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Tie the grammar knot: Fiancée vs. fiancé

Writers who engage in the use of these two words sometimes find themselves a little red-faced when their writing comes before an audience.

A fiancée is a woman who is engaged to be married while a fiancé is a man who is engaged to be married. The easy way to remember them as that “female” has two e’s in it, as does fiancée, while “male” has one e, as does fiancé.

Follow that simple rule, and you’ll get the spelling right until the day you die.

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 Seattle, Washington, or a small town like Uncertain, Texas, I can provide that second eye.

Writing prompt: Sensuous dissection

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine.

To that end, try this tip: Pick one object in your story that you would like to write about. Spend 15 minutes writing a sensuous dissection of it. What does it look like? What does it sound like? Smell like? Feel like? Taste like?

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 Portland, Oregon, or a small town like Papa, Hawaii, I can provide that second eye.

What does term 'in medias res' mean?

Q: While reading one of the self-published books about plotting a novel, I came across the term “in medias res” in the section on the book’s opening lines. What does this term mean?

The term is Latin for “in the middle,” and many editors and book critics would say that novels should dispense with the story’s background and start with the action already underway (or “in the middle” of the story). An excellent example of this is Homer’s “The Iliad,” which starts in the waning days of the Greek war with the Trojans rather than covering the 10-year siege before the final battle. This helps focus the story’s plot on a character resolving one significant central problem.

Related articles:
g Create a riveting opener for your story
g Start story with event that upsets status quo

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 Detroit, Michigan, or a small town like Carefree, Arizona, I can provide that second eye.

Five Great Quotations for Aspiring Authors

“The process of becoming a writer involves discovering how to use the accumulated wisdom of our guild, all those tricks of the storytelling trade that have evolved around the campfire over the past five or ten or fifty thousand years. Others can show what those tricks are. But only you can make a writer out of yourself, by reading, by studying what you have read, and above all by writing.” - Robert Silverberg

“Here are the two states in which you may exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not.” - Chuck Wendig

“The difference between wanting to write and having written is one year of hard, relentless labour. It's a bridge you have to build all by yourself, all alone, all through the night, while the world goes about its business without giving a damn.” - Shatrujeet Nath

“I've got a folder full of rejection slips that I keep. Know why? Because those same editors are now calling my agent hoping I'll write a book or novella for them. Things change. A rejection slip today might mean a frantic call to your agent in six months.” - Mary Janice Davidson

“Believe in yourself and in your own voice, because there will be times in this business when you will be the only one who does...in the end, only the strong survive.” - Jayne Ann Krentz

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 Jackson, Mississippi, or a small town like Fleatown, Ohio, I can provide that second eye.

Writing Inspiration: Others dream of writing a book – I am living that dream!

Almost everyone has a big dream, a fantasy of sorts in which they live the “perfect” life. Maybe it’s sailing the waters on a fishing boat, maybe it’s traveling around the globe, maybe it’s being an astronaut exploring the realms of space.

For writers, that big dream usually consists of writing a book that is a bestseller, allowing them to quit their day job and writing in leisure.

Many writers, however, never get past the first element of that big dream – writing the book. They find themselves bogged down with career or school, discover that family eats up their free time, settle for simply maintaining their home. For them, the dream is something they might get to later, maybe in retirement. Maybe...

If you’ve started your book or short story or poem, however, you’ve begun to live your dream. Sure, you haven’t reached the epitome of your dream, that day when a publisher hands you a million dollar advance and says, “Write whatever you want!” But that’s more of the fantasy element of the dream, anyway.

Suppose that your dream is to own your own business. The fantasy element might be to build it into a Google-sized company that you sell to another for billions. The actual dream, though - the part that matters most - is to be your own boss, to manage your company’s fate, to grow something that is a legacy to your family. Those who take the leap and become entrepreneurs are living their dream.

By writing your book today, you are just like that entrepreneur. You are managing your own literary fate, are creating something so that your children and grandchildren will know you as “the author.”

Entrepreneurs who start building their own business put in a lot of hard work and thankless hours just to make their first dollar. A writer who’s penning a book is at the same stage.

The fruits of your efforts need not have been plucked for you to live your dream. After all, a man is a farmer as soon as he sows the seed, not when the harvest comes in. A woman is an entrepreneur as soon as she opens her doors for business, not when sales reach a predetermined number. And you are a writer the moment you start writing, not when you’ve sold your first book.

