I spent the day yesterday editing and proofreading a manuscript before turning it into my editor. I went through this draft on paper and made marks in ink. Years ago I attended a workshop on the Chicago Manual of Style. It made me wish I paid more attention back in high school English class. I…
On Writing
A collection of lessons, tools, and techniques on writing.
Stephen King’s “No Adverbs Rule”
“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day… fifty the day…
Write for an Emotional Connection
“A woman whose son was incarcerated read my own favorite short story of all I’ve written (‘Unconditional’) about a parent whose child is in prison for an unimaginable crime. She told me it had brought her comfort and asked to share it with a support group for parents of children in prison. They read it…
Write Three Drafts for Three Different Readers
I’ve heard bestselling author Neil Strauss say on a couple of occasions (links at the bottom) that he writes his books in three drafts. As I finish writing another book, I find this advice to be extremely helpful and challenging. Most of us just do the first draft and maybe the second. I think we…
Lessons Learned
Take action and tell others what you learned. This isn’t just a philosophy to follow, but a system used by NASA, the United Nations, project managers, and engineers of major companies. The idea is pretty simple. Here’s NASA’s definition taken from the Wikipedia entry on this topic: “A lesson learned is knowledge or understanding gained…
