My A to Z Liebster from True North Bricks

This year, during the A to Z Challenge, I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Tom from True North Bricks. I know there are sometimes too many awards going around, and the Liebster is for newer blogs, but I'll tell you what: I'm accepting this because even though I'll be celebrating the completion of five years for this blog in June, it still feels new to me after taking an extended break in the middle of those years. And doggone it, it's always nice when someone takes notice and tells others to check out what I'm doing here, which is really what the Liebster is all about—sharing blogs of interest.

So thank you, Tom. I'll proudly display my badge. If any of you are adult fans of LEGO® or just like anything that's made from LEGO bricks and minifigs, you really need to check out this blog. His A to Z involved LEGO-fying pop culture posters and covers. The artwork, photoshopping, and accuracy is pretty impressive! He is also on Instagram if you want to look for him there.

Tom's questions for his nominees are mostly LEGO-related!

1. Everyone has a LEGO story from some point in their life, what is yours? I am the youngest of two girls, and I was always jealous of the boys in our neighborhood because they had LEGO sets and we only had Barbie dolls. My husband spent countless hours of creativity with LEGO bricks, erector sets, model kits, and all the fun stuff I never experienced. When we started having children, I couldn't wait for them to be old enough for us to buy LEGO for them and was thrilled to have our oldest receive baby Duplos®—if you've never gotten the baby version of LEGO bricks, these ones are each about the size of a golf ball and are completely adorable. Over the years, they collected dozens of sets, both large and small, and I still smile when I think of how many worlds they created, some of the silly character names they came up with, and the fun I had playing right along with them.

2.  Pick a face from below that best suits your mood today, and explain your choice.

I would probably have to choose the happy face for today, and for most days. I'm a generally happy person and would only change my face choice if they had a sarcastic one. I have so much to be thankful for that it's hard to maintain a bad mood for long unless I'm really tired.

3. If you won an all-expenses-paid trip to any LEGOLAND in the world, which would you pick and why? True confession time here: I didn't realize there were more than two! But gosh, there are eight of them, with a ninth one on the way in 2020, which is pretty exciting. If I had all my expenses paid, though, I would definitely go overseas. My choice is LEGOLAND® Billund in Denmark, since it was the first LEGOLAND Park and opened in 1968 alongside the factory.

4.  If you could have anything turned into a LEGO set, what would it be? That's a tough one! But . . . if I could have a Les Paul Junior with a Fender Amp, all made of LEGO bricks, I'd give it to my husband as a gift to decorate our musician-filled household.

5.  What is your favorite activity to unwind with? Reading has always been a staple for me when I just want to be still and quiet. I'm not a big TV watcher but I can lose myself in a book for days if I have the free time to indulge.

6.  What is your favorite movie, and why? I don't know that I have a favorite, but there are certain ones that make me laugh and stop to watch even if I'm just passing through. Classics like The Music Man (the old one with Robert Preston), kids' movies like The Emperor's New Groove and The LEGO Movie, and ones that just make me say, "I love that movie!" when it's over like Secondhand Lions or The Princess Bride or The Prestige or Ocean's Eleven. Split was creepy cool, too. I guess my guideline is whether I can't resist rewatching it because it was just so cleverly done.

7.  If you were to start writing a new book today, what would it be about? As much as I love to read science fiction and fantasy, I don't think I'm nearly creative enough to come up with anything original. I'd probably write a memoir about a particularly difficult time in my life that I'm still dealing with as I watch other family members deal with the fallout. My daughter is the storyteller. She's told me about characters and worlds she's thought up, and they're incredible. I told her I would be happy to help her get it all down if she wants to, and then she can sort it from there. So I can picture writing her book with/for her just to get it in first draft form.

8.  If all of a sudden you were given infinite resources to pursue your passion professionally, what would you do? I'd probably spend it all on two things: first would be music lessons for the variety of instruments I've taught myself over the years. I'm okay at a couple, and mediocre at best on the remainder of them. Most of it boils down to time available for practice, since I seem to get the hang of them if I'm putting regular time into it. I'd set up a studio in my house so my kids can record in a soundproof area without having to kick everyone out of the house for the evening. The second thing I'd do would be to expand my business to include services that would take an author from draft through publishing: writing coach, developmental editing, copyediting and proofreading, indexing, formatting/design, cover design, marketing. I'm fortunate to have two jobs I love: I sing for a living and I edit. I can't imagine investing in one while ignoring the other.

