Understanding freelance independent editors

You don’t have to floss all your teeth. Just the ones you want to keep. —dentists’ motto Ever since I began this blog in 2009, everyone in the publishing industry has been weighing in on the big question: “Do you really need to hire an independent editor? Don’t agents love… Read more“Understanding freelance independent editors”

6 Steps to Tangling with the Publishing Windmill

This is the story about what happened after that Writers Conference in 1996 at which I became friends with the brilliant novelists Lucia Orth and Sasha Troyan. Actually, a lot of things happened, one of them being that I went home and completely rewrote my current novel yet once again…. Read more“6 Steps to Tangling with the Publishing Windmill”

Philosophizing—why are you here?

I’m going to be in San Francisco next week—my husband will be presenting at the 2010 Embedded Linux Conference, and I’m taking my son to see the King Tut exhibit for the second time before it goes home to Egypt forever—therefore I won’t be trawling the Internet much for writing… Read more“Philosophizing—why are you here?”

Getting recommended by Preditors & Editors

This is worth breaking the Weekend Silence for: I just got an extremely cool recommendation from Dave Kuzminski of Preditors & Editors ™: “The only thing Victoria doesn’t reveal in The Art & Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner’s Manual is the secret handshake. Otherwise, a lot of authors are going… Read more“Getting recommended by Preditors & Editors”

Doing what I can for you guys

Now I’ve just realized my last post on working with an independent editor was back around NaNoWriMo, which is kind of silly. That was a really long time ago. So let’s talk a little about working with an editor. You guys want to do it. I know you do, because… Read more“Doing what I can for you guys”

The passing of Buddy Glass

J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91. I’ve always admired Salinger for his unshakable dedication to craft rather than publication. I love the line quoted in this article: “There’s. . .peace in not publishing.” Read that full quote. Read it and understand it. Read it and apply it… Read more“The passing of Buddy Glass”

Blogging to promote your book

So, my sys admin just got back from Community Leadership Summit West, a conference for online community managers. That’s what he does. He manages an online community. That’s actually what I do, too, except he gets paid. This is important to writers because of the way the publishing industry is… Read more“Blogging to promote your book”

Catching up on 2009 in 2010

Happy New Year 2010 to you all! I hope you had as peaceful a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as we did here at our house, ensconced by the fire by a lovely (dying) tree all lit up, towers of new books next to everyone’s chair, sleeping cats… Read more“Catching up on 2009 in 2010”