I’ve often commented to authors who are doing rewrites that they’re going the wrong way. In general, as an editor, I was hoping for some reduction in the word count while revising. I didn’t realize the tendency to increase the number of words is a scientifically demonstrable fact. There has been a study. And it…
In the third of her monthly posts on writing, Dr. Dolly Berthelot, author of Perfectly SquareTM discusses three questions you should ask yourself when you begin writing. We’re going to be adding this to our recommended reading for prospective authors. Thinking about these three things will greatly increase the likelihood that your book will be…
This conversation occurred on Facebook Live, and is trimmed here just a bit. Bruce Epperly is a prolific writer, and has written three books on living during the pandemic.
(A sequel to Writers: Consider Your Audience.) You might be thinking that I should have talked first about choosing an audience. You may be correct. On the other hand, I think it’s critical to understand that your audience makes a difference in what you write. Writing can be a lonely task. It’s just you and…
I’ve changed my own job function so that my main function is marketing (besides general management), rather than editing. One theme that has followed me through this change is this: A writer’s audience is critical. To write effectively, you must always consider who you’re writing to. Note that I placed a preposition at the end…
Now don’t, just don’t say anything to me about ending a sentence with a preposition. Prepositions are fine things to end a sentence with! I’m an editor, and I say so! (I also say not to use lots of exclamation marks, but we’ll ignore that for now.) So you’re writing a book. Ask yourself early….
I suspect many readers come to this blog to find out how to get published. I’ve written a few notes on this myself. Through Energion author David Alan Black, I found an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Things You Should Know Before Publishing a Book.” While Energion is not an academic press, and…
Perhaps some of our other scholars would like to comment on this as well. Writers are always looking for tips on improving their writing and getting published—or they should be! – HN 7:42 AM Here are a few thoughts about publishing in response to some of our seminary Ph.D. graduates: 1) If it’s worth writing,…
From Dave Black Online: 5) Being the ultimate obscurantist, I’ve been asked (as you know) to present a case for the Pauline authorship of Hebrews next month in Washington, DC. As someone who frequently espouses minority points of view, I found this statement about conformity fascinating: Although conformity generally leads individuals to think and act…
Having occasionally received corrections of my grammar from people who either weren’t listening in school, or who wanted me to adopt rules from the 18th or 19th century, I really liked The very model of an amateur grammarian. (Yes, go right ahead and send me an email telling me the previous sentence is too long…
