Writers On The Move

The Value of a Good Editor

There is an Appropriate Hat for every Story
Photo by Linda Wilson

One of my writing pet peaves is that authors often get credit that their partnership with their editor(s) is due. Perhaps, if you wade through the "Acknowledgements," you might appreciate the number of people it takes for the author to arrive at the finished/polished product. I confess, I read the
"Acknowledgements," but really, how many readers can be relied on to do that?

Preaching to the choir a bit here, but, we writers know how valuable an editor's opinion is, from pros to critique groups, family and friends; and for children's stories, kids. Others' ideas and opinions open up worlds that may not have been considered. One of my instructors once told me one doesn't write a book, one re-writes a book.

Start by Changing Hats
It is crucial to keep your writer's hat on to revise as much as possible before asking someone else to read your work. If you're a beginner, you may need more advise than a more experienced writer. I know I did and still do. So, if what you offer is the best you can do, after running through your own checklist(s), then be satisfied with that. An editor once told me that I am going to "make it." You know why? No matter how much she finds that needs revision, I'm grateful for her insights and always work to improve by considering her advice. The writers who never give up, she says, are the ones who succeed. For it is well known (to quote the lovely phrase read often in Alexander McCall Smith's books), the best way to learn to write is to: Write!

When it's time to don your editor's hat, run through a checklist to make sure you've covered as many bases as possible. Start with a standard list and add to it as you become more experienced. My list has blossomed into a folder and encompasses the three types of writing I've focused on so far: articles, short stories and now, children's novels.

Basic checklist for a children's story
Make sure your story has:

an intriguing title
a beginning, middle and end
each paragraph that contains a beginning, middle and end
a beginning and end that compliment each other. A common way to view this is that your story has come full circle; your ending circles back to the beginning
a story arc: the action builds to a climax and ends quickly
an intriguing story problem
a main character who grows and changes by the end
REAL CONFLICT, which is the basis of a good story
action that is not predictable
age-appropriate names and content that is appropriate
everything explained clearly
"kid friendliness"--cut "adult" words and references

A Peek at Editor Know-How
Back in the day (in the '90s), I dipped a toe as a correspondent for our local newspaper. My very first published article, now framed and resting on my wall, suffered losing my beautiful, well-thought-out title to a drastic editor-knows-best change. After that, my poignant summaries and heartfelt endings in many articles suffered the last and sometimes multiple paragraph cuts at the end, for lack of space. Most painful, was the cut in pay (pay, you say? Yes, those were the days when newspaper correspondents got paid) I suffered at the lens of my husband, whose accompanying photograph made one-third more than my article. It's how I grew my first layer of skin. The bonus: I learned to enjoy editors' economy of words. I wouldn't call our exchanges conversations, exactly, but in the editors' rushed and few words, I understood what was expected of me; and learned to skip-the-chit-chat, easy with even a glimpse at the volume of paper on my editors' desks.

Today, it is doubtful that any local publication can pay its writers (hopefully some do), but writing for them for free still gives writers the benefit of working with an editor (and getting published). Just for fun, here is a short list of some of the ways editors have helped my pieces and stories see print

(albeit, not without some degree of pain):

For one of my short stories the editor cut off my ending and ended the story "early"--inwardly a move I didn't like; but I held my tongue and once published, I saw the wisdom. Lesson: it's best to be agreeable with your editor unless her change, in your opinion, compromises your story's intregity. In my case, her idea improved the story a great deal.
In another story, the same editor asked me to add an ending and suggested what she'd like to see. It took me about two minutes to add the ending she suggested. She emailed me right back and was delighted with what I had done, and amazed that the change came so quickly. I chalked the speed of my reaction up to a rapport we had established and her expertise at knowing how to take my story where it needed to go.
For an article I researched and interviewed over many months time, my editor loved the piece, but the competition at the magazine was so fierce that she had to fight to get my article published. The outcome is one of my proudest pieces, to date.
Saved the best for last: one prominent children's magazine bought three of my articles, paid me, and yet hasn't published one of them so far. It was great to get paid, but I'd really rather see the articles in print. Go figure!

Next month: Critique Group Do's and Don'ts

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has

published over 100 articles for adults and children and six short

stories for children. Recently, she completed Joyce Sweeney's

online fiction and picture book courses. She is currently

working on several projects for children. Follow

Linda on Facebook.

Deliberate Practice and the Writer

woodleywonderworks / Foter / CC BY

If you want to be the very best writer you can be, if you want to master your writing craft, it is going to take practice and you will have to do it deliberately.

If you have not heard of deliberate practice, it's a thing!