So keep living your dream – write today!

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 Des Moines, Iowa, or a small town like Whynot, Mississippi, I can provide that second eye.

How to select a great Twitter profile picture

When using Twitter as part of your author’s platform, perhaps the element to pay most attention, at least initially, isn’t your tweets but your profile picture.

The profile picture is the thumbnail that accompanies each one of your tweets. On both your home and profile pages, it is the prominent square photo that appears on the upper left of the screen.

This picture is important because it typically is the first visual one has of you as an author. The human eye almost always is drawn to an image before text. Because of this, with a simple glance at your profile picture potential readers of your tweets and the links they lead to gather quick, often subconscious impressions about you.

Due to this, there are three items you probably don’t want to use for your profile picture. The first is cute animals and your children. Of course, a cat, dog and baby, no matter how adorable, doesn’t say “professional writer.” Another picture to stay away from are those of objects that suggest writing, such as a pile of books, a bookcase full of books, a typewriter, a computer keyboard, a quill, etc. None of these say you are a writer (You could be a librarian or simply a bibliophile, after all), either, and all are better used in your header photo. A third picture to avoid is that of your published book’s cover. The thumbnail that accompanies your tweets is simply too small for the cover to be readable and hence recognizable.

Instead, use a professional-looking picture of yourself. It should be a close-up of your face, as the whole body will get lost in the tiny thumbnail. Ideally, the picture will in some way be memorable, not just another mug shot, so if you have a signature killer smile or way of locking on someone with your eyes, go for it. In addition, a thumbnail should be of high resolution with a bright, high contrast so that the foreground (your face) stands out from the background.

Once you have a profile picture, stick with it for some time, perhaps a couple of years. This allows readers to become familiar with your photo and to instantly associate your tweets with you.

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 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or a small town like Cluttsville, Alabama, I can provide that second eye.

Frontlist, backlist mean little in self-publishing

After you’ve self-published several books, you’ll likely encounter a couple of terms that categorize your writing: frontlist and backlist.

In corporate publishing, frontlist refers to your new titles that have just been released. The backlist are older books that are steady sellers. Often, corporate publishers would look at an author’s backlist and no longer print those that didn’t sell well. The only way for readers to get copies of books removed from the backlist would be to borrow from a library and scour used book stores.

In self-publishing, your book never goes out of print unless you personally decide to remove it from sale. That’s because the book actually isn’t printed until someone orders it, hence there’s no need to store unsold copies in a warehouse, the cost of which was a primary reason corporate publishers decided to remove books from authors’ backlists.

Still, the terms are somewhat useful in differentiating your newly released material from your older books. For example, your marketing and promotional efforts will focus on your new releases, or your frontlist.

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 Denver, Colorado, or a small town like Dewey Beach, Delaware, I can provide that second eye.

Examples of how to use e.g. vs. i.e.

If these two abbreviations are Greek to you, you’re not alone. But first things first: They’re Latin, not Greek.

e.g. is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase exempli gratia, which translates to “for example”; e.g. Many Los Angeles sports teams (e.g. the Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, Raiders, Rams, Galaxy and Ducks) have won national championships.

i.e. is an abbreviation for id est, which means “that is”; e.g. New York City boasts the most national sports championships, mainly because of one team – i.e., the Yankees have won 27 in their long history.

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 San Francisco, California, or a small town like Nimrod, Oregon, I can provide that second eye.

Writing prompt: Try a new genre

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip:

Select a genre that you usually don’t write in. For five minutes, write a passage in that new genre.

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 Baltimore, Maryland, or if you come from a small town like Giants Neck, Connecticut, I can provide that second eye.

Writing prompt: Create an out-of-whack event

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine.

To that end, try this tip: Often the opening sentence shows something out-of-whack in the world. This then sets up the story’s central problem that the main character needs to resolve. Look around your house and think of what would need to change for a situation to be off-kilter. For example, “Each time I picked up the telephone, no one was there” or “She reclined in my pool chaise as if completely at home, but I didn’t have a clue as to who she might be.” After writing five such opening lines, select one as your book’s first sentence.

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 St. Louis, Missouri, or a small town like Cheesequake, New Jersey, I can provide that second eye.