Working With Words
Including Self-editing Tips
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW AVAILABLE!
$4.95
What is Working With Words?
A simple, well-organized e-book written by well-published and award-winning poet and writer Laurie Wagner Buyer. Twenty-one tips and guidelines to help all writers.
ORDER NOW! Pay with credit card or Debit Card. You DO NOT need a Paypal account to purchase.
Your e-book will be sent via email once order has processed.
Why Write an E-book?
The first answer that pops into my mind is “because my webmaster told me to.” That’s rather like saying, “the devil made me do it!” (Just joking here, Deb and Susan!)
But, honestly, my webmaster, Deborah Kunzie, and one of my new publishers, Susan Stoltz, have been suggesting to me for some time that I offer an e-book on my website. They felt an e-book would draw attention to my site but also offer people something of value that would be easy to read and easy to download (maybe that’s why they call these e-books!). When I expressed to Susan that I couldn’t think of anything to write about she insisted that other writers would love to know the things that I point out to my clients when I critique manuscripts. Now that got me thinking. If I could show other writers, especially beginning writers, the most common errors and the standard pitfalls, perhaps I could help them understand the things that weaken writing as well as the techniques that strengthen the written word.
The notion of an entire book, however, stymied me and seemed too gargantuan a task.
So, instead, Susan and Deb asked me to blog about the kinds of things that I thought other writers would want to know, ways in which they could improve their manuscripts before sending them out into the world of agents and editors. Thus, I blogged last spring about self-editing tips and covered everything from passive verbs to the deadly vice of repetition.
Within a few months I had a collection together and the core idea of the e-book Working With Words was born.
From Blogging to E-book
Now that I had the skeleton idea for an e-book in place I had to come up with flesh and attitude to hang on those bones. I needed muscles and ligaments, too, not to mention breath and blood. What would make the whole thing hang together? What would give the somewhat boring tips body and life?
The notion to incorporate quotes from other accomplished writers came to me one day while reading Linda Seger’s Spiritual Steps on the Road to Success (www.lindaseger.com).Linda, a dear friend and Colorado compatriot, is a script consultant and the author of many books dedicated to screenwriting. She is also a theologian and often writes about our individual purpose in the world, that is, why we do what we do. In Spiritual Steps on the Road to Success she states, “The whole point of mastering is to be able to help others become masters.” Those seemingly simple fourteen words spurred me onward.
If my self-editing tips could help other writers teach themselves how to perfect their craft then they could save themselves valuable time and money. Yes, they would still need outside readers and perhaps an outside professional editor, but if they were capable of doing most of the groundwork themselves then the only thing left for an editor to do would be to help them polish the work. As I searched my computer files for other appropriate quotes from successful writers my excitement grew.
From Process to Product
In my computer file titled “Self-editing Tips” I gathered a hodge-podge of information and complimentary quotations.
The next step was probably the most difficult. I needed exactly what I tell other writers that they need: clarity. The inspiration had arrived and I had been playfully teasing and flirting with my idea for some weeks. But playtime was over.
It was time to get down to work and put together a book. My webmaster, Deb, told me the same thing I tell my clients: just do it, the rest will follow. Still, I sat in front of my monitor and fussed with my mouse and shifted things on the screen from one haphazard pile to another. I had to organize my thoughts and I had to concentrate on my true intent. The focal point came to me when I was re-reading my mission statement for my business “Creative Adventure: A Guide Service to Writers.” I state, in part, “I find that mentoring other writers creates a special, nurturing experience for me as well.” That, more than anything else, is what I hoped the e-book would accomplish: an open and honest sharing. If I could focus on that central idea, then I knew the rest of the process would evolve.
It also helped me a great deal that Deb, the smiling, whip-cracking webmaster, was emailing me frequently asking me when my e-book manuscript would be ready. She had many other clients and numerous other projects to attend to. She had dedicated a certain portion of her time to help me achieve a goal and now it was my responsibility to follow through on this idea.
I sat back down at my computer (yes, I had gotten up to pace the room, stare out the window, file my nails, think about watering the roses and what to fix for dinner) and wrote the introduction to the e-book, now re-titled Working With Words (including self-editing tips).