John Hayes, a cognitive psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University, spent many years researching talented individuals like Mozart and Picasso to understand how they became masters of their craft. He discovered a common thread - it took them 10 years! Further research found this was true of other notable people, as well.

Time was not the only key, but "deliberate practice" - a theory identified through the research of Swedish psychologist, Dr. K. Anders Ericsson - involving consistent and deliberate work to improve performance. This concept believes innate talent isn't the indicator of success, but practicing methods for improved performance.

Some do not agree with this theory in its entirety, believing that talent does play a part, but I think we can glean some solid information.

Deliberate practice may be common with musicians, athletes, and painters. But how can it apply to writing? Writer/Editor Chris Jones says this:

The concept of deliberate practice demands that you acquire new writing skills or strengthen weaker ones while building on the existing foundation you've already established.

It is making time to consistently and deliberately practice, resulting in improvement and mastery. Jones suggests identifying your top 2 or 3 areas of weakness and setting aside 30 minutes a day on focusing to make those areas stronger.

Author and writing teacher Barbara Braig suggests writing down the skills you are good at. Next, list the areas which you know need improvement. If you need to write more complex sentences, learn about sentence structure and practice writing sentences with more than one clause. If your characters are not believable, read excerpts from your favorite author. List those things the author does to make the story good. Ask yourself how many of those things you can do and how many you need to learn.

My first published article had to be written in Chicago style. Do you know the difference between Chicago and AP? I didn't. If I'm going to continue to write articles, I need to practice writing in both of those styles until it becomes second nature.

The key is to schedule time regularly for practice. It will be work. You will be stretched. You might even get bored. Yet, the results are in and it is enough to motivate and inspire - whether you are just starting out or you are a seasoned writer.

***

After raising and homeschooling her 8 children and teaching art classes for 10 years, Kathy has found time to pursue freelance writing. She enjoys writing magazine articles and more recently had her story, "One of a Kind", published in The Kids' Ark. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at

When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com

Three Energizing Tips for Writers

Image courtesy of Aleksa D at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Summer holidays feel far away. The golden Autumn days and Thanksgiving serve as a reminder that Christmas is ahead and then the angst sets in. So much to do, so little time. You just have to think that and you can feel the energy draining from your body.

Boost Energy by Doing Something New

Forget all the past projects gathering dust in the far corners of your computer. What would you really like to do?

Try a new course. It doesn't have to cost. Sign up for Sarah Arrow's 30 Day Bogging Challenge to increase your visibility and get daily emails with tips and advice on improving your blog. Or try Sue Fleckenstein's 30 Day PLR challenge which I found through downloading her free e-book on using your plr.
Do something else entirely. Start a new website. Learn to dance the salsa. Think of something you enjoyed as a child. Do it again, Have fun.

Boost Energy by Writing Something New

Experiment. Have fun. Write short Christmas stories you can publish on Kindle. Choose a new genre. Turn writing time into play time.
Look for new markets and new submission guidelines. Try for higher paying markets. What's the worst they can do? Say no. Just keep trying till you find out what works.
Writing for cash? Try ghostwriting e-books for local firms, memoirs for elderly grandparents to leave to their family, use up all that plr you always meant to do something with.

Boost Energy with Exercise

Bet you're tired of hearing that one. But it works. A quick walk works. Three ten minute walks equal one of thirty minutes. But if you've been deskbound for too long, even one small walk can be a struggle.
Start slowly. If you do too much at once, you can set yourself back by weeks. Have a look at these one minute videos. They worked for me--Sciatica gone--Hurrah. They are coming out weekly from now until the New Year on my new Energy blog.
Dance, sing, enjoy life. Have fun. Then write about it.

And once you're feeling brighter...

Prioritize your goals. Follow Debra Eckerling's advice on goal setting to achieve at least one completed project before the New Year.

Anne Duguid Knol

A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at Author Support : http://www.authorsupport.net .

Energized Writer: http://www.energizedwriter.com is her new blog which aims to keep writers healthy of not wealthy although they spend hours seated behind computers.

Her Halloween novella, ShriekWeek is published by The Wild Rose Press and is also included in the Hauntings in the Garden anthology. (Volume Two)

Time she wrote something else...

26 Reasons a Writer Should Blog - Part 6

Have you ever noticed how some of the most difficult letters to write about come near the end of the alphabet? Well, perhaps apart from Q that is!

Each month we've taken the next few consecutive letters of the alphabet and selected one word representing each letter. We're now getting to some tough choices. What will the next four be? T, U, V and W.

