This month's theme is perfectly timed since I recently returned from the Public Safety Writers Association Conference (PSWA) in Las Vegas. In addition to meeting and hearing from police officers, PIs, firefighters, 9-1-1 dispatchers, hazmat responders, military personnel, a postal inspector, SWAT members, and more about their jobs and experiences, I participated in a panel titled "Perfecting Your Writing. " Thanks to my fellow panelists, I am able to provide a selection of #writing tricks and tools for your perusal. Below, you'll probably find something old , something new , definitely a lot borrowed , and a bit of blue . Without further ado... From Thonie Hevron SmartEdit is wonderful free software that takes some of the pain out of culling those oft-repeated words. You can pre-set your own filters. I always use this. Hemingway is a fee-based (free online and app is one-time $19.99 and well worth it) program that identifies confusing and complicated sentenc...

As an editor, I occasionally run across writers who are not nice people. They're angry, difficult to work with, believe their words are chiseled in stone on the tablet Moses carried down from Mount Sinai, and worst of all, they're condescending and think they know better than everyone about everything. Despite all these charming qualities, a few of them do manage to get published eventually, but their writing careers are often short-lived. When I had just started editing for a major genre publishing house, an acquisitions editor sent me a manuscript. Normally a lovely person, on this occasion she was edgy and irritable. She wanted a fast read and I gave her one. The author had a long publishing history and won a couple of awards, but she regarded him warily. I soon discovered why. He had an ugly temper and didn’t have much use for women. Apparently, this guy also didn't know how to write, so how had he been published so often? The book I read was not only shot throu...

Over the years I have worked as an editor, I’ve encountered many authors reluctant to hire or work with editors because they've previously suffered truly awful ordeals during the editing process. As a writer, I survived a few of those myself, so I know firsthand how upsetting a bad edit can be. Bad editors create new problems in manuscripts and often do nothing to resolve existing issues that beg for improvement. I am often asked how authors can tell a good editor from a bad editor. While there’s no guaranteed way to do this, I can offer a few suggestions that might help authors find an editor who will not only do a great job but will also be a good fit for their personality and writing style. Keep in mind I am speaking of developmental editing in this column, not just a copyedit that corrects typos and grammatical errors. Look for an editor who offers to edit your first ten pages free of charge Almost every confident professional developmental editor is more than ...

~ Editor/Author/Publisher Mysti Berry is our guest at the Blood-Red Pencil today. ~ I’d like to share with you the most marvelous discoveries of my first adventure as a publisher. Editing a charity anthology LOW DOWN DIRTY VOTE was my first time editing a collection. The process was a series of delightful discoveries punctuated by occasional fits of swearing at the software. I’ll spare you the swearing but share what I learned about crime writers during this madcap adventure.  Discovery #1: Crime Writers are Generous  Exhausted by my own pointless rage-tweeting and desperate to do something useful, I decided to publish an anthology of crime short stories to raise money to help fight voter suppression. I invited writer friends and writers who are barely more than acquaintances to contribute. Nearly all of them said yes. This astonished me, because most of the writers in the anthology are well published—he or she has something to lose if a story shows up in a low-q...

Here's a truth for you: Writing is a lifelong-learning endeavor. As writers, we should always  strive to strengthen our writing, and we can do that by Well, writing Reading - books in the genre(s) you write in, books outside those genres, books on the craft of writing, etc. Connecting with other writers for advice, for an ear to hear your writing woes, and for critiques of your work Subscribing to sites (like BRP!), newsletters, magazines, etc. that provide invaluable knowledge on many aspects of writing Here's another nugget of truth for you: Editing is a lifelong-learning endeavor. As you have learned through this 8-part series, editors tend to be writers, too, and because of that, they are voracious readers. They also connect with other writers (and editors) and subscribe to sites, organizations, and magazines that help them to better their editing craft. While we are working, like writers, to strengthen our talents, we also find our learning through...

*Breaking News* No one is perfect. And that includes editors. So, in part seven of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we had to ask BRP editors the following question: What are your strengths and weaknesses as an editor? Linda Lane Website | Denver Editor  | FB Linda Lane - I have a strong sense of story, character development, and dialogue, which makes me a better fiction editor than a nonfiction editor. Because I rely on The Chicago Manual of Style as my guide, I am not well qualified to edit works that have been written using a different style. Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - I think my biggest strength is that I truly care about the author. I want to know her purpose for writing the project, what she wants readers to get from the project, her concerns about the project, and then as editor (thinking like a reader), I work to help the author develop a story that delivers everything she needs. I also love gramm...

