Blog

  • Image

    Image

    I dodge raindrops. Through the camera on my cellphone, I frame the world. Then I cut the it up. Pummel the image in photoshop and slap bleeding slivers of it on my blog. Smile for the camera, you’re up next on my digital dissection table. The crop tool will cut you now. Resize, sharpen, apply a bit of curve and only a fragment out… Read more

  • Maintaining the Fictional Dream

    Maintaining the Fictional Dream

    As writers we’re charged with the responsibility of drawing the reader in, making him care about the character and identify with the characters. To do that, we must create and maintain the fictional dream. There’s an article on that on the website in the Writers’ Aids section, but let me say here that it is… Read more

  • How much should you write every day?

    How much should you write every day?

    “Write 10,000 Words Everyday is Terrible Advice” so says @virajpatel24 on Medium.com and I agree with him. I’ve seen a lot of posts lately here and on Medium.com about word counts mixed in with advice about how to write. These posts came up during a search for editing/revising advice and curiosity made me read them. Who doesn’t… Read more

  • For My Sister

    For My Sister

    Today you would have turned 31, but death cut you off at 29. Your last words still ring in my ears: Promise me that you’ll publish it–that you’ll publish all of it. I promised then and I promise it again now because you asked it off me. I will publish it–all of it. I had… Read more

  • Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!

    Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!

    I’m taking a break from editing/rewriting today to attend the NY Renaissance Fair in Sterling Forest. I’m so excited! Having no running water Thursday night through this morning at my apartment, I feel like I’m halfway to the renaissance already. Losing power overnight added to the effect. I hope all is restored to normal by… Read more

  • Inspired

    Inspired

    Jodi Taylor, author of the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, which I love by the way, got her start by self-publishing. She published the first Chronicles of St. Mary’s story as an ebook! (I love that book by the way: Just One Damned Thing After Another) If you like history, time travel and a lot of comedy, her Chronicles of St.… Read more

  • Over Edited?

    Over Edited?

    Is it possible to over edit a piece? If you removed all instances of the ‘to be’ verb, ‘ly’ words and filter words, are you left with an over edited piece? Or a polished gem? I ask because I wrote 1200 words last night without using a single ‘ly’ word, ‘to be’ verb or filter… Read more

  • Eliminating Filter Words

    Eliminating Filter Words

    There’s a great post about filter words penned by Cecilia Lewis that I found thanks to a comment Aeryn Rudel left on my previous blog entry. (Thank you Aeryn and thank you Celia!) I’m adding filter words to my list of words that need to be sought out and destroyed. I was dithering over a few of them yesterday.… Read more

  • Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…

    Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…

    I have killed all three hundred and eighty words that end with ‘ly’. Yes those dreaded adverbs. In doing so, I found an alarming pattern. Here’s my top  ‘ly’ offenders, in order of assassinations: suddenly, actually, exactly and  finally. Now I know what to watch out for. What are yours top offenders? What ‘ly’ words sneak… Read more

  • Killing Adverbs

    Killing Adverbs

    Have you killed any adverbs lately? It’s very cathartic. Just run a search for ‘ly’ and see what you find. Why am I doing this? I bought a book on copyediting to aid me in my quest to copyedit my own work. Deleting words ending in ‘ly’ or replacing them with stronger verbs, claimed the… Read more