Much great writing is born of frustration. In this case, my frustration as an editor stemmed from a recurring issue in several recent manuscripts: the inclusion of unattributed or questionable quotations that sent me down wild-goose-chase tangents, trying to trace their origins. These weren’t cases of plagiarism, just well-meaning writers (often subject-matter experts with limitedContinue reading “Effective Quoting: Boost Your Writing Credibility”
Tag Archives: editing
The Dangers of Using Popular Quotes Unverified
In the first installment of this series, I told the stories of three dodgy quotations I’ve encountered in some of my own editing adventures. In this follow-up post, I’d like to explain more about exactly why those three quotes are problematic and address one of the best ways to avoid such problems in your ownContinue reading “The Dangers of Using Popular Quotes Unverified”
Unmasking Phantom Quotes: A Guide for Writers and Editors
Part One: A Tale of Phantom Quotes As an editor, I specialize in nonfiction. I work with many clients who possess great expertise in their fields but who wouldn’t claim to be trained writers, so I tend to spend a lot of time verifying and documenting quotations. Here are just three that I’ve encountered inContinue reading “Unmasking Phantom Quotes: A Guide for Writers and Editors”
Deciding Between ‘Awoken’ and ‘Awakened’: An Editor’s Dilemma
Here’s a question: What, as editors, do we do when faced with two technically “correct” choices in a manuscript? What swings the decision in favor of one option or the other? I ran into an interesting conundrum this past week that raised this question for me, and sent me down a bit of a rabbitContinue reading “Deciding Between ‘Awoken’ and ‘Awakened’: An Editor’s Dilemma”
Affordable Alternatives to a Dedicated “Smart Typewriter”
Perhaps because so much of my social media is connected to the writing and editing community these days, I tend to get a lot of advertising about writing-oriented products, from gadgets to software to notebooks and pencils. A lot of that advertising lately has come from a company called Astrohaus, which makes a series ofContinue reading “Affordable Alternatives to a Dedicated “Smart Typewriter””
On Writing Tools and Rituals, Part Two: Considering the Digital
It’s worth saying again: your most important writing tool is your bum. Get that derriere in a chair and focus on words and ideas, whether you’re using the latest thing in computer technology or a chewed-up pencil on an old grocery sack (don’t forget that Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his seminal Letter from BirminghamContinue reading “On Writing Tools and Rituals, Part Two: Considering the Digital”
On Writing Tools and Rituals
Part One: The Analog Advantage As a long-time teacher of writing and editing, it’s my first duty to inform you that your most important tool for writing is the most analog of all: your backside. It is, after all, the thing you stick in a chair so you can sit down and simply write! It’sContinue reading “On Writing Tools and Rituals”
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