Inventing Reality Editing Service

Editor’s poetry collection now on Kindle

My recently released collection of poetry, Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom now is available on Kindle. Passionate and evocative, Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom traces a relationship from the first dance of love at a coffee shop to its tragic demise as mental illness overtakes the narrator’s beloved. Inspired by a diverse array of writings, including the verse of Pablo Neruda, Dylan Thomas, and Bob Dylan, the collection’s 34 poems touch upon an array of themes including nature, and Southern California and Northwoods motifs. If using Kindle Fire, the best way to view my ebook version of Love Letters is in landscape orientation at font size 3. You can purchase the Kindle version at Amazon.com.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Chicago or a small town like Lost Lake Woods, Michigan, I can provide that second eye.

Editing client releases ‘Twin Identity’

Cherie Bratcher, an editing client of mine this autumn, released her first novel on Thursday. Set in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Chicago, “Twin Identity” tells the story of Nora and Aubrey, two young lovers who come from vastly different families. Their love appears strong enough to endure this obstacle, but then Aubrey's mother blackmails him into breaking off their relationship. Nora’s suicide attempt nearly ends her life, but she finds the courage to move on. Several years later, the loss of a loved one and the truth behind their break-up puts her back in Aubrey’s arms for a week…If they only knew that the decisions they make in that brief affair would twenty-one years later cause their two worlds to collide in a roller-coaster ride of deceit and danger! Can Nora and Aubrey find their way back to each other, or will their lies destroy any chance of happiness? “Twin Identity” is available on sale at Amazon.com and on Smashwords.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Toledo, Ohio, or a small town like Gnaw Bone, Indiana, I can provide that second eye.

Editor’s books now at Menomonie, Wis., store

All four of my books are now on sale at the Bookends on Main store in downtown Menomonie, Wis. Bookends on Main, an independent bookseller, is located at 214 East Main St., near the Mabel Tainter Memorial Theater. The four books include: my novel, Windmill; both Hikes with Tykes guidebooks, A Practical Guide to Day Hiking with Kids and Games and Activities; and a poetry collection inspired by a Menomonie native, Love Letters to Sophie’s Mom.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Ogden, Utah, or a small town like Rake, Iowa, I can provide that second eye.

Avoid starting sentences with ‘it’

Avoid starting sentences – and especially paragraphs – with “it.”

By starting a sentence with “it,” you can confuse the reader. After all, what exactly does “it” refer to? The previous sentence should specifically give the word that “it” clearly refers to. For example: “Ask him out for dinner. Then pay for it.” In this case, “it” clearly refers to “dinner.” If this doesn’t occur, you’ll want to restructure the sentence.

In addition, starting sentences with “it” usually means you’re using passive voice. Typically the word “is” follows “it,” as in “It’s very stressful for a relationship to survive in circumstances such as this.”

Starting a sentence with “it” rarely is the tightest of writing. The sentence probably can be shortened. For example, “It took a lot of hard work and a lot of luck in matching up two people, but it was done” could be rewritten as “A lot of hard work and luck was needed to match up two people, but it was done.” The second sentence is three words shorter and easier to read.

To rewrite a sentence that starts with “it,” ask yourself what “it” refers to. The answer is what should be used in place of “it” in your sentence. To wit, in “It’s relatively inexpensive to get a background check and will put your mind at ease,” “it” really is “getting a background check.”

Next, replace “it” with your answer (and clean up the rest of the sentence), so that you have “Getting a background check is relatively inexpensive and will put your mind at ease.” You still have passive voice, but the sentence is tighter and clearer.

An exception to this rule is dialogue. People naturally misuse “it” when speaking, and to make dialogue appear realistic, you may want to have a character start a sentence with “it.” This generally is a good idea for characters trying to figure out something about themselves or another, as starting a sentence with “it” suggests that their thoughts are still nebulous and unclear.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Chicago, Illinois, or a small town like Humptulips, Washington, I can provide that second eye.

Don't let a rhinoceros in the room smash your plot

Often the setting of a story contains some item that later plays a role in the story’s plot. A strange looking statue on the mantle, for example, may hold some clue or jog a memory, allowing for the story’s mystery to be solved.

When describing the setting, however, be careful not to place a “rhinoceros in the room," This term is some item or attribute that is obvious to everyone except the people closest to it. It was coined at the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop.

A common example of a “rhinoceros in the room” would be some missing item that is sitting in clear view of all looking for it. Like a rhinoceros, you couldn’t miss it.

But the “rhinoceros in the room” isn’t just limited to items that form the story’s landscape. It can refer to cliché plot lines (such as splitting up in a dark mansion to look for clues), recurring tropes, tics and fetishes. Each of these plot devices and character attributes ultimately cheapen the story because they are contrived. Like that missing item that is sitting in clear site of all looking for it, the notion that someone can’t see it comes off as an artificial plot device.

Having some important item or characteristic sitting in clear view for all to see does make sense in a story – just don’t make the item or attribute so big that its importance should be obvious to all.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Los Angeles or a small town like Winger, Minnesota, I can provide that second eye.

Get a ‘look inside’ author’s debut novel 'Windmill'

The nice thing about going to a bookstore is you can page through a book before deciding to purchase it. Now you can do that online with my latest book, Windmill. The “look inside” feature is up on Amazon.com, allowing you to read sample pages from the book. Windmill tells the story of Carl Steinar and his sons, Peter and Lyle, who for 15 years have maintained a tenuous balance to keep together their family and farm on Nebraska’s western plains. Like blades of a well-oiled windmill, each works in harmony with the other. But when Abbie Blaire, the new reporter in town comes to write a story about them, a monkey wrench is thrown into their perfect machine: She is the spitting image of the wife and mother the Steinar men lost years ago. They soon find themselves on new trajectories in which their needs and ambitions can only collide. You can “look inside” the book at its Amazon.com page.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Lakeland, Florida, or a small town like Hygiene, Colorado, I can provide that second eye.