9.  Why did you start your blog? Originally, I thought I'd "get my name out there" so I could drum up some editing business. Then, when I realized only about three people even read my blog, I figured I'd just have fun with it while keeping with the editing & writing theme. I've had some hilarious chats over coffee, author interviews, notes for writers from an editor's point of view, and other miscellaneous things that may or may not have ever made an impression on anyone. But I've met some great people along the way and my favorite moments are when my commenters end up conversing with each other.

10.  Recently, LEGO released Series 18 of their Minifigure blind bags. Which one would you want to have, and why? This set has so many cool ones, it was really tough to choose. Cactus Girl is terrific, and so are the others, but I think Fireworks Guy is my favorite. He just looks like he's having a . . . blast. It's me, really, as a firecracker.

11.  Give one random fact about yourself. I always wanted to be a professional musician. My parents forbade me to pursue it. My second choice was journalism or something that allowed me to write or be involved with writers. My parents also forbade that. I ended up going to a college not of my choice to earn a degree I didn't really want or choose. And whaddya know, thirty years and four children later, I ended up being a musician and a copyeditor. Ha! I am where I wanted to be, in a completely different way than I ever thought it would happen.

***

So there are my answers to some great questions. And now I'm going to try to follow the rules properly and nominate a couple other bloggers. I never know how these things will turn out, but I will nominate two bloggers I enjoy quite a bit:

1. Kim M. Watt—Kim is an author who writes the most clever and humorous short stories. She shares a good many of them on her blog (I recommend all of them, but especially those involving Glenda and the Horsemen). She loves dragons and from what I've seen, they love her right back.

2. Rebekah of Barren to Beautiful—Rebekah's blog is a mixture of family stuff, stories of infertility and hope, and just plain fun life observations. Sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, you'll always be glad you visited.

And here are my questions for them:

1. What is your favorite perk of writing?
2. Have you ever liked the movie better than the book?
3. If you had three days, all expenses paid, away from home, where would you go to relax?
4. Tell us about your strangest talent.
5. What makes you smile most often during an average day?
6. If calories and health were not a concern, what would your go-to treat be?
7. Do you have a bucket list, and if you do, what is one of the bigger items on it?
8. Is there one person who's been influential enough in your life that you always think of them with a grateful heart?
9. Would you rather be completely invisible for one day, or have the ability to fly for one day?
10. What's your least favorite fashion (any decade) that you wish would have gone away before it started?
11. What "old person" things do you catch yourself doing?

***

RULES OF THE LIEBSTER AWARD 2018:

1. Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you and display the award logo.

2. Answer 11 questions that the blogger sets for you.

3. Nominate blogs that you think are deserving of the award.

4. Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

5. Let your nominees know about their nomination.

Z = "Zounds!" Is No Longer in Common Use

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

“Zounds!” shouldn’t be in anyone’s dialogue anymore.

Hiring an editor can prevent you from having a modern-day character saying something that old-fashioned, and can also prevent you from having your heroine say, “That’s pretty cool,” in your novel about ancient Egypt.

We’re trained in various style books so we know that a novel will be edited and presented differently than a nonfiction academic journal. We know there are differences in how sentences are edited in the US v. the UK. We understand the rules and not only how to apply them, but why—and when they can be broken.

And we understand that word usage changes constantly.

One of the editing groups I’m in frequently has members asking, “If I say this particular word, what comes to mind? Please state your age and where you’re from.” A word often means something completely different in one part of the world than another, and a decent editor knows it. We follow the language, not just the rules.

***

For those of you who made it all the way to Z with me, thanks for stopping by so often! Here's hoping I'll continue to see you here in the coming months.

Y = You Think You Can Do it Alone (But You Can't)

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

You may think you can do this book thing alone. The truth is, you can't. Perhaps the underlying truth is, you shouldn’t.

There’s not a person in this world who can’t benefit from the wisdom of someone who’s gone through the same experience, learned the same skills, or tripped over the same obstacle. This is why mentors are so valuable.

To ignore good advice is worse than not seeking advice at all, and yet people do both on a regular basis. If you never look at what successful people do, you may never learn how to be successful—or it simply might take you a whole lot longer than it would have, had you sought advice.

I recently dealt with someone who received feedback from a publisher. He asked me to evaluate the writing, and I (unknowingly) told him the same as what the publisher said. I even referred him to a few other editors so he could get unbiased evaluations. They told him the same things, and yet he kept insisting that they were not qualified to give that feedback—the reasons varied from “this person has the same education level I do and therefore doesn’t know anything more than I do” to “this person didn’t ever mention [particular writing structure] so he clearly doesn’t understand what I’m doing here if he never even used that particular word.”

