Emma's Writing Things

A place to share the things that I write

My Week In Writing

As I said in as earlier post this week, work has been busy, busy, busy.

I sent a completed manuscript to a client this week which is always a really exciting step. Next they will review it and if there is something they want added or amended we’ll work on that in the coming weeks.

I’m editing another book right now which is taking a bit longer than I had planned, of course I always keep my clients up to date when this happens. Rushing this process is not how you end up with a great manuscript. When I encounter one that needs a bit more work than the author first thought, I will have that conversation with them because ultimately we both have the same goal for the book: we both want it to be the best version that it can be.

I dragged an old manuscript of my own out of the dusty old vault of my laptop this week, too. This was one I was working on about ten years ago and abandoned just before writing the ending for the first draft.

I love bringing out old projects and seeing if I have a new perspective that I can bring to it, and this is definitely one of those. One of the reasons I abandoned this one back then was because the main character lacked depth and I couldn’t see how to fix that. Now, I can see clearly where she lacked dimension and maybe I’ll try and bring this one back to life.

I also started working on a new project this week, the author has an absolutely amazing goal and I can’t wait to help her get her book out there.

I’d love to hear from you all about your writing this week? Any challenges or achievements? Comment below!

If you are interested in connecting with me, I AM currently accepting submissions for Editing and Ghostwriting services.

Email me emma@writing-things.com. We can chat about your book and how I can help.

emmaswritingthings

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15 responses to “My Week In Writing”

  1. I’m interested in how you respond to an author when a work needs a bit more “touching up” than what he or she might have expected. I see this occasionally in the corporate world, an executive thinks something they created is out-of-this-world and I have to put a needle in their balloon, pointing out ways to better phrase or edit their work. Most people are not used to a good editor reviewing their work. I like to point out that they’re an expert in their field, I’m an expert in mine and I’m just trying to help them look better, but it’s still interesting when they see my suggestions in red – if they haven’t been edited since English 101 in college or high school. Ha, ha.

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    • It’s a very similar sort of conversation here, too. The author is paying me to help make their book the best that it can be, I think returning to that basic point really helps. We both want this book to be successful. I do think that receiving feedback is really hard sometimes, especially when someone has poured their heart and soul into something. You have acknowledge that and then frame feedback in a constructive and proactive way followed up with clear reasons why a change is needed and what it is going to bring to the book. You are right a lot of people haven’t had their work edited in red since school so it can be a bit of a reality check.

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  3. In my last professional job, I edited a magazine about the development and marketing of pharmaceuticals (25 years ago). I think I did a good job of editing the work of other people.
    I don’t have the objective perspective that is necessary to do a great job of editing my own work, but I’ve adopted a good-enough policy for blog posting, which seems fair-enough.
    I know that I don’t understand the reader perspective because what I think of as my best senryū are not the most popular ones. However that is something that an unambitious hobbyist does not always worry about.
    Regards,
    DD

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  6. Last week, I wrote a piece for my online writing course and sent it off for feedback to my course tutor. She pointed out quite a lot of things I could improve on. I was grateful for this but just couldn’t find ways to alter my writing to make the story clearer. I’m glad you’ve talked about taking a project break, as this is just what I did. As a result, I sent it off again this morning and am now waiting for further feedback.

    I wanted to ask you if you have any advice on how I could perhaps get my poetry published in a small book. I haven’t got a clue where to start. I’d like it to be a paperback instead of an e-book, although I would be happy to have both options. I was just wondering if you had any pointers for me, or would you rather me email you about this? If you were to edit my poetry, how do you do that without changing the emotions behind the writing? Thanks very much … Ellie Xx 🦢💖

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    • That’s excellent, I’m glad you were able to set it aside for a bit and come back to your work with a fresh perspective.

      So, it sounds like what you’re asking about is publishing your poetry yourself? Conventionally, authors would put a book together and submit it to a publisher or an agent and hope they liked it enough to print it, but self publishing removes that wait and that angst. There are a couple of ways you can go about it, and it depends on how broad you want your audience. Kindle Direct Publishing is a great place to start, it’s free and fairly easy to use. You can opt for print and e-book, each will have a separate ISBN. If you use the free kindle ISBNs then you will be limited to Amazon selling only. You can purchase your own ISBNs and use those with KDP too, which would mean you can make your book available anywhere else alongside Amazon, in local bookshops for example.

      With self publishing there are a few things you will need to do. First, formatting. This is putting together your book in line with how it will appear as an e-book and as a printed copy. Think about fonts, spacing, margins, titles, page breaks, etc. You also want to invest in a cover, you can get a free stock picture online and design your own but let’s be honest – everyone judges a book by its cover. I always recommend getting a unique cover put together rather than stock covers if you can.

      I can help you with these things, but other than putting your book together for you and formatting it I probably wouldn’t edit your poems directly, simply because poetry is subjective. I’d gladly give it a spelling and format check for you, I can offer suggestions for readability but I wouldn’t directly change your work in the same way that I would for a book, for example.

      You’re always welcome to send me an email if you have any other questions.

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      • Thank you so much, Emma, for all your tips and advice. I really appreciate that. I will email you separately with some more questions, as I’d like to discuss this further. Before I rush into anything, is there a minimum number of poems I would need to have in a small book, as I don’t have an endless quantity? Xx 🦢

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  7. Great Stuff Emma. I am glad to see that you are able to multitask , balancing work and writing in one day seems a bit extreme. I would love to have you edit my book though I haven’t written any book, haha😂. Anyways, such a nice blog post and do take a break from blogging and work, don’t overdo it! Have a nice day😊👏

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    • Thank you! I am also a book coach, if you happen to want to write a book but feel stuck for some reason 😉 I’ve had almost a weeks break from blogging, time to get back on the wagon 😂

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  8. Reblogged this on Craig's Writing Articles and commented:
    “One cannot always tell what it is that keeps us shut in, confines us, seems to bury us, but still one feels certain barriers, certain gates, certain walls. is all this imagination, fantasy? ….”
    https://craigsquotes.wordpress.com/category/andre-agassi/

    “And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen…”

    Ernest Hemingway Quotes (Goodreads) — Craig’s Quotes


    Hi Emma
    Thanks for the/another follow (+ the ‘likes'(s)
    Happy blogging/writing and all the best with your blog
    craig
    http://www.craigsblogs.wordpress.com
    http://www.craigsbooks.wordpress.com
    “It always seems impossible…
    Best wishes from the First City to see the light

    PPS
    Don’t worry about the world ending today
    it’s already tomorrow in scenic and tranquil ‘little’ New Zealand
    https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/4/y/r/n/6/a/image.

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