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…
Writing a manuscript is an accomplishment to be proud of, but transforming your first draft into a polished final draft requires careful editing and revision. Here are some tips to guide you through these crucial stages. Take a Break After finishing your first draft, take a break. Partly because you deserve it, but also because…
In Part One, we discovered that a ghostwriter can indeed make your work sound just like you wrote it yourself. Part Two answered the question, ‘who owns the finished product, the author or the ghostwriter?’ In Part Three, let’s talk about three simple reasons why you will use a ghostwriter. Lack of time: Not many…
In our first look at the misconceptions surrounding ghostwriters, we discussed voice. If someone else writes your work, will it sound like your voice? Short answer: yes. So now that we know the work sounds like you, we need to know, does it actually belong to you? No matter what you hire a ghostwriter to…
You’re a business expert. You know your stuff in your chosen industry. You’ve had years of experience. Why not share your knowledge with potential clients? There’s no better way to do that than to write a book. Here are just a few ways a book can help you: A book will position you as an…
You use a calendar to keep all of your important appointments, right? Doctors, dentists, date night, kids’ pick-ups? You’d be lost without your calendar. Why not keep a calendar of important events or news in your industry. Then, when it’s time to write your blog or newsletter, you’ll have your ideas all ready to go!…
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…
It goes without saying in today’s technological society that nearly everyone uses the Internet to search for information they want. Looking for a house painter? Google it. Looking for a good book to read? Try Goodreads or Amazon. Want to know what time that movie you’ve been dying to see is playing? You can check…
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…