The actual problem was that this writer didn’t want to even consider the fact that his writing might need work. To insist on working alone is the height of narcissism, and never turns out well for anyone. Embrace good advice, filter out bad advice, and accept that everybody needs some advice at some point. It’s not a failing; it’s just life.

X-Rated Scenes Need a Firm (Editing) Hand

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

X-Rated scenes show up in a variety of novels. They can be blatantly descriptive in erotica, or they can start off steamy and finish behind closed doors, so to speak.

Regardless of which way a writer chooses to go, these scenes need to be done well or they shouldn’t be included at all. There’s nothing worse than a love scene that feels awkward to read or sounds cheesy.

I’m not talking about deliberately cheesy, like someone saying, “Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?” Yeah. Definite cheese happening there.

But if the writer’s intent is for some serious love to be going on, or dialogue that makes the reader grab a fan and some ice water, then cheese is off the menu. If you fancy yourself a writer of all that’s steamy, make sure you hire an editor who specializes in it so you’ll get the best . . . uh . . . bang . . . for your buck.

W = What, Exactly, Just Happened?

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

What just happened here?

Have you ever said that to yourself while reading? I’ve said it plenty of times, though I will be quick to tell you that most of those times were during the editing process. That’s when it should happen, to be honest. You don’t want your readers wondering what in the world is going on in the paragraph they’ve just read, when you swear you’ve written it clearly.

Part of an editor’s job is to remove confusion from the manuscript, whether the confusion arises from typos, verbiage, or descriptions of people or actions. When I’m editing something that’s a little rougher than usual, I enjoy the process of figuring out how to make it clear so that someday down the road, a reader won’t be left scratching his head and wondering what, exactly, just happened.

V = Volumes Are Spoken by What You DON'T Do

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Volumes are spoken by what you DON’T do.

There’s a reason for the idiom “actions speak louder than words.” You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but in the end, it’s what you do or don’t do that speaks for you. And of course, we’re on letter V and you should get the idea by now that I’m going to tell you how and why this relates to needing an editor. You can probably guess, but it’s my post so I’m going to do my A to Z duty and tell you anyway.

If you don’t put out the best product you can put together, people will know, and they will call you on it. I’ve seen reviews that start off with something like, “Too bad the author didn’t bother to hire an editor,” or “What a shame that the writer didn’t bother to have anyone read this prior to publishing.” They don’t care about your personal backstory or why you didn’t do these things; they only care that you didn’t bother, and that makes them not want to bother with supporting your book.

U = Undervaluing the Work Leads to Disaster

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Undervaluing the work leads to disaster.

I understand that most people are not independently wealthy and therefore don’t have money to throw, all willy-nilly, at their book project. However, beware the race to the bottom when it comes to hiring an editor. There are “editors” on places like Fiverr who can’t string a coherent bunch of words together to advertise their own services. And yet people still hire them, perhaps in the hope that they’ll get something decent for almost nothing.

Unfortunately, most of those situations end up causing more harm than good, and the authors who get stung end up hiring someone else to fix things.

The real problem with undervaluing the work of a skilled professional (whether it’s an editor, formatter, or cover designer) is that there is always someone who will argue, “I can get someone else to do it for half that much.” Well . . . all I can say is, go ahead. I wish you the best but don’t actually expect it, and that’s unfortunate. Each professional invests a certain number of hours into the work, and trying to do it for a living wage is often a challenge when there is always someone out there, waiting to lowball a bid to secure the job.

In general, you get what you pay for, though a lower cost doesn’t necessarily negate quality. Just don’t let the dollar be your deciding factor if the quality is not there.

T = Thinking You're Exempt Is Foolish

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Thinking you’re exempt from the process everyone else goes through to get published is foolish.

I almost titled this like one of those clickbait articles: “Editors Hate This Guy Because He Knows the Secret to [fill in the blank],” except that there really is no secret to publishing success that allows someone to skip steps.

People go about their writing journey in many ways, but the common theme still holds true. Every successful author needs to learn as much about the craft as possible, and put forth the best work he or she is capable of. It may involve a writing course or a handful of them. It may involve a critique group. It may mean that you read just about every book out there on the craft of writing and how to do it well. Maybe you’ll take an editing course to see how much self-editing you can do to keep your costs down.

