing filter words is one of the most common issues I find when completing developmental edits. The good news is, once you know how to recognize filter words in your own writing, they’re generally a pretty simple fix. But if you don’t know what filter words are or how to identify them in your writing, they can have a rather big negative effect on your manuscript.
Why You Need a Writing Community
One of the first suggestions I give anyone who says they want to write a book is to find a community of writers to surround themselves with and who they can feel supported by. Why? Because writing, by nature, can be a very isolating, lonely endeavor if you allow it to be. But if we write in solitude, never connecting with other writers or seeking help or critique or guidance, we impede our ability to improve as writers.
3 Steps for NaNoWriMo Success
November is creeping up on us, and if you’re thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo this year, you might be wondering how you can possibly write an entire 50,000 words in just one month. The answer? Preparation.
Why POV Slips Hurt Your Story
One of the most common issues I see in manuscripts I edit is point of view (POV) slips. POV slips are when the writer slips out of the POV the scene is written in and dips into another character’s POV. This often has the result of feeling jarring to the reader and pulling them out of the story. Depending on who your reader is, they may not be able to articulate why they felt pulled out of the story in that moment, but for most readers, a POV slip does pull them out of your story world for a moment, maybe more.
5 Steps to Start Writing a Novel
Writing a book is a dream for many, a goal on their bucket list that, sadly, too many people never accomplish. It can feel like an overwhelming project, and many people don’t even try because they simply don’t know where or how to begin. So, here I’ve broken down 5 steps you can take to create a writing life and start working towards achieving your dream of writing a book.
If Not Now, When?
I hear from a lot of people who dream of someday writing a book that “now just isn’t the right time.” Work is demanding, their kids are young, their parents need to be cared for, their husband just had surgery…the lists go on and on. And I get it, some seasons of our lives are busier and more chaotic than others. But the problem with putting off chasing after your dreams until the timing feels right is that the timing likely won’t ever feel exactly right. There will always be something that could take our attention away from writing.
What’s Really Stopping You From Writing Your Novel?
Writing a novel is hard work. It takes a commitment to learning about the craft of writing, dedication to spending time getting words on the page, then enough motivation to sustain us through the process of what might feel like endless rounds of revision and editing. We’re often battling a lack of time as other obligations vie for our precious hours and keep us from crafting our characters. We often dream of having endless hours to spend on our writing, convinced that if we only had more time, we’d churn out story after story and be the successful, bestselling authors we know we’re meant to be.
4 Tips for Finding Time to Write When Life is Busy
I often talk about how the key to being successful as a writer is finding a routine that works for you and then sticking to it. (If you haven’t already established a good writing routine, check out by blog post 5 Easy Steps to Start Your Writing Routine for some ideas to get started). But what about when life is in a busy season and maintaining our usual routine isn’t possible?
4 Steps for a Successful Preptober
Happy October, writers! November is on the horizon, along with NaNoWriMo. If you’re planning to participate this year (or even if you’re undecided), I have some tips to help you prep to set yourself up for success.
Why Too Much Feedback Can Be Harmful
Excellent advice for any writer is to get feedback on your writing. No matter what stage you’re at, how advanced you are, or how naturally talented, gaining feedback on your writing is a great way to learn and improve and to catch issues with your writing that you’re simply too close to the story to see. But there hits a point when you may have too much feedback for it to actually be beneficial.
When and Why You Need a Developmental Edit
The term “edit” and “editor” get thrown around a lot in the writing world, which can easily become confusing as these terms can apply to a broad range of things. There are copy editors, acquisitions editors, content editors, developmental editors…the list goes on. So what exactly is developmental editing and where does it fit into the grand scheme of completing a novel?
5 Tips to Succeed at NaNoWriMo
There’s a lot of chatter surrounding the month-long event and whether it’s beneficial or not for writers to participate. My personal view is there’s no right or wrong answer to this. There are certainly pros and cons to NaNoWriMo, but whether or not it will be beneficial depends on what your writing goals are and how you work best.
5 Easy Steps to Start Your Writing Routine
One of the best pieces of advice I can offer for being more productive in your writing life is to set up a writing routine. For years, I wrote when I felt like it, falling into the trap of believing I needed inspiration to strike before I could write a single word. And guess what? For years, I hardly wrote anything.