If you've been with me since the beginning of this series, by now your writers' blog should be looking good. So as we approach the final seven letters, let's dig deep. The points from this post and next month's can put the final touch to your really great blogs.

So here we go!

20. T is for Title. Brian Clark of Copy Blogger gives these startling statistics:

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. See what that looks like >>>

He adds, "Without a headline or post title that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist."

Wow! We need to come up with some innovative titles. I have a confession. I have only recently realized how important blog titles are. I know how important titles are to my books or articles, but somehow I missed the point when it came to my blog titles. So we have thrilling titles like "26 Reasons a Writer Should Blog - Part 6!"

It's too late to change the titles for this series, but I'm going to put a lot of thought into future posts I promise you!

So how do you choose a good title? Here are two sites where you will get some brilliant ideas.

10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas that Work. The writer gives some new twists to old methods.
How to Craft Post Titles That Will Draw Readers Into Your Blog. Some excellent advice available here.

21. U is for Undivided Attention.

We often hear how important it is to separate our writer from our editor. We should allow our internal writer to get down on "paper" a.k.a. screen, what she wants to say. Only then should we allow our internal editor to come along with her red pen and make corrections.

I don’t find that easy, do you? When I sit to write, my own personal editor perches on my shoulder and points out all the things I need to correct. I battle to concentrate on a first draft without doing repeated alterations along the way.
By blogging to a theme, I know where I want to go. Once I sit to write, it is much easier to concentrate and go flat out. Try this yourself. You can give your post your undivided attention. I know it will only take about half-an-hour max if I don’t allow myself to get distracted.

Images can come later. Anecdotes can be added. I sometimes type in capitals ANECDOTE and keep going. Don't stop to look for the write illustration. You'll get distracted. Just write! Focus! Get down the main points. This is all good training for your longer pieces of writing. Once you've drafted the article, go through again and look for suitable images, anecdotes, or even links to other posts.

22. V is for Value.

If your reader doesn't get value out of your post, and by that I mean every post, she will not come back. Bottom line: every post must contain value. So how do you do that?

Picture your readers before you start. Have them in your mind, and write your post TO them. Think of the problems they may have with what you have to say and address those problems. Make your post applicable to every one of them.
Write about issues of interest to you. Share your passion with your reader. Get excited. Let them see why. As you bubble over on the page, they will get caught up in your enthusiasm, and want to read on.

Be a perfectionist. Benjamin Franklin once said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Don't do that! Have a plan and stick to it. To give you another quote, Norman Vincent Peele said, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

So aim at 100% perfection every post, and you should turn out high quality posts that will keep your readers coming back for more.

23 W is for Word Count

A common myth is that the ideal length of a post should be 500-600 words, or it should all fit within a screen so the reader doesn't need to scroll. That no longer makes sense as many people read on tablets or smartphones. Take a look at some of the most popular blogs, like Copyblogger or Huffington Post, and you will see far longer posts.

Here are a few points to consider:

Readers have short attention spans and are short on time. So if your blog is longer, it must also be scannable. Plenty of headers, different colored fonts and images will help them leap through the article searching for the one treasure they want to stop and unpack.
Keep to short posts if you are posting daily. You're not likely to be able to keep up with longer posts on a daily basis, nor will your readers.
Longer posts are better for SEO and Google prefers them.
Posts that are longer also increase your likelihood of valuable backlinks.
The longer posts are most likely to be shared. According to Forbes: "It has been found that posts which contain more than 1,500 words gained 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes. In other words, the longer the post, the more it will get shared."
Bottom line? There is no right or wrong answer. Go with what works for you. Some posts may be longer than others. It's up to you. The important factor is the readability of your blog. Can you hold your readers' interest for the duration? Or is your longer post easy to zip through looking for the meatier bits?

Which point in this blog helps you the most? Share it in a comment below.

Top 10 Fears Freelance Writers Face That Keep Them from Moving Ahead

by Suzanne Lieurance, the Working Writer's Coach

Is fear keeping you from a career as a successful freelance writer? Here are some common fears that keep many people from the writing career of their dreams.

#1 Fear of Getting Started

Many people who say they want to become a freelance writer are so afraid to take the first step and commit to starting a writing career. It’s fun to talk about becoming a writer. But it’s just plain scary to actually start doing what it takes to build a freelance writing business, and many people are too afraid to take the first step.

#2 Fear of Not Being Qualified

Many writers, especially those who are just starting to freelance, are afraid to apply for well-paying jobs because they feel they aren’t qualified for them. Successful freelance writers know it’s good to have some training and experience in the types of writing they wish to do for pay, but they aren't afraid to apply for jobs or assignments that seem a little beyond their experience or training.