Whatever path you choose, you’ll end up following the same general process: idea (plot), research & development (writing, learning, fact-checking, rewrites), test marketing (beta feedback), final production (editing, formatting, cover design), and releasing to the public (publishing).

Thinking “I know a way around that” is a slippery slope. I wouldn’t trust a product that skipped safety testing, so I wouldn’t want to put out a product that isn’t structurally “sound” either, even if it’s a book that won’t technically hurt anyone if it's produced poorly . . . unless you count the wallet pain you feel when you realize you’ve been ripped off.

Ouch.

S = Scamming Editors Gets You Blacklisted

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Scamming editors gets you blacklisted, just like the post title says.

Honest people may be stunned to hear this, but there are actually writers out there who try to scam the system to get free edits. How, you ask?

The writers contact a variety of professional editors from a particular group. They may approach members of the Editorial Freelancers Association, Society for Editors and Proofreaders, people on LinkedIn, or similar. They then ask for a free sample edit, which most will provide. However, these scammers will give a different portion of the work to each editor in the hopes that eventually, they’ll cover enough ground to get an entire book done, free of charge.

Unfortunately for them—as is the case with most petty thieves—they don’t realize how obvious they are. When red flags go up, editors talk to each other to see if anyone else has recently received a request from someone with the initials XYZ, and sure enough, at least a handful in the group have . . . all with the same suspicious email, evasive answers, and changing word count (to avoid suspicion, I suppose).

One editor told a group of us how an author kept changing his email address and the name of his characters to try to get different portions of the same book edited by her over the course of a year. Bad enough to try to scam her, but to think she was enough of an idiot not to recognize the same manuscript over and over? Almost laughable if it weren’t such a waste of time.

Don’t be “that” person whose name gets passed around as a “Do Not Respond” because you thought you could beat the system.

R = Really Bad Books Are a Dime a Dozen

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Really bad books are everywhere.

When I first got a Kindle, years and years ago (2009, if I recall correctly), I discovered a thing called “Top 100 Free Books.” Not only could I get classics for free, but I had a list of 100 books at my twitchy, download-eager fingertips.

I naively loaded a bunch of them without even bothering to read some of the descriptions—because my Kindle, the newest of its type that Christmas, was equipped with “experimental 3G connection” that was convenient for speed but didn’t lend itself to any kind of decent book cover graphics (think one-inch thumbnails). It was the precursor to the Paperwhite, except mine had a tiny (tiny!) push-button keyboard to navigate, and no touchscreen capability. Hot stuff that Christmas, old news the following year.

I soon discovered that “Top 100” only meant “downloaded more than others.” At least 97 of those 100 books were absolute garbage, unedited and filled with writing that was worse than what a grade school child could put together.

You don’t have to search for bad books. Just don’t let yours be one of them.

Q = Querying with an Unedited Book Gets You Nowhere

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Querying agents with an unedited manuscript will get you nowhere fast.

There’s a bit of misconception among newer authors that it “doesn’t matter” what the manuscript looks like because a publisher is going to take care of editing anyway. This is a huge misinterpretation of the process.

In actuality, you should always hand in the cleanest copy possible, hiring a copyeditor for the final polish before querying. Putting your best foot forward is a solid step in the right direction, because an agent is unlikely to want to slog through the rough stuff to see if there’s a possible diamond in there.

If you get picked up by a publisher, then yes, their editor(s) will have a go at making the book even more shiny, complete with a proofreader once the typesetting is done.

In the meantime, though, the buffing is up to you. Shine it up!

P = "Polite" Is Our Middle Name

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

“Polite” is something most editors strive for, even while telling hard truths. We actively seek out kind ways to tell people, “Your book isn’t good . . . yet.”

We know that our job often entails the telling of bad news in a good way. It’s still bad news, but it should never make you feel bad. Part of what drives us to be honest even when it’s difficult is this simple explanation: you’re not the only one who wants your book to be great. So do we! And we’ll do our best to get you there, one edit at a time.

Many authors have no idea how much angst goes into a typical editing evaluation, and how stomach-churning it can be to write a summary letter that may not be received well. It’s a far cry from the “tough editor just telling it the way it is” image, isn’t it? Try more of a nail-biting, chocolate-bingeing, anxiety-ridden waiting period, where we wait and wonder if we were too harsh, if we got our point across, if the author will understand why it will cost x amount, or if we’ll never hear from them again.

We really do try our best to be kind, so always assume good intentions.

O = Offering "Exposure" Is Insulting

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Offering anything other than money for a professional to edit your manuscript is insulting. I’m just going to put that right up front and add that this post is dead serious, no joking, no snark. 

