Hi! This year (2023), I’m continuing my quest to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still include:
My spoken voice
My raw poems.
Thanks for being here with me and cheering me on, and I hope that you can become braver this year, too!
Hi! This year (2023), I’m continuing my quest to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still include:
My spoken voice
My raw poems.
Thanks for being here with me and cheering me on, and I hope that you can become braver this year, too!
Hey! Thanks so much for being kind about me not posting during the holidays. It really helped be think about what and how to be helpful. I appreciate it a lot and you can expect some new things this year from me. Fingers crossed. I’m going to try to be braver about sharing advice and information and thoughts.
So . . .
Recently, a really popular YouTube author gave out some editing advice. She’s cool. She’s pretty. She’s sarcastic and fun. She’s promoting her own book.
But she also is a little bit wrong this go around because she says the first step in a professional edit is the developmental edit.
It isn’t. Not always.
The first step is often an editorial assessment. Then you revise. Then if you have a butt-ton of money because your daddy is rich and your mother’s good looking, you can hush like a little baby, don’t cry, and get a developmental edit.
Or . . .
You can realize that the first step in a developmental edit is an editorial assessment.
What are these two shiny bits of editing bling?
What is this developmental edit? An editorial assessment?
Let’s use Reedsy’s definitions, okay? Reedsy is a massive platform that connects authors to editors and other freelance professionals and makes sure that those freelancing professionals don’t suck. Full disclosure: I was recruited for Reedsy a couple of years ago and I make money there.
Here’s what that platform (that includes 1 million authors and 2,500 freelancers like me) says about those two styles:
“Editorial Assessment. This is a popular and cost-effective first step for authors, ideal for those at an early stage of their rewrites. Editors offering an editorial assessment will usually:
Read and analyze your manuscript;
Provide an evaluation in the format of a report, covering all aspects of the story, structure, and commercial viability;
Offer suggestions to guide your rewrites.”
And then . . .
“Developmental Editing. A nose-to-tail structural edit of your manuscript for authors who have taken their book as far as they can by themselves. A developmental edit often includes everything in an editorial assessment, plus:
Detailed recommendations to improve “big picture” concerns like characterization, plot, pacing, setting, etc.;
Specific guidance on elements of writing craft;
In-line suggestions and edits in the manuscript.”
So, you could go with a YouTuber’s definition or a platform’s. Totally up to you. But that’s the thing: a lot of people get a lot of money creating edicts for those of us who don’t know better.
They say:
These are the best ways to write.
These are the worst ways to write.
These are the best ways to start your story.
These are the worst ways to start your story.
And it’s all absolutes.
Here’s the thing (and I’m going to sound absolute here):
Art and writing aren’t about absolutes. There is diversity of thought and culture and literature and perception. It shouldn’t all be ‘my way or the highway.’ Your psychographics, your family, your culture, your education, your location, your gender identity, race, religion, all create who you are and your story.
Don’t Lose Yourself
When you’re trying to get published or trying to get a ton of readers, you can sometimes lose yourself and your story in the process of listening to those edicts. Stay true, okay? Learn and grow, but don’t accept absolutely everything that an influencer says as gospel. The world and you and your story is bigger than that.
Here is a photo of my cat, Koko,judging me for losing myself in the past.
WRITING PROMPTS
Because I was just talking about Reedsy, I’m going to take one from there. Thanks, Reedsy!
You can submit your stories at those links as well. And enter a weekly contest.
SUBMISSION POSSIBILITY FOR THIS WEEK
SALT HILL PUBLISHES POETRY, FICTION, TRANSLATIONS, ESSAYS, INTERVIEWS, AND VISUAL ART. Oh my.
“We have two submission periods for fiction and poetry:
December through January
August through September
“We accept nonfiction and art submissions year-round.
“Salt Hill accepts only online submissions via Submittable for poetry, fiction, nonfiction and reviews. For visual art submissions, see below. Most, if not all, of our published work is selected from unsolicited submissions.
