I was just thinking...

It’s mid-December, and by now many of us have either become inured to the barrage of Christmas music wafting out of overhead speakers in stores, on the radio, or from our mother’s Spotify account, or we have embraced it fully. Many a retail worker has been regaled with a random outbreak of song by at least one customer belting out an off-key accompaniment to some festive holiday track. And this is by no means a bad thing. It is pure respite from the misery inflicted upon them

This past summer, I had the great privilege of working with an amazing author. Sharon Marlow's post, looking for an editor for a memoir about online dating, piqued my interest and I dashed off a query immediately. Funny, charming, and looking suspiciously like a woman half her age, Sharon was a delight to work with. Being a single woman of a "certain age" as well, I was curious to find out how she faired in the online dating world. I'd had a few adventures in that realm mysel

The holidays are rolling in with their usual mix of twinkle lights, warm drinks, and the low-level panic of trying to find gifts that don’t scream I bought this at 11 p.m. in a parking lot. But amidst all the bustle, there’s a lovely little opportunity hiding in plain sight: supporting the indie authors who’ve been filling your shelves, your feeds, and your imagination all year. And the best part? Most of the ways you can support them don’t cost a dime. (Though yes, indie aut

When someone says, “Picture an apple,” I don’t. Not because I won’t—but because I can’t. My mind doesn’t produce images. There’s no shiny red fruit hovering in the dark behind my eyelids, no dew-drop glint, no soft-focus stem. I know what an apple is —its taste, its weight, its cultural baggage from Eve to Snow White—but I can’t see it. Until recently, I assumed everyone else was the same. I thought “picture an apple” was a metaphor. It isn’t. Around 2015, neurologist Adam Ze

Before The Animals electrified it, “The House of the Rising Sun”  was a sorrowful folk ballad sung by Appalachian women and...

I started working with Jon in February 2025 when he trusted me to copy edit his collection of 12 short stories. The premise for the...

Self-publishing has cracked open doors that traditional publishing once kept firmly bolted shut. With just a few clicks, you can turn a...

There’s a special brand of existential panic reserved for authors who refresh their sales dashboard on Day 7 and discover their magnum...

Let's face it, getting a book edited can be expensive. A single pass on a 120,000-word manuscript can cost $2500. That's one pass!...

Back in the day, patrons of the arts provided artists with financial support, supplies, spaces to study and work, exposure for their...

Rather than talk about editing today, I want to introduce you to someone who is very special to me. I first met Harpur Diggins some 15...

The answer to this question is, "As long as it needs to be to tell the story." That being said, there are some conventions that have...

I work primarily with indie authors. Many of them are first-time writers and are uncertain about what lies ahead. One of the most...

Proofreading is a much-misunderstood part of the editing process. It is, in fact, the last step in editing; a last chance to catch errors...

I'm not going to lie; the editing process can seem daunting. You have spent weeks, months, years even diligently pouring your heart and...

Life seems wont to throw curve balls my way. The past five years have been an exercise in trying to hit one in a direction that will...