If you’re new to self-publishing, you might not know exactly what to expect as you go through the editing and production process. This is true even if you’re a veteran coming over from traditional publishing. It’s a lot different when you’re the project lead and need to make arrangements for every stage of revisions and […]
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Editing & Publishing: Tools of the Trade
You may have wondered about the tools editors use. A dictionary is probably the first thing that comes to mind. But which one? A grammar book, probably. Although, again, which one? There are tons of books out there for just about every grammatical and craft question you can imagine. But there are two main references […]
Read More »Publishing: How to Pre-format Your Novel with Styles in Microsoft Word
Did you know this is also available as a class with a video walk-through and template? Click here to sign up! You may be asking yourself why pre-formatting matters. There are actually some very good reasons. Revisions: An organized manuscript makes it easier for you to make revisions. It’s hard to see dialogue and such […]
Read More »Grammar: Ellipses… How to Torture a Writer with Three Tiny Dots
Ellipses are such handy little guys, but sadly very misunderstood. Some common issues I see: Question: What’s the difference between an ellipsis and ellipses?Answer: This is the easy one–ellipses is plural, ellipsis is singular. 🙂 😆 Q: How the heck do you make an ellipsis, anyway?A: The correct answer (see below, and it’s important) is that it’s three dots, evenly […]
Read More »Grammar: On Style Guides and Dictionaries
Today’s “Grammar Bite” is going to be more of a meal, so I hope you’ll forgive me, but this topic is pretty important and there’s not a short answer here. So grab a drink and then we’ll dive in. It’s not uncommon for friends who don’t write or edit to ask me how I decide on […]
Read More »Grammar: Passive Voice and the Word Was
I had a friend email me a sample edit today that she’d gotten from another editor. She was a bit confused because the editor had flagged every instance of the word “was” as “passive voice.” I actually run across this from time to time, so I thought I’d post here. If you already know this, […]
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