Including Self-editing Tips
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW AVAILABLE!
$4.95
NEW E-book
What is Working With Words?
A simple, well-organized e-book written by well-published and award-winning poet and writer Laurie Wagner Buyer. Twenty-one tips and guidelines to help all writers.
ORDER NOW! Pay with credit card or Debit Card. You DO NOT need a Paypal account to purchase.
Your e-book will be sent via email once order has processed.
Why Write an E-book?
The first answer that pops into my mind is “because my webmaster told me to.” That’s rather like saying, “the devil made me do it!” (Just joking here, Deb and Susan!)
But, honestly, my webmaster, Deborah Kunzie, and one of my new publishers, Susan Stoltz, have been suggesting to me for some time that I offer an e-book on my website. They felt an e-book would draw attention to my site but also offer people something of value that would be easy to read and easy to download (maybe that’s why they call these e-books!). When I expressed to Susan that I couldn’t think of anything to write about she insisted that other writers would love to know the things that I point out to my clients when I critique manuscripts. Now that got me thinking. If I could show other writers, especially beginning writers, the most common errors and the standard pitfalls, perhaps I could help them understand the things that weaken writing as well as the techniques that strengthen the written word.
The notion of an entire book, however, stymied me and seemed too gargantuan a task.
So, instead, Susan and Deb asked me to blog about the kinds of things that I thought other writers would want to know, ways in which they could improve their manuscripts before sending them out into the world of agents and editors. Thus, I blogged last spring about self-editing tips and covered everything from passive verbs to the deadly vice of repetition.
Within a few months I had a collection together and the core idea of the e-book Working With Words was born.
From Blogging to E-book
Now that I had the skeleton idea for an e-book in place I had to come up with flesh and attitude to hang on those bones. I needed muscles and ligaments, too, not to mention breath and blood. What would make the whole thing hang together? What would give the somewhat boring tips body and life?
The notion to incorporate quotes from other accomplished writers came to me one day while reading Linda Seger’s Spiritual Steps on the Road to Success (www.lindaseger.com).Linda, a dear friend and Colorado compatriot, is a script consultant and the author of many books dedicated to screenwriting. She is also a theologian and often writes about our individual purpose in the world, that is, why we do what we do. In Spiritual Steps on the Road to Success she states, “The whole point of mastering is to be able to help others become masters.” Those seemingly simple fourteen words spurred me onward.
If my self-editing tips could help other writers teach themselves how to perfect their craft then they could save themselves valuable time and money. Yes, they would still need outside readers and perhaps an outside professional editor, but if they were capable of doing most of the groundwork themselves then the only thing left for an editor to do would be to help them polish the work. As I searched my computer files for other appropriate quotes from successful writers my excitement grew.
From Process to Product
In my computer file titled “Self-editing Tips” I gathered a hodge-podge of information and complimentary quotations.
The next step was probably the most difficult. I needed exactly what I tell other writers that they need: clarity. The inspiration had arrived and I had been playfully teasing and flirting with my idea for some weeks. But playtime was over.
It was time to get down to work and put together a book. My webmaster, Deb, told me the same thing I tell my clients: just do it, the rest will follow. Still, I sat in front of my monitor and fussed with my mouse and shifted things on the screen from one haphazard pile to another. I had to organize my thoughts and I had to concentrate on my true intent. The focal point came to me when I was re-reading my mission statement for my business “Creative Adventure: A Guide Service to Writers.” I state, in part, “I find that mentoring other writers creates a special, nurturing experience for me as well.” That, more than anything else, is what I hoped the e-book would accomplish: an open and honest sharing. If I could focus on that central idea, then I knew the rest of the process would evolve.
It also helped me a great deal that Deb, the smiling, whip-cracking webmaster, was emailing me frequently asking me when my e-book manuscript would be ready. She had many other clients and numerous other projects to attend to. She had dedicated a certain portion of her time to help me achieve a goal and now it was my responsibility to follow through on this idea.
I sat back down at my computer (yes, I had gotten up to pace the room, stare out the window, file my nails, think about watering the roses and what to fix for dinner) and wrote the introduction to the e-book, now re-titled Working With Words (including self-editing tips).
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