#3 Fear of What and How to Charge for Services

Many writers are afraid of getting clients because they won’t know what to charge for their writing services.

#4 Fear of Deadlines

It’s fun to think about living the freelancing life, where you have no bosses or office hours. But the thought of constant deadlines, scares some writers because they think they won’t be able to meet those deadlines.

#5 Fear of Going After Clients & Assignments

New writers are afraid to look for clients or assignments. They’d rather clients and assignments come to them, but this doesn’t happen (at least not at first).

#6 Fear of Working With Clients

Many writers are afraid to go after clients because they’re afraid they’ll actual get some clients and then they won’t know how to work with them.

#7 Fear of Success

Many writers actually fear what success will do to them. They think it will change them too much and either their friends and family won’t like them anymore or they will have to do things they don’t want to do.

#8 Fear of Writer’s Block

Many writers are afraid they’ll get an assignment then they’ll develop a case of writer’s block and they won’t be able to complete the assignment.

#9 Fear of Rejection

Rejection is just part of the writing life. Yet many writers are afraid of rejection so they put off sending out queries and letters of introduction.

#10 Fear of Judgment

Once a job has been completed, it’s out there for people to read. And readers can be critical of what they read. Sometimes writers dread the thought of anyone reading and judging their work (even though readers may actually like what they read) so they avoid sending it our or they avoid looking for clients and writing assignments.

If you’re struggling to build a successful freelance writing career, see if some of these common fears are keeping you from moving ahead. Once you recognize your fears, it will be easier to overcome them.

Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, writing coach, certified life coach, and the author of over 30 published books. For more tips, resources, and other helpful information about writing and the business of writing, get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com.

Achieving Goals by End of the Year

I think most writers would agree. Between writing, promoting and your personal life, there’s never enough time to do everything. Sometimes it feels like there’s never enough time to do anything.

Even if most of your goals this year have fallen by the wayside, I want you to have a win by the end of the year. Here’s what you can do to make it happen.

1. Pick a goal. Just one. It can be a goal you stated at the beginning of the year or a new goal you acquired during this year’s journey. The only requirement is it be actually do-able by the end of the year.

Want to write a draft of a book? Revise a draft? Start a blog? Fine. However, the goal must be something that is in your power to achieve. If your goal is to find an agent by the end of the year, there are no guarantees, since you have no control over who reads your queries and proposals when. What you do have control over is the effort you make to find an agent. So the goal to send 10 or 20 queries out by the end of the year is doable.

2. Write down what it takes. Make a list of everything you need to do to accomplish your goal. It could be a chronological list of actual things. For example, if you are starting a blog, write down everything you need to do to create it (url, logo, colors, design, about page, contact, blog posts, etc.). Yes, if the goal is to complete a draft of the book, perhaps your list will be chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, and so on.

3. Get it done. Spend a dedicated amount of time each week to put toward your goal. Set appointments in your calendar for work time. As you accomplish the things on your list, check them off. Stay on schedule, work consistently, and don’t give up. You’ll achieve your goal by the end of the year!

It's surprising what you can accomplish when you have a plan and decided to stick to it. The win will feel so good, you’ll have a mental running start toward achieving your next goal.

Good luck. You can do it!

* * *

Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group.

She is the host of the Guided Goals Podcast and author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages.

She is an editor at Social Media Examiner and a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

It's World Teachers' Day

When Grammarly.com asked me to share their infograph on celebrating the teachers of the world, I said, "Oh Yeah!"

My younger daughter has been a NYC public grammar school teacher for 12 years. She works diligently to help her students learn the work at hand and become better world citizens.

Teachers help children become tomorrow's workforce, leaders, and heroes. They deserve our recognition and praise.

According to a Japanese proverb, “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” There’s truth in those words, as anyone who has ever had a great teacher will know!

October 5 is World Teachers’ Day, a day to celebrate educators around the world. Teaching is incredibly difficult (and often thankless) work, yet it might just be the world’s most important job. Teachers can and do change lives every day. They inspire generations of students to think, learn, create, and accomplish things they never believed they could do.

There are twenty-nine million primary school teachers around the world, but we still need more. Over three million more, in fact. So, in recognition of teachers and the indispensable work they do, we have created an infographic to highlight their importance around the world:

Thanks for letting us share this, Grammarly!

Be sure to check out Grammarly's Plagiarism Checker:
https://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker

FOR SOME WRITING AND MARKETING TIPS:

Shaun the Sheep and Marketing with Animation

Should Authors Profit from Advertising When it Benefits Their Audience

10 Bad Writing Habits to Break