Editing angles to improve your writing by Barbara McNichol, nonfiction book editor with offices in Colorado and Arizona
From the category archives:
by Barbara McNichol If you don’t want your editor spending copious amounts of time changing weak verbs into emotional or visual ones, what can you do? First, watch out for “is” words and their various cousins. Stay alert to phrases like “is happening” or “was being good”; change them to “happens” or “behaved.” Search out [...]
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by Barbara McNichol When a colleague asked me to explain common one-word vs. two-word confusions as part of my Word Trippers, I came up with this list. Use it as a quick reference whenever you’re in doubt! Standby vs. stand by – Use two words when you refer to an action. “Stand by for the [...]
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by Barbara McNichol F. Scott Fitzgerald has said you don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say. When an author is too “into” doing the writing itself, the “something to say” part can get lost. I recently edited a book that fell into this trap. The author [...]
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Editor’s note: I hope you enjoy these fun ways of picking titles from Daily Writing Tips–a fabulous resource for writers. Picking a title can often be the hardest part of a writing project. Sometimes the title just comes to you, but more often than not, you have to put quite a bit of work into [...]
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by Barbara McNichol Seth Godin’s ideas find a welcome place in my inbox every day. His ability to observe our world with a twist and express his thoughts with wit tickle my appreciation for language and his ability to think outside the box. I recently rediscovered his 2008 blog post Advice for Authors, which still [...]
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by Dawn Goldberg (used with permission) Editor’s note: Dawn writes a wonderful, encouraging ezine for writers called FUEL. This post from FUEL spoke to my soul because it applies to all kinds of writing, not only to marketing pieces but to the essence of your book, too. Enjoy. You have a product or service that [...]
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by Barbara McNichol Recently, an author and I settled in to have our project-finalizing conversation before starting to edit her manuscript. Price determined. Timelines set. Anticipation high. Before we signed off, she asked with gentleness and genuine interest, “How can I be a good editing client for you, Barbara?” Quite frankly, this question blew me [...]
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by Barbara McNichol Daily Writing Tips has become a key resource for sharpening my mind about the proper use of the English language. But recently, a controversial post rocked my world by saying it’s okay to use “they” as a singular pronoun. Example: “Each person is entitled to their opinion.” To quote the post’s author Mark [...]
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by Barbara McNichol When attending the annual conference of the National Speakers Association in July/August, I challenged myself to “land” pearls of wisdom for my businss as I sifted through the copious amount of advice. Like drinking from a firehose, it’s never a easy task! Instead, I came away realizing it’s possible to harvest the wisdom of others [...]
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by Barbara McNichol I used to delude myself that watching the pros play their brand of tennis on TV would benefit my own game (even though I didn’t start playing until my 40s). I’m not sure how much technique can be picked up by watching. But what’s even more important to pick up on are [...]
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