An editor has a challenge. They must know everything about writing and, essentially, nothing about anything else. The power of remaining naïve Of course, I’m exaggerating. Editors tend to know a little bit about a lot of things, because they have to read so many things in detail. And editors in a specific genre need…
You might be skinny, fat, male, female, old, young, gay, straight, Black, white, Asian, a senior vice president, an entrepreneur, a new college graduate, a person with a Ph.D., somebody who never graduated, a cancer survivor, a person in a wheelchair, or an olympic athlete. When you write, it doesn’t matter. If you can write…
Newsletter 75: Resolving to make better New Year’s resolutions, Melania’s stickiness, new agents and publishers, plus three people to follow and three books to read. High resolution Have you made a New Year’s Resolution? You will fail, you know. But if you want to fail successfully — and eventually succeed — here are some questions…
As I’ve explained here previously, there are two types of writers: planners and pantsers. Planners create detailed outlines and break the work down into planned chapters. Pantsers just keep writing to get their ideas out, and deal with the organization later. While I unequivocally believe that planning is better, I acknowledge that many writers can’t…
For those considering making a living writing, ghostwriting, and editing, I thought you might enjoy a peek at what my 2024 looked like. I won’t share dollar numbers, but the total revenue was north of $100K, with me working about half of my time on client activities. The last time I reviewed my business like…
A friend of mine once confided in me that she was having trouble getting paid for her freelance work. After a little conversation, we figured out that she wasn’t sending invoices because she was embarrassed to talk about money with the client. No bill, no pay. It is embarrassing to talk about money. We’d all…
In the Wall Street Journal, Jacqui Shine just published a piece called “Want to Earn Six Figures as a Writer? Try Ghostwriting.” Before you writers all start rushing into the ghostwriting field with your hands out, I thought it might be instructive to describe what it actually takes to become a well-compensated ghostwriter. First, a…
When freelancers get together, they complain about clients. “You won’t believe what she’s making me do.” “He thinks he has the right to spell words any way he wants.” “They’re violating all the rules of design and logic.” When clients get together, they complain, too. “Everything has a price tag.” “He didn’t listen to me…
The world looks very different from how it did before the election. You may be wondering what you should do about that. I have one answer for you. You should write. You should create. Two reasons to write If you’re feeling depressed and anxious, then writing (or recording a podcast or a TikTok or whatever…