Books and writing are the core of my life. I edit books, write books, and teach writing. I love this work, and will be happy to provide any editorial or writing service you need.
This is my chance to indulge in some of my favorite topics: books I’m reading; writing advice, my own and that of accomplished writers; what I learn from my students in my classes; and, oh yes, my soapbox, where I rant—mildly—about anything related to writing and publishing that makes me say “What?”
I also get to showcase amazing photographs taken by some of my favorite people. (In my next life, I want to be a photographer.)
I was pleased to see an op-ed in the New York Times a few weeks ago that addressed weak language construction. That is, using the phrase “I feel like” to precede stating an opinion, belief, preference, et cetera. The writer made the essay more political than I would have liked; I was hoping for an in-depth discussion of how we all use qualifiers and word clutter when we speak and write. I have … [Read more...]
I seem to be caught in a time warp with what I’m reading these days. It began with my interest in women detectives. A couple of months ago I searched Google for fictional women detectives, looking particularly for books set in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Among others, I found The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King, first published in 1994. I read it, loved it, and mentioned it to … [Read more...]
A couple of years ago, I gave the students in one of my adult writing classes an assignment—for the next class, they were to bring in a short piece, 1-3 pages, of something that they had difficulty writing. Maybe dialogue, maybe first-person point of view, maybe a fight scene (fight scenes can be quite challenging). The first student who read, John, had a page-long description of a tree-covered … [Read more...]
In a conversation I had with my mother and older brother, my brother talked about the books that had the biggest impact on him when he was growing up. Since I read a lot as a child as well, and since my entire professional life has revolved around books, they looked expectantly at me to see what books I would name that influenced me as a teenager. I quickly riffled through my memory banks, … [Read more...]
When I used to work for Bantam Books, I occasionally was tasked with writing back cover copy for books that I had edited. I should say, rewriting. Bantam did have copywriters, but my boss, Carolyn, was a perfectionist when it came to back cover copy. After all, along with a book’s title and the cover, copy is vital to convincing a customer to carry that book she just picked up over to the cash … [Read more...]
