Okay, so it’s not the nicest way to put it, right? I apologize. I really have issues with the word ‘stupid’, so I try to use it sparingly. My father frequently called me stupid as a child, and more frequently asked me if I was stupid. I mean, how are you supposed to answer that?

“What are you, stupid?”

“Uh, yeah?”

So pardon me for the use of the word if it bothers you like it does me, but let’s try to keep the word in perspective and remove any power it has to enjoy the intent behind this post!

Here’s the thing. I’ve been reading about writing for a lot longer than I’ve been professionally writing. I’ve read all the ones who broke into the scene and many of the ones who haven’t or didn’t. I’ve read the good advice, the bad advice and the advice that makes you say, “Huh?” Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s little grammar hint and tip comes from a frequently asked grammar question that we regularly see come up on the writing forum: When do I use a hyphen vs. and em or en dash? Or better yet: What the heck is an em or en dash?

Never fear, I’ll answer both of those questions briefly in this blog post!

EM DASH:

What is an EM dash? An EM dash is the most common ‘dash’, and it’s used in punctuating sentences. It’s your double hyphen in Word and you can use it for parenthetical phrases, interrupting a sentences or dialogue, etc.

Example (from my short synopsis of my novel, What Brothers Do): Read the rest of this entry »

…write.

Look, it comes down to this: the only real way to learn how to write is to actually sit down and write.

You can take all the classes in the world, study all the writing-related information on the net, read every book you find on the subject, study thesaurii (wouldn’t that be what they are in plural?) and dictionaries and read every writer you deem ‘great’ to try to learn what they do right and read all the bad ones to learn what they do wrong…

… but when it comes right down to it, the only way you will ever be able to learn how to write is by sitting down and writing.

It’s sort of like driving a car. When you go to driver’s education, they make you study the handbook, read all about driving, and even take a written test to show you can regurgitate that information, but you don’t get to driver’s license until you drive a real car by yourself, and to do that, you have to actually sit behind the wheel with an instructor and learn how to drive. You learn how to drive by driving, driving some more, putting yourself into situations you would be in when you are driving on your own–such as driving on the highway, stop signs, stop lights, right turns, left turns, merging, using blinkers…You learn how to write by writing more, putting it in front of a readership and letting them tear it apart, slam on the second ‘special’ break, or scream at you that you’re going to get us all killed if you don’t, for God’s sake, slow down! Read the rest of this entry »

Working on both sides of the submission desk, as an editor and an author, I am in a unique position to see how both sides feel–the author who is eagerly and as patiently as possible waiting to see if they are accepted or rejected, and the editor who has to deal with the insane authors when they are not so patient.

In the process of experiencing these two sides, I’ve learned a lot about how I should, as an author, treat, respond to, interact with the agents and editors I am submitting to based on how I feel as an editor receiving submissions from authors.

So what I have for you today are real issues I’ve had to deal with in acquisitions, and they are things that, as an author, I would never do! You shouldn’t do them either, unless your goal is to NOT get published.

#10 – Don’t send edited versions of the same submission. Read the rest of this entry »

I started thinking about this last night. It’s been bugging ever since. First, let me say, it’s official. I’m depressed. I hate when this happens. There is absolutely zero reason for me to feel this way, and I really don’t need anything, I’m just stating it to put it out there, yep, it’s official, and so now maybe I can do something about it. I really do hate this. The one thing I’ve noticed about myself when I’m depressed is that I tend to go numb emotionally – that might not always be a bad thing sometimes – but I have also noticed that my brain goes into ‘think’ mode – and sometimes ‘create’ mode, but either way, it gets me writing, pondering, etc. So I can’t promise this will be as interesting as a discussion for you as it probably is to my brain this morning.

But here it is anyway….

Does a story that a writer writes have to have meaning? Does it have to have a ‘purpose’? If so, is it okay for the purpose to just be to tell a story? Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, time for another editing hints and tips blog. One of the common errors I see when reading things around the internet and sometimes when I’m editing fiction pieces for clients/authors, I find the improper use of ‘further’ and ‘farther’.

This one, unlike some confusing words, is a really easy ‘fix’ to remember. While some editors will tell you these words are interchangeable, and they kind of are, there is a way to differentiate them.

Farther is a word that has the small word ‘far’ in it. Thus, ‘farther’ tells you how ‘far’ something is, in actual distance that is or could be measurable. You can replace ‘farther’ with the following phrases: ‘many more mile’ ‘many more feet’ ‘many more inches’ or some other measurable phrase. Read the rest of this entry »