​Today’s post dives into the developmental side of edits. If you’ve ever received feedback from a reader who expressed confusion about your opening chapter(s), there might be too much happening. Maybe the reader doesn’t feel grounded enough. Or maybe they’re unsure about the cast of characters. The purpose of this post is to help you differentiate the major characters from the minor ones—so the reader is clear about which characters to focus on.

​Recently I’ve been hired to help an author edit and publish their picture book. She’s already written her manuscript, contacted an illustrator, and needs help with the rest of the project. What does this process look like?

Hello to all of you wonderful writers! Some of you will be reading this as a client of mine, and others will be finding this blog for the first time. I usually post tips about writing and editing, but today, I’m posting a short interview with the podcast FROM SPARK TO SHELF.

​If you’re currently writing a book, then you’ll inevitably come across areas where you need to describe the color of something, whether it's a character’s eyes, outfit, lips, hair, etc. Maybe you even need to come up with a new way to describe the night’s sky when your character is under duress (one of my favorites for that particular scenario is expressing the sky as bruise-colored).

Do you write romance? Or maybe you plan to write a romantic scene in your current work-in-progress. Either way, romantic scenes won't have as big of an impact if they're not written well. If you want to learn some tips and watch submissions be critiqued, there's a $7 workshop happening soon. 

If you've ever wondered how to write a closer (or more distant) point of view in third person, watch this short video. The video is fifteen minutes long. It gives a detailed explanation of subjective and objective point of views and how to implement them in your writing to create the story you want the reader to experience. 

​You’ve spent 30 hours a week working on your book for months or years. Every chapter has a goal, and the characters live as vivaciously on paper as they have in your head. You’ve revised the manuscript three different times, edited chapters along the way, and you’re finally finished. Your manuscript is perfect, but you’re the only one who’s read it. What now?