A lot of authors come to me convinced there’s a sacred path: Start at Chapter One.March to Chapter Two.Trek forward in a tidy, straight line—just like readers will. News flash: that tidy line? It drives most writers bonkers. Here’s the trick nobody mentions early on: you don’t have to write in order. Really. You can…
Let’s cut to the chase. You want your book to be good. Of course you do. You want it to be moving, beautiful, polished—at the very least good enough that you don’t flinch when you read it back aloud. Maybe you imagine a future reader crying at just the right part, or laughing because your…
In addition to my editing and writing work, I also teach writing skills classes to college students. It’s a pretty basic course, and covers all the things that they learned back in grade school, most of which have been long forgotten, if they were even paid attention to in the first place. A recent…
You’ve worked and slaved and worried about everything from word count to character development to a compelling plot to a great ending. Now your book is done (you think), and the next step is editing. How do you find the right editor? There are so many out there, and it’s so hard to choose. Here…
Expansion can be very exciting…it can also be very nerve-wracking. As I work to expand Editing By Sue, I am experiencing both of those feelings in abundance. But this post isn’t about me, it’s about you. So with that, please allow me to introduce you to Editing—And More—By Sue. While editing is my first love,…
It’s not a day off from work. We don’t get to take a three-day weekend. There are no special sales at the mall. For those of us in the editing community, however, today is a very important day—National Grammar Day.
Why, you ask, would an editor give advice on how to save you money on her services? Won’t that make less money for her, you ask? In the short term, yes. But looking at the bigger picture, you’ll get a better editing job if I don’t have to worry as much about the small stuff….
We all get so caught up in our businesses, working, meeting deadlines, and just getting through all the personal and professional obligations that greet us each day that we don’t take the time to learn something new. It seems to me that learning should be an ongoing process, one that never stops.
I’ve been tagged by author and friend Michael Stephen Daigle. He answered four questions, and he challenged me to do the same. So here goes:
As an editor, college writing skills teacher, and avid reader, I am constantly bemoaning the demise of the English language, more specifically correct grammar and spelling. When I teach my college students writing skills, we start with the absolute basics, like parts of speech, and go from there. I’m often shocked and dismayed by what…
