I often wondered what it would be like working with an editor. I would hear my published writer friends talk about having to do their edits and revisions and making deadlines and I could only dream about someday being able to work on my own edits and revisions. When my book was picked up by […]
editing
The Importance of Reading Your Writing Out Loud
When I ask my students if they read their papers out loud before submitting them, they usually give me a strange look, a look that seems to ask, “Well, why would we do that? What benefit will we get from that?” The answer is “A whole lot,” I tell them. Granted, my students are college […]
So You Think You Can Write
When I was offered a contract last year by Harlequin, I was not only excited but relieved as well. I believed that my writing had finally reached the point where it was publishable. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening! I was assigned to an editor and I quickly learned that my book still […]
Before You Submit
Since last September, I have been a fiction reader at a literary magazine run by the Graduate English Program at Florida State University. We receive hundreds of submissions and those submissions are divvied up amongst different readers where each story receives several reads. I am grateful for the opportunity and I highly recommend that if […]
If You Hate My Book So Much, Why Are You Publishing It?
I laughed out loud when I read a comment to this effect on a writer friend’s Facebook page. The thought she described was familiar to me, and I suspect many other writers. First there is the delight of learning that someone wants to publish your beloved story. That excitement is quickly followed by the depressing […]