Five great quotations about fictional characters

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” – Ernest Hemingway

“If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.” – Richard Bach

“I wanted to invent myself as a fictional character. And I did, and it has caused a great deal of confusion.” – Jeanette Winterson

“Basically you come up with the fictional idea and you start writing that story, but then in order to write it and to make it seem real, you sometimes put your own memories in. Even if it's a character that's very different from you.” – Jeffrey Eugenides

“I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.” – Penelope Lively

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Wichita, Kansas, or a small town like Bird In Hand, Pennsylvania, I can provide that second eye.

Ensure Amazon.com page is of highest quality

The Amazon.com page that sells your book may perhaps be the most important item in your entire marketing effort. All of your press releases, news articles, blog reviews of your book, radio appearances, website pages and more probably will point potential readers to this page. It is where potential readers can purchase your book.

For many potential readers, it is the page where they find out the most information about your book. If your Amazon.com page turns them off to your book, you’ve lost a sale.

If you’ve used Kindle Direct Publishing to print your book, Amazon.com automatically will create a page for you, uploading your book cover photo, book description, price, and product details (such as number of pages, trim size and so on). If you used a different printer, at least as of this writing you’ll need to apply to sell your product on Amazon.com through its Advantage program.

The format of the Amazon.com page is predetermined for you, so you’re stuck with the appearance, even if you don’t like it. That’s okay, though – a standard format on each Amazon.com page means visitors don’t have to look hard for the information they want when they go to purchase the book.

What you can control is the text and some other gimmicky but useful stuff on the page:
• Click to Look Inside – This feature allows readers to flip through a limited number of pages of your book before purchasing it. Definitely do this; Amazon.com doesn’t give away enough pages to diminish a sale, and if your title were at a brick and mortar bookstore, readers definitely would look through it.
• Book description – This is the equivalent of your cover blurb. Like a synopsis, it tells readers a little about your book without giving away the ending.
• Editorial reviews (about the author) – This is your author’s bio. Especially if writing nonfiction, you’ll want to show in your bio why you are qualified to write a book about the topic.
• Customer reviews – Marketing research shows that many potential buyers of a book make their decision after reading customer reviews. Rather than pay someone to write reviews, solicit them from your colleagues and friends who are qualified to comment on your book.

In addition, Amazon.com allows writers to build their own author’s page. Besides a biography of you, the page lists (with links) all of your published titles. In addition, you can link a feed from your blogs. As with the page selling your book, the author’s page format is predetermined, but it’s still a very useful tool.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Boise, Idaho, or a small town like Cut n' Shoot, Texas, I can provide that second eye.

Design your book cover to attract attention

You can’t judge a book by a cover goes the old cliché, but the reality is that people literally do so all of the time. That’s why you’ll want to spend some time coming up with an attractive cover for your volume.

Simply put, a good, unique cover draws potential readers to your book. It fires their imagination of what the book is about – meaning it doesn’t tell them exactly what it’s about, just gets them excited about it. Hence the hunky guys on the cover of romance novels and buxom beauties or space battle scene on science fiction novels.

The cover’s goal literally is to get readers to pick up your book, read the synopsis about it on the backside, maybe page through it for a few minutes, and then take it to the checkout counter and purchase it!

When designing a cover, there are three parts you’ll need to think about:
• Front cover – A good front cover has interesting artwork that draws a potential reader’s attention, the book’s title (and usually its subtitle), and the author’s name. It also may include a quick blurb about why it’s such a great book and some note explaining who the author is (such as “Author of (title of last book she wrote).”
• Spine – This is the side of the book that we see when it’s placed in a bookcase. It typically includes the title, author’s name, publisher, and if fiction possibly the genre.
• Back cover – A blurb or synopsis about the book, aimed at getting readers to purchase it, usually tops the page. The ISBN with barcode and price typically appear in the lower right corner. The back cover also might possibly include an author’s bio with photo, publisher and a website to learn more about the author/book series.

You can use a self-publishing house’s templates to create a cover fairly quickly and inexpensively, but be forewarned that they all look much the same and are fairly unimaginative at that. In addition, a self-publishing house’s templates are a dead giveaway that you’ve got a self-published book, which for a number of readers – especially those in the media who might give your book some attention – means a “lower quality” book (though that perception is changing).

If you lack the talent to create your own cover, you’ll want to get a designer or artist to handle that part of your self-publishing project. It can get expensive, though, so be aware of this when budgeting for your book.

Granted, in today’s digital age, a book cover is not quite as important as days past when the only place to purchase a book was a brick and mortar store. Still, the cover – perhaps wrongly – tells the reader a lot about the pages in between. A poor cover hints at unprofessional writing and vice versa. So invest a little time working on the cover, even though you’re a writer; after all, you're not a fashion designer but you still wouldn’t dress your child in rags during her first public outing!

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Syracuse, New York, or a small town like Hicks, Alabama, I can provide that second eye.

Be alert, get it right: Conscience vs. conscious

Every writer, in conscience, should know the difference between these two words.

Conscience refers to one’s moral conduct. For example: Having to tell a lie wracked Tara’s conscience.

Conscious refers to one’s perception or awareness – hence, you can be unconscious. For example, Cheri was fully conscious of what the judge’s words meant. Or Getting hit in the head with a baseball bat knocked Samantha unconscious.

So always be conscious of when to use which one of these words!

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you be from a metropolis like New York City or a small town like Potts Camp, Mississippi, I can provide that second eye.