Uncategorized, Writer Encouragement
Expert Gardeners – Expert Editors
Elaine Marie Cooper It was early summer and the New England Asters were lush with leaves. But a knowledgeable…
July 23, 2016-
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The Writer's PenCaseSeamless Self-Editing—Part I
You hear it more and more these days. [bctt tweet=”Your manuscript must be “publish-ready” in order for it to…
July 8, 2016 -
Polishing Your Message, UncategorizedDon’t Do Dat – or That
Today’s tip on Polishing Your Message is . . . Don’t Do That. Do What? Overuse the word that.…
June 30, 2016 -
Grammar and Grace
Aid for Comma Splices
A writing acquaintance of mine recently posted about her disdain of the comma splice, more importantly, the proliferation of…
June 23, 2016 -
Uncategorized, Write JustifiedConfused No More
As an editor, I frequently encounter homonym errors. Someone writes whether when they intend weather. Or peek when the…
June 11, 2016 -
Create. Motivate. Inspire., SupportWrite, Wait…Marinate!
What a day. We’ve been fighting to stay in the zone, our fingers flying over the keyboard searching for…
May 18, 2016 -
Write Justified
Mind Those Apostrophes
When editors are asked to name their pet peeves, misuse of apostrophes ranks at or near the top of…
May 17, 2016 -
Grammar and Grace, UncategorizedDangling Modifiers
Last month, I overheard a conversation about dangling modifiers. Lots of laughter. Lots of confusion. Lots of questions. “What’s…
May 9, 2016 -
A Little Red Ink, EditingWhat is a critique?
What is a critique? Well, it’s one of my favorites. A critique is very much like a macro edit,…
May 7, 2016 -
Grammar and Grace
Five Words or Phrases to Avoid
Lots of time we hear verbal patterns that may be acceptable (to some people) in speech, but they are…
April 17, 2016 -
Grammar and Grace, UncategorizedFive More Confusing Word Pairs to Consider
We’re continuing to examine words that are used incorrectly. Enthused/Enthusiastic—Although enthused has become acceptable in standard usage, old school…
March 12, 2016 -
Grammar and GraceUnderstanding Lie and Lay
We’ll take a break from adding more confusing words to our list this time and focus only on…
February 9, 2016 -
Grammar and GraceFive Confusing Word Pairs
The English language has many confusing words because of all of those homonyms and synonyms (don’t even get me…
January 9, 2016 -
Magazine and FreelanceHow To Drive a Magazine Editor Crazy by Lori Hatcher
Professional, friendly and witty are words I use to describe Lori. I met her at the Blue Ridge Mountain…
December 16, 2015 -
Grammar and GraceHow to Choose the Correct Pronoun
What’s wrong with this sentence? Me and Cam finished the Army Ten-Miler. Me should be I, right? Easy. Most…
September 18, 2015 -
Publishing PerspectivesHandling Editing With Grace
Writing a book can be hard work. Then you polish it: more hard work. Then there’s the hard work…
August 29, 2015 -
A Little Red Ink, EditingWhy Hire an Editor?
Why hire an editor if you’ve got a great critique group and you’re a grammar stud? Answer: A fresh…
August 20, 2015 -
Grammar and GraceBook List for Editing
Punctuation and grammar come easily to me. I remember rules from elementary school, can recite a whole list of…
August 10, 2015 -
Polishing Your MessageThree Steps to Confident Feedback
Ever ask a friend’s, relative’s or colleague’s opinion on something you’ve written? You wait patiently, trying not to stare,…
July 19, 2015 -
A Little Red Ink
Dialogue Tips
When you write dialogue, think like a screenwriter. Every minute of screen time, every word counts. Don’t add fluff. …
July 10, 2015 -
EditingBe a Reader First
One of the key ingredients you should look for when hiring an editor is a love of reading. I…
June 25, 2015 -
A Little Red Ink
Character Motivation
Everybody wants something. Why do YOU want to write, for example? Maybe you want to write a book for…
June 12, 2015
