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Letting Go of Your Manuscript: The Emotional Journey of Handing Off Your Draft
Letting go of your manuscript can feel a little like sending a child to their first day of school – exciting, terrifying, and weirdly quiet afterward. In this blog I am talking honestly about the emotional side of releasing your work to beta readers, editors, or submissions. What part of that process feels hardest for…
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What Every Scene Needs: 7 Essentials for Page-Turning Fiction
When a scene feels “off,” it’s almost always because one ingredient is missing: a clear desire, meaningful stakes, or a real turning point. In this post, I walk through what every scene needs to keep readers turning pages. Is there a scene in your draft that you secretly skip when you reread? That’s often the…
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Who’s the Boss? You Are, Author! Author Control in Publishing
You are the boss of your publishing journey. As the author, you are in control. Traditional, indie, hybrid – there’s no single “right” path, only the one that fits your goals, capacity, and story. The same is true when you invite an editor into your process: their job is to advise, but you always retain…
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Fantasy Worldbuilding Without Overwhelming Readers
How to Build a Believable World Without Overwhelming the Reader As a reader, nothing pulls me out of a fantasy faster than pages of names, histories, and maps before I’ve met a single character to care about. As an editor, I see so many drafts that are one tiny tweak away from being deeply immersive…
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Fantasy Worldbuilding Blueprint: Avoid These 5 Mistakes
Fantasy Worldbuilding Blueprint: Avoid These 5 Mistakes Fantasy writers: if your worldbuilding has turned into a lore avalanche, your readers might be quietly backing away. Worldbuilding is one of the joys of fantasy, but it’s also one of the easiest places to lose your reader’s attention. When a draft lands in the inbox packed with…
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3 Signs You Might Be Too Close to Your Manuscript (and what to do about it)
Are You Too Close to Your Manuscript? You’ve been living inside your manuscript for weeks, maybe months, or even years. You know it inside and out. You’ve rewritten scenes, reshaped chapters, reworked whole sections. And now? You can’t tell if it’s brilliant or a disaster. This moment is completely normal, and a telltale sign that…
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How I Keep Feedback Kind and Constructive – It’s an Art
When I tell people I’m a book coach and copy editor, they often imagine me with a red pen, slashing through manuscripts like a literary Grim Reaper. But that’s not how I work. And honestly? That’s not what most writers need. As an editor I keep feedback kind and constructive. Yes, feedback should be honest.…
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Why Editing Isn’t Just About Grammar: It’s About Protecting the Reader’s Experience
When most people hear the word editing, they think of red pens, grammar rules (the dreaded grammar police), and someone wagging a finger at a misplaced comma. But editing isn’t just about grammar. While yes—grammar matters. But as a book coach and editor, I can tell you that editing goes much deeper than sentence structure.…
