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During this part of the year, writers who are waiting for replies from agents and editors can expect to wait until 2024. Meanwhile, let’s review homophones! Writing Tip for Today: Homophones and misunderstood usages are sneaky—that’s why writers need to know the differences, Spell it Out We want editors and agents to notice our work—but not […]
As we’ve discussed over the past few weeks, rewriting a novel is a multi-step process. We now appreciate that revision is more than mere copy editing, but copy edits are also an important part of the process. Writing Tip for Today: Here are a few areas to address as you move into the copy editing […]
I take my local print newspaper, and in a few short years, I’ve watched it go from a wonderful independent to a skinny, USA Today clone. Almost every day, I read several articles with misspellings or typos. What’s going on? Writing Tip for Today: Print journalism is fighting for its life in the digital age. […]
Miss Crankypants gets a kick out of homophones, those devilishly cute words that try to trick writers into using them inappropriately. They lurk inside every writer’s word processor, seeking revenge for some unnamed crime against good literature. Miss CP gets a good laugh from reading that somebody waived at the neighbors, brakes bread, waists time […]
Still in revision mode here. My novel writing student sometimes feel confused about the divide between “junking it through” and “fixing it up.” A reminder: When you are in draft mode (creating the prose) use a devil-may-care attitude. Then later,when you revise, aim for perfection.Writing Tip for Today: As you edit your own work, search […]
Larch, by Grohar Are you ready to be a better self-editor? If the world is still here on December 22, writers everywhere will no doubt wake up and realize that the wagon loads of words they created in a white-hot heat are now fermenting on the page. Here’s how to help!Writing Tip for Today: Self-editing […]
Details matter, someone once said. As a writer and teacher, I’m willing to overlook spelling, grammatical and usage errors from new writers. But the moment I spot a small error from a writer who is supposedly a pro, something inside me cringes and I have trouble admiring that writer. Even if the writer is ME. […]
Miss Crankypants loves to watch tortured writers try to figure which lay is a lie and when it’s proper to have laid an egg or lied to your mother. As all non-English speakers know, the language is a death trap. If the homophones don’t get you, the idioms will.Speaking of idiots, are you completely sure, […]
Some writers are rather laissez-faire about spelling and grammar. Others have such low tolerance that the word “police” comes to mind. When you read anything–whether it’s a blog entry, a comment or a novel or other book–should it be free of at least spelling errors? I can’t help it: if you want to be a […]
Writers who write the wrong version of words called homophones (words which sound alike but are spelled differently) are often scolded. Far worse, in my opinion, is that the writer’s credibility suffers. When I read anything–online or in print–with grammatical or homophone errors, my esteem for both the writer and the info plummets. A writer […]