Today in part six of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we ask our BRP editors the following question: How do you edit? ⟽⟾ Elle Carter Neal Website | FB | Tw Elle Carter Neal - I use the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. Linda Lane Website | Denver Editor  | FB Linda Lane - I prefer to work in MS Word on the computer. On occasion, I have also done final edits/proofs in Adobe Acrobat. Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - I use both the tracking and comments features in Microsoft Word to edit. And you know, although we often tell writers not to let the Spellcheck of Word be your guide to strong writing, if you go into File>Options>Proofing>Settings, there are many writing issues you can have Word check for, such as passive voice, wordiness, clichés, and vague adjectives. Maryann Miller Website | FB | Tw Maryann Miller - Word Tracking is my friend. I have used it ...

Welcome to part five of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den . In the first two weeks, we talked to our BRP editors about their reasons for becoming editors , their training and expertise , their favorite genres to edit , and their editorial style(s) . This series provides a wealth  of information for writers who are looking for an editor for their literary baby. Today's question asked to our editors is... What services do you offer to your clients? Maryann Miller Website | FB | Tw Maryann Miller - My editing services include content and copy-editing novels and nonfiction books, as well as screenplay evaluation and editing. On special request, I have helped clients with query letters and articles. Elle Carter Neal Website | FB | Tw Elle Carter Neal - I usually work closely with clients chapter by chapter, providing a thorough copyedit along with developmental advice. Sometimes that results in the author rethinking elements down the lin...

Editors play a balancing act between editorial style and an author's writing style. We want our clients to keep their voice, their story's voice throughout a work, and we have to make sure that we do that while also keeping the author's words consistent. We use many style books and guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style  to help in this endeavor. Editorial style can also be about how an editor balances the relationships between editor-words-author. Knowing how an editor handles those relationships is important for writers who seek editors. In part four of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we ask BRP editors the following question: How would you define your editorial style? Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - As a person who has always believed she was born to teach, I often treat editing as a space to provide teachable moments. Yes, I want to provide the client with a clean, well-developed story, but I also want to provide t...

In part three of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we ask our BRP editors the following questions: What types of work do you typically edit? Is there a favorite type or genre? Linda Lane Website | Denver Editor  | FB Linda Lane - I prefer fiction, although I have edited some non-fiction and educational pieces. Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - I have edited so many types of writing over the years. From erotica, romance, and mysteries to fantasy, sci-fi, and literary. It helps that I actually like to read these genres, too, so that I have an idea about how these types of stories are typically developed. I also edit academic works (research articles, theses, dissertations, etc.) and non-fiction. I have to say that these days I love editing non-fiction, especially faith-based self-help works. Every book of this type that I’ve edited has taught me something valuable. Maryann Miller Website | FB | Tw Maryann Mil...

Today in part two of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we ask our wonderful BRP editors about their training and expertise with the following question: WHAT TRAINING HAVE YOU HAD FOR YOUR WORK AS AN EDITOR? Elle Carter Neal Website | FB | Tw Elle Carter Neal - I started off in very poorly-paid intern positions first at a magazine and then a small-press in London. Training involved being shown how to work the coffee machine, learning the tea/coffee/sugar/milk preferences of the junior editors, and getting a cuppa to each of them before they yelled for one. This is a skill that has stood me in great... hmm, never mind. I worked my way up to one of the coveted slush pile jobs, but I quit after a few weeks for two reasons: I wasn’t ruthless enough (I was sending far too many manuscripts upstairs), and I spent a night almost-homeless (a kind receptionist at a back-packing hostel let me bunk under the front desk for the night shift) because the “pay” was to...

Welcome to the first post in our Inside the Editor’s Den series. This month, we talk to four of BRP’s bloggers – Elle Carter Neal, Maryann Miller, Linda Lane, and Shonell Bacon – on their work as editors. Since 2008, The Blood-Red Pencil’s goal has been, as stated by founder Dani Greer, “to help writers by blogging about what we know best – editing.” In this series, we hope to provide information to writers that might be useful when they seek an editor for their writing projects. Learning how to write well is very important for a writer. Learning what to ask your potential editor is just as important. Shout out to Wise Ink’s article “ 15 Questions You Should Always Ask Your Editor Before Hiring Them .” The idea for this series came from the great questions posed in this article. Now, let’s step inside the editor’s den. Today's question asked to our editors is... WHY, HOW DID YOU COME TO EDITING? