Writing and Publishing News from

When you work with an editor, it is lovely when you sing her praises—tell others about her work, hand out her business cards and so forth. We editors really appreciate it. But please, please do not give your editor credit for work that she hasn’t done.

Here’s what I mean. Yesterday, a client showed me a package she had sent to an agent she met at a writer’s conference. She introduced me in her cover letter as her editor. Nice. I was pleased. That is, until I read her sample chapters.

She had written over me. In other words, after I did my preliminary editing on her first draft some months ago, she did a bunch of rewriting. Without having me look at it again, she sent it off to this agent. The agent marked all over the manuscript, pointing out misused apostrophes, typos, misspelled words, a missing dash (which I had edited in and she didn’t use) and all sorts of other problems. He even made a note on the cover letter next to my name, “Editor? How so?”

Needless to say, I was embarrassed and a bit miffed. I know that this author did not do this maliciously. In fact, she was trying to give me credit. But I had to tell her that you never, NEVER write over an editor in any large measure and then give your editor credit. Your editor doesn’t get credit until the manuscript is in its final stage and you have accepted most of her edits and suggestions. If you rewrite the manuscript or large portions of it, without running this by your editor, and then you credit your editor, you may not be doing her any favors. In fact, you might even put a black mark on her reputation.

Learn more about how to do self-editing and how to work with an editor in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

I read someplace that you are not supposed to apologize for being lax in posting at your blogsite. I find this a difficult policy to follow as I have pretty much spoiled you with fresh postings daily over many months. Some of you have become accustomed to hopping over to my blog every day and checking out my offerings.

This week, however, I have been remiss in posting. Why? I’ve been singularly focused on editing a manuscript for a client. This was the final edit, mind you. For months, I’ve been editing this novel chapter-by-chapter, ever eager to see the entire manuscript as a whole. Finally, I got that opportunity, and I spent the next 45 hours in editor mode.

One evening, as I was going over printed pages for a different perspective, after spending the day looking at the manuscript on the monitor, it occurred to me that I was treating this project as if it was one of my own books. Editing is definitely a complex, involved process, but the final edit is incredibly more intense as you must consider so many aspects of the manuscript.

This is when you finalize the story, triple check for inconsistencies, decide which spellings to use, make sure that the story events are realistic and reasonable or, in the case of a nonfiction book, that the organization is right on and the instructions are clear.

Is the person and tense consistent throughout? Will you use Americanized or UK English spelling? Have you made your point? When you changed a character’s name, did you make the change throughout? (Often, I discover discrepancies in this area, particularly in novels.) Are the dates true and realistic? (If the child was born in 1907 and his father dies 5 years later, you can’t later say he was a teen when his father died.) Which terms in your story are two words and which are one? Is it wood stove or woodstove, stair case or staircase, pack horse or packhorse, hand gun or handgun? Find out and then be consistent.

And then there are, of course, grammatical considerations: Are the sentences complete? Are they clear and concise? Do your sentences flow into one another so that readers can follow your story or the information you offer?

It takes a great deal of concentration, focus, thought and time to do that last edit. You must pay attention to detail like never before. I told someone this week that, when editing, I feel like my daughter’s Beagle when he is on a scent—driven and all-consumed.

How do you go about that final edit (which I have to say isn’t always THE final one—as, often, you are drawn to go back to your manuscript again and again to check on various aspects that come to mind)? Here are some of my techniques and tactics:

• I study the entire manuscript and make corrections and notations on the computer.

• I print out sections of the manuscript as I’m working and look at it again on paper. You may be surprised at what you will catch—things you didn’t notice, when viewing it on the screen.

• When I find a word I’m unsure of or a discrepancy, I check the usage, spelling or whether it should be one or two words and fix it. Then I do a search for other instances of this word or term so I can make them conform.

• I double check dates and spellings of names. In the manuscript I just completed for a client, for example, he used a name that required an accent over the “e.” Yet, sometimes, the accent was missing. These had to be fixed.

• I watch for red flags indicating that the order of things may be incorrect. Is the character coming from or going to the coffee shop? Did she already have the bicycle in this scene or did she attain it later? If she poured herself a cup of coffee, she cannot be now sipping tea…

• I make sure that the content is easy to understand and follow.

• Is the formatting consistent and reasonable?

• What about punctuation?

• Is the numbering of the chapters correct? I have seen authors delete a chapter or combine chapters and forget to change the numbering. Likewise, do the chapter titles in the manuscript match the titles in the Table of Contents? (We’ve all been known to change titles of chapters midstream.

• If the author has established a style of beginning each chapter with a Biblical passage or ending each chapter with a riddle, has he done so throughout?

• Are the historical aspects of your historical novel realistic?

• Are your facts and statistics accurate?

Yes, there’s a lot to think about before you finalize your manuscript and start pitching it to a publisher or agent or before you self-publish it. And this is precisely why you need at least one additional pair of eyes—preferably eyes that are trained to spot problems—to review your book before you consider it finished.

Learn more about self-editing in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. You’ll also find valuable information about how to choose an editor and what to expect from him/her. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

For a quote on editing your book or article manuscript, contact me at: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Are you trying to make ends meet by submitting articles to magazines? I think most of you, who read my blog regularly, know that I made my living writing articles for magazines for many years. Some of you do so occasionally. But, when times get financially difficult and you need extra money, you might decide to expand your article-submission activities.

Probably the number one problem facing article writers is, coming up with the article idea. And that’s why I blog about this from time to time. Today, I’m going to talk about discovering and creating article ideas when you’re not in work mode—sitting at your computer, brainstorming over your morning coffee or even meditating, for example.

Develop article ideas (and for that matter, story ideas, plots, subplots or even poetry) throughout the course of your daily life. Get out and mingle with people, visit over the fence with neighbors, exchange emails and phone calls, try new life experiences (take the train to the next town instead of driving, adopt a cat, tour open houses on Sunday, for example). And then observe, initiate conversation and become a good listener.

Just this morning, before I had my morning decaf—my eyes still a bit bleary from sleep—I read an email from a friend in St. Louis. Sandy wrote about one of her cats who seems to be under the weather. I know that she is in the middle of remodeling her home and I thought back to when we had some major work done around here and how much stress it seemed to put on a couple of our cats. Immediately, I decided to pitch an article to Cat Fancy Magazine on how to de-stress your cat or maybe how to keep your cat calm even when your household is chaotic. (I’ll do some research and see if this is something they’ve done recently or if there is an angle that hasn’t been covered, yet.)

I had a conversation with someone the other day about inside versus outside kitties. I won’t be suggesting that idea to the editors at Cat Fancy, unless the piece is totally pro inside cat, as this is what they advocate. Nor would I write a piece for them that would in any way upset cat breeders as these are Cat Fancy’s major supporters/advertisers .

What are you doing with the information, thoughts, points of view, observations, etc. that you come across throughout your day? Do you consider how you could develop an article from them or does the idea just dissipate as quickly as it appears? Think about some of the article ideas you missed just this week. For example:

1: Are you dealing with unusual weather for your area? How about an article for a regional magazine featuring some of the county’s worst weather over the years. Talk to local nursery-people about which plants/trees need to be protected from frost, wind, etc. and how to do so. What are some of your neighbors and friends doing to entertain themselves in the bad weather? Collect some warming, comforting recipes to share. Start a newspaper column designed to help residents of your town connect with people, services and situations they can use in dire weather conditions, disasters or life situaitons. For example, is there a group of high school students who are shoveling driveways for the elderly, folks who run errands for shut-ins, do people need nudging (through your article or column) to get out and check on their neighbors? What about keeping pets comfortable in extreme weather? Now there’s one or many more articles right there.

2: Get out and find some ideas. As I said, listen and observe. Strike up conversations with people. You never know when you’re going to hear a fresh point of view about the economy, for example. What about this: what’s going on in the economy is similar to a wildfire in the forest. While it is disastrous at the time, it is necessary in order to bring a natural balance back to the environment. (Let me know if you use this in an article or book.) I was talking to a former classmate at our Old Broads Luncheon last week and she told me that she really wanted to attend a mutual friend’s art show, but had another engagement that day. It occurred to me how important it is for friends to support friends in their endeavors, for writers to support other writers and artists to support other artists. How about a piece featuring the value in acknowledging the accomplishments and activities of others? I remember once, during one of my first book signings, someone I knew only slightly sent a fax to the bookstore congratulating me on my latest book. This was before the Internet and the fax were commonplace.

This week, Debbie and Karen emailed me with an opportunity to write a column. I emailed Karen back to say, “thank you” and to tell her that Debbie had already sent that to me. Karen wrote saying that she remembers meeting Debbie at a SPAWN function years ago and told me how much the talk Debbie gave that night helped inspire her move forward with her own writing career. I asked writer Karen if I could send her comments to Debbie. Of course, she agreed. Now, the Debbie is aware that she touched someone in a positive way and her day was made. Isn’t this a great reminder to all of us to tell others how their kindness or their message inspired, encouraged or taught us? And wouldn’t this make a good article?

3: Even if you’re stuck at home, you can come up ideas. Turn on the radio or TV, read the newspaper, dig out those magazines you haven’t had time to read, surf the net. Oh my gosh, you will be inundated with ideas for articles on many varieties of topics from walking dogs in the winter, to tips for creative ways to photograph babies, to what goes into making a baseball, to how to groom a Cairn terrier, to a philosophical perspective on any number of topics, to how to make sure your emails are read by what you type in the Subject Line, to how to appropriately clean a toilet.

I’ve been writing this blog for over 3 years and I’ve posted over 400 blog posts. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time or if you have visited my archives, you know that I write on a variety of topics in a variety of ways. And my ideas come from all over the place. You, too, can be a fountain of article/story ideas if you would only come out of your shell, listen and observe.

You’ll find more articles on this and other writing/publishing-related topics at my site: http://www.matilijapress.com

It seems that most people I meet at writers’ group meetings and those I hear from through my blog, my website and SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network), have more reasons why they do not write than hours they put in actually writing. While many of them definitely have legitimate excuses for not writing, even though they say they truly want to, some just can’t seem to pull their lives together enough to write on a regular basis.

When you have to work full-time, devote you days to caretaking a loved one or have preschoolers in the home, you don’t have much time to spend capturing your thoughts on paper, writing your memoir or a how-to book or penning a novel. (However, I certainly know people who do this.) In fact, I work with a few clients who are living full lives AND writing a book.

There are hopeful authors who don’t have regimented and complex lives, yet who still can’t make themselves sit down and write the book that’s in their hearts. Is this you?

Whether you are wildly busy and over-committed; disorganized and lack a schedule; desirous of writing, but can’t seem to get started, there is hope. But you have to really want it and you have to be motivated.

Dedicated, committed writers all have one thing in common. They are all motivated to write. There is something that motivates, drives them, spurs them on. These people write and they actually produce written material even though it is difficult or even inconvenient.

What is the impetus or incentive that prompts some to write? That varies. For some it is the story. They have lived with a story inside long enough and they are ready to get it out. It’s almost a compulsion. Others become addicted to the process of writing. They can’t not write. Not all of these people are self-directed, though. For some of them, just the act of writing is enough. They desire only to create lovely prose or stories without any need to share them. They write in the closet. But others, of course, write primarily to be read. This is their motivation—to be published.

In this economic climate, more and more wannabe writers are becoming writers for the purpose of supplementing their income. The world will be graced with some wonderful, new writings because of it and, at the same time, tainted by many less than literary or even cohesive works.

I’ve learned that just because we want to write, doesn’t mean we have something to say or that we can say it in any sort of meaningful or eloquent way.

If you are new to writing, be sure to seek the right kind of guidance in your pursuit. Sign up for a well-recommended writing course. Join a writers’ critique group and listen carefully to what your peers say. Before deciding to go down the publishing road, study the publishing industry. And hire an editor.

In times like these, editorial assistants, book shepherds, publishing consultants, writing teachers and others are hanging out their shingles, perhaps, for the first time. When you decide it’s time to consult an expert, do your homework.

Check this person’s background.
• Study their websites/brochures to find out what they claim and what they offer.
• Read the testimonials on their website/in their brochures.
• Ask for references and then follow-up with them.
• Offer to pay an editor for a sample edit. (Some editors offer this for free.)

For additional help in the form of books, online courses and articles for hopeful and struggling authors and freelance writers, spend some time at http://www.matilijapress.com

Last night I was the speaker at the Women’s Artistic Network in Simi Valley, California. This is a group who welcomes writers, poets, artists, composers, speakers and journalists to their fold. They meet on the second Monday of the month at 7 p.m. September through June. And their members come from both Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. If you live in these counties, you are artistically inclined in any area of the arts and you desire an encouraging environment of support for your work, contact president, Margaret Brownley at mbrownley@womensartisticnetwork.org. Visit their website at: http://www.womensartisticnetwork.org
Annual dues are only $35.00.

Do you belong to a writers support group or critique group? How’s it going for you? Is it providing the networking opportunities, education and help you envisioned? What would make your experience better?

I can tell you that, while some clubs or organizations lack appropriate leadership or guidance, usually, when the member is less than satisfied it is for one or more of the following reasons:

• The member doesn’t participate to a great enough degree in order to benefit.
• The member has unreasonable expectations.
• The member tends to take more than she gives.

A club or organization is only as strong as its membership. It works best when each member uses his or her voice and when each voice is heard. Where there are discrepancies in members’ goals and visions for the club, sometimes it is necessary to create two entities from the original. Better still, when you are shopping for a club or organization, join one that meets your particular needs. Don’t join a writers group that focuses on education, professional presentations and fund-raising, if your interest is strictly in a critique group. Don’t join a nonfiction critique group if you write only fiction.

I know people who shop constantly for a writers group that suits them. They ask me where they can find a particular type of writers group. Here are my suggestions:

• Ask at your local library.
• Check with your arts council and senior center.
• Watch the calendar section of your local newspaper for writers’ events.
• Do a Google search to locate writers groups in your area.
Attend writers’ events/book fairs and ask other writers about local groups.

But some writers visit other groups and can’t find one that suits them. In this case, why not start your own? How?

• Contact writers that you know.
• Get names of other writers through your local librarian and arts council.
• Plan a meeting and put up flyers inviting other writers.
• Outline your goals for a club at your meeting and see if yours match those of others.

It’s not that hard to locate or to create a suitable writers group. It just takes a desire on your part and a little effort.

Do you have some of your own ideas about starting a writers group or maintaining a membership in one? We would like to hear about it.

I consider The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book like a writers group in paper form. Herein, you can learn, have your questions answered and acquire the resources and information you need in order to successfully write, produce and market your book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

You have only 4 days to take advantage of the Valentine’s Day offer on Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats. Order your copy by February 14, 2009 and receive a dollar back with each book you order. http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html