“We accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that you alert us as soon as possible if your work is placed elsewhere by either adding a note to your submission through Submittable or withdrawing the full submission.
“We ask that you submit only once per genre per reading period.
“Due to the volume of submissions, we can’t respond individually to submission status queries. We aim to respond to submissions within three to six months.
“Unfortunately, we are not in the position to offer payment to our writers.
“Please submit no more than five poems at a time, in one document.”
FICTION:
“Please do not submit works of more than 30 pages. We accept multiple flash pieces, so long as their combined length does not exceed 30 pages. Please double space, unless the nature of your work requires special formatting.”
NONFICTION:
“The nonfiction we are interested in pushes the boundaries of the genre, making use of the techniques of fiction and poetry to tell a true story. We want memories, arguments, meditations, revelations, philosophical rants. Salt Hillis a literary journal, so please don’t send us articles or reports. We will consider nonfiction for both our print journal and our website.”
There you go! Let’s go kick some butt in 2023 or make some beautiful music or just really craft our stories the best way we can: piece by piece, word by word, hope by hope.
Since it’s the time of holidays for many religions, we thought it would be a great time to talk about the ancient types of drunk-foolery from the 1500s and how they still exist today.
And, a random story about a sleigh-riding Santa.
There’s a great post on Medium from back in November by Jack Shepherd one of Buzzfeed’s former directors. I know nothing about Jack Shepherd but he has a post “These Are the 8 Types of Drunk, According to the 16th Century” and since NYE is coming up, I wanted to have a podcast about it.
Hi! This year (2023), I’m continuing my quest to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still include:
My spoken voice
My raw poems.
Thanks for being here with me and cheering me on, and I hope that you can become braver this year, too!
Sometimes you see these little bastards in text or sometimes you might want to put them in there yourself. Gasp!
We aren’t here to tell you how to be fancy or not, but we are here to let you know how to be fancy correctly and not look like a schmuck.
E.g. is short for exempli gratia, or “for example.” But this is a REAL example, so you can use it when you mean, “here are examples.”
I.e. is short for id est, which pretty much means “that is” or “in other words.” This one you use like you’re saying “in other words” or “in essence.” It usually clarifies things.
So, you could say,
I like books, e.g. big books, small books, happy books, cook books, all books that rhyme, all books about crime, all books about time.
Someone might punch you if you say that, but whatever. You do you.
For i.e., you would write,
I like books, i.e., anything that I can read and is bound or on my Kindle or Nook.
You’re clarifying what books are. Or you could say,
I like some books, i.e., anything by Carrie Jones and only Carrie Jones.
For exclusive paid content, check out my substack, LIVING HAPPY and WRITE BETTER NOW. It’s basically like a blog, but better. There’s a free option too without the bonus content but all the other tips and submission opportunties and exercises are there.
Share this if you want and also because it would be super nice of you!
This week we talk about the take-aways from spending time with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, plus weird junk finds. Because why not?
Filmmaker Peggy Callahan spent a lot of time listening to spiritual leaders while working with author Doug Abrams who co-authored The Book of Joy.
She wrote for the Today Show, “Their message is needed now more than ever. We’re heading into the “most wonderful time of the year” and yet so many people are struggling. We’re wrestling with how to bring “joy to the world” when life is wrought with stress and challenges.”
Hi! This year (2023), I’m continuing my quest to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still include:
My spoken voice
My raw poems.
Thanks for being here with me and cheering me on, and I hope that you can become braver this year, too!
I say all that, but sometimes I feature a Grammy Barnard Poem. Grammy Barnard died at the age of 102 and I was the youngest child by a lot of her youngest child, so in my head she was always older. I think she was in her 70s when I was born.
These poems make me feel a bit closer to her, allow me to imagine her in her 30s. And I like being able to do that. So, here’s a Grammy Barnard poem.