How To Self-Edit That First Lousy Draft

July 10th, 2023  |  Season 7  |  15 mins 39 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, editing, writers, writing, writing tips

All first drafts are lousy. It's part of the process. It's how you fix that first draft that establishes you as a quality writer.

Making Painful Edits

June 5th, 2023  |  Season 6  |  10 mins 8 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, editing, virtual balticon, writers, writing, writing tips

It’s hard to cut out scenes or characters that you love, but your story may be better off without them. How do you learn to recognize when something has to go, and how do you reconnect any threads that run through the parts you’re removing?

Finding My Way Out Of The Eternal Revision Round About

March 7th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  5 mins 42 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, editing, revision, writers, writing, writing tips

The problem with being a writer is we can always edit and revise and change and improve things. How do we know it's time to stop?

3 Things To Consider... BEFORE 'Fixing' Your Manuscript

January 18th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  7 mins 4 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, editing, querying, writers, writing, writing tips

How Do You Please Everyone With Your Writing? Spoiler Alert: You can’t.

In the query trenches, you see agents posting about what they don’t want and there’s this knee-jerk reaction, when I recognize a trope from my writing in their ‘no thank you’ list. The feeling of, “Oh! I can fix it! And then you’ll love it!” Especially when you see so much of your story in their ‘please send me’ list. But, before you do, listen to this episode where I discuss 3 reasons NOT to 'fix' your manuscript.

So You're In The Editing Doldrums Again?

January 4th, 2021  |  Season 1  |  5 mins 25 secs

beta-reading, books, critique, editing, writers, writing, writing tips

After you’ve written your novel and revised the BLEEP out of it, one thing remains: To edit your manuscript! In this episode, I share 5 sites that can help.