The Graduation Language-Use Challenge
Here’s to the class of 2020! Are you ready for a graduation language-use challenge?
Here’s to the class of 2020! Are you ready for a graduation language-use challenge?
Every year at the end of NaNoWriMo, a celebration is in order. So many writers did so much great work. It’s astounding.
But that work is not yet ready for querying or self-publishing. Wait, writers! Don’t do it yet! (As someone who always cautions against too many exclamation points, you can tell how serious I am about this.)
Books need time to breathe. They need the eyes of people besides the author (and besides the author’s mom). Because I want to make sure every book gets the best chance possible, I’m holding a 5-day-only manuscript critique and substantive edit flash sale. All 2019 manuscript critiques and substantive edits booked by December 5, 2018 for fiction projects will have a 10% discount.More
People don’t always think of wordsmiths as adventurers, of book writing as exploration, or of fine-tuning a manuscript as a process of discovery, but if that’s the case, they probably haven’t heard from award-winning, bestselling, documentary-producing author Dean King.
From the subject matter he chooses to investigate to his extensive research to the captivating storytelling that results, Dean is a master writer. I’m thrilled to welcome him to my Authors on Editing interview series.
What is a question that can bring a novelist to hysterical laughter? What is sometimes a writer’s nemesis and sometimes a friend? The following interview with historical romance novelist and editor Jennifer Delamere provides the answers.
I met Jennifer at one of my Grammartopia events last fall in Durham, North Carolina, where she didn’t just compete, but her grammar prowess won the day. I admired her work before that time, of course, but getting to banter with her about the plural of mongoose and Oxford commas made me realize I’d found a kindred editorial spirit. Enjoy this interview, writers. There are a lot of great nuggets inside.
Jennifer Delamere writes tales of the past…and new beginnings. Her Victorian-set novels have won many accolades, including finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA® award, a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and the Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Excellence. Jennifer earned a B.A. in English from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she became fluent in French and developed an abiding passion for winter sports. She’s been an editor of nonfiction and educational materials for over two decades. She loves reading classics and histories, which she mines for the vivid details to bring to life the people and places in her books.More
Some writers take years upon years for a single project, and some writers produce a library in just a few rotations around the sun. Lee Savino falls into the latter category. She released seven books in 2017 and expects to release about ten novels in 2018, not to mention a few novellas.
Successful writers like this amaze me, not just for their impressive output but in their editing processes as well. All writers know that editing is an essential piece of the publishing process, but when you’re publishing so frequently, efficiency is essential.
How does she do it? The following Authors on Editing interview was set up just so I could find out!More
Many writers aspire to craft intrigue, to evoke a fascination in history and the world that we live in through page-turning plots and three-dimensional characters, but few make an impact as great as international bestseller Katherine Neville, who I am honored to have joining me for the following Authors on Editing interview.
Katherine Neville’s colorful, swashbuckling adventure novels, in the epic “Quest” tradition, have graced the bestseller lists in forty languages. But her books remain hard to pigeonhole:
Neville herself has been dubbed “the female” Umberto Eco, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and Stephen Spielberg. Her work has been reviewed and has received awards in categories as diverse as Mystery, Thriller, Historic, Romance, Science Fiction as well as classical literature. Publishers Weekly described Neville’s works as having “paved the way for books like The Da Vinci Code.” In a national poll by the noted Spanish journal, El Pais, her novel, The Eight, was voted one of the top ten books of all time.More
When people think of writers, they don’t always think of the work ethic that it requires to sit down and make a creative project come to be. There is more than just imagination required. There is dedication, determination, and a seemingly endless drive that separates a hobbyist from a professional.
Talking with a wordsmith like Sadeqa Johnson reminds me of this creative truth. Many have a literary calling, but not everyone moves from a dream to a reality, from black page to ink-covered manuscript, and from rough draft to polished final project ready to share with the world. A masterful storyteller, teacher, and inspirational speaker, Sadeqa is a writer to pay attention to. I’m honored to present you with the following interview.
Sometimes, I meet another writer and just go “Wow.” I’m inspired and in awe, and then I dive into that writer’s work and find myself saying, “Wow, wow, wow” once again. If you’ve ever met Allan Wolf, seen him perform, or read his writing, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, I’m honored to introduce you to a writer you need to know now.
When I discover powerful writers who are also teachers, I’ll admit that I always get a bit excited and my questions jump out of my mouth rapid fire. Being a talented wordsmith doesn’t always mean an individual can explain the process of writing to another, and that’s why I’m excited to present the following interview with Solveig Eggerz, which is full of bite-sized takeaways for writers across any genre.
There’s a sense of serenity in Gigi Amateau’s writing that is hard to put your finger on. She tackles subject-matter that’s sometimes simple and sweet and other times multifaceted and brutal without a flinch, without hesitation, and with a lyricism to her prose that makes you want to sit under the shade of a leafy tree in the summertime and just soak it all in.
Having the chance to talk with Gigi about how her stories come to be and the editing that fine-tunes them gives me immense pleasure.