Etymology rabbit holes, craft advice, and some serialized fiction from a few years back that I have decided not to be embarrassed about.
My rates are $0.045 to $0.06 per word for a line edit, $0.03 to $0.045 for a copyedit, and $0.02 to $0.03 for a proofread, with an editorial assessment running $1,200 to…
Most first novels run 70,000 to 100,000 words, with adult fantasy and science fiction going up to about 120,000 and young adult sitting lower at 60,000 to 90,000. Page…
A copyedit makes your sentences correct, fixing grammar, punctuation, usage, and continuity while leaving the sentences standing. A line edit rewrites sentences that are…
In a fantasy sample I read for eight things, roughly in this order: whether the opening promise matches the book, how many invented proper nouns arrive before the reader…
Why is it called a biscuit? IS THERE A MONSCUIT?
Chalk it up or Chock it up?
During a recent telephone conversation, I mentioned that a client had just sent the last revisions for her twentieth novel. There was a silence on the other side of the…
Copywriting is a field where practice and education go a long way. If you find that you’re a good writer, the only additional skill you need is to write in a way that…
They ran at breakneck speed, not stopping until nightfall.
Practically flying, she burst through the cabin door, a breathless tornado. “Get up! Gather only what you absolutely must!” She shouted as she began to gather things…
Pain shot down her arm as her shoulder slammed against the packed earth. There was no warehouse in this Other Earth. Her first visit here had been when she was a child…
She ran. What else could she do? Though her lungs burned for more oxygen, she ran. Bare feet stumbling over exposed roots, she ran. Branches whipped her face. If she…