The reason your work needs a professional editor and not “a good looking-over” by your next-door neighbor is because we are . . . professionals, trained in a specialty skill that requires strict attention to detail. We, like all who work, do it to pay our bills. To buy groceries. Offering “a share of royalties” or “exposure” is not only impractical, it’s astoundingly insulting. Your doctor doesn’t want you to spread the good word of how well he did your surgery; he wants you to pay your medical bill. 

 I’ll put it in practical terms: it takes me roughly 60–100 hours (sometimes more) to copyedit a book, depending on the level of editing needed. If you were to walk into your workplace tomorrow morning and your boss asked you to work the next week or two without a paycheck, would you say yes? What if he promised to tell everyone that your work was exemplary? 

If you have ever done this to an editor, or are considering it, please stop immediately. Exposure bucks are not accepted in the marketplace.

N = Nobody Likes to Waste Money

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Nobody likes to waste their hard-earned money. Not even people who inherited theirs and didn't actually earn it.

When the average person spends their dollars, they expect to receive a quality product in return. If the product is shoddy, we call the company. We write an email to describe what's defective/broken/poorly made, or attach a photo of the garbage product. We usually attempt to return it.

But books are different. In most cases, we are stuck with what we've purchased, even if it stinks. Don't get me wrong: if you bought a book you just didn't end up liking, it's not the author's fault. But if you bought a book that was poorly written, there's not much you can do about it other than leave a negative review.

And if the book is that bad, there's zero chance the reader will waste any additional money on another book by that same author.

Don't be that author. People will only waste their money once, and then . . . well, you're essentially dead to them. True story.

M = Manuscripts Aren't Meant to Be Sold As Is

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Manuscripts aren't meant to be sold in their raw form. Unedited drafts are only worth money if you are dead and were already famous before you died. This doesn't mean that you should leave your crappiest work in a locked drawer for "someday" as a means to providing an inheritance for your descendants.

The fact is that manuscripts only become books if they're edited, and putting forth your drafts (whether it's the first draft or the tenth draft) for someone to purchase is never a good idea.

Readers want a finished product that's been edited, formatted, proofed and presented with a decent cover. Not the equivalent of a paperclip-bound stack of printed double-spaced Times New Roman with a "pls read this, ty" Post-It note stuck on top.

L = Lagging Sales? It Might Just Be You

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Lagging sales just might be your fault. Or not. But it might.

Readers are fickle, and what sold yesterday might not sell today. Everyone jumps on the latest "Paleo Vampire Transformer finds love with Backwoods Awkward Nuclear Space Genius" trend, and all of a sudden, the market has a glut of the stuff.

Or . . . maybe nobody's written that plot, and there's a reason for it.

A decent editor might be able to tell you how to make your plot stand out as unique. Or they might point out how your plot is SO unique that it's incomprehensible to the average human.

At the very least, they can make sure your lagging sales aren't due to a high error rate because of a lack of editing. A surprising number of new authors blame readers when the real issue is that they've not had their books edited.

Once in a while, it's the reader. But every once in a while . . . it's not.

K = Killing Your Faves Might Be Necessary

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Killing your favorites isn't a new concept. Stephen King advises authors to "kill your darlings," using a phrase written in 1916 by author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (the original was "murder your darlings") and modified by William Faulkner ("in writing, you must kill all your darlings").

Killing doesn't happen in every book. Not in the murderous sense, anyway. But there are times—murder or not—when it's best to get rid of a particular character for the betterment of the story. This might mean outright death, if it fits the plot, or it might mean that a character just goes away. Completely, as in "this book has never, does not currently, and will never contain a character named Joe Smith."

It's hard to chop ruthlessly if we've become attached, but a good developmental editor with a fresh eye can see what's clogging up the works. The editor who advises that a darling gets the ax is often only confirming what the writer already knows, deep down.

Allow an editor to help you make the tough decisions.

J = Joint Partnerships Are Better Than Being a Loner

Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:

Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor

So without further ado . . .

Joint partnerships are better than being a loner. Let's face it, no one can do it all, and everyone has a different skill set they bring to the table. Your strengths may be someone else's weakness, and vice versa.

This is where a good editor comes in.

Good editors will cheer for you! This is a wonderful bonus to hiring the right editor, regardless of what level of editing your work needs. We want your work to turn out in a phenomenal way, and we love helping you get there.

Why wouldn't we cheer? We're almost as excited as you are when we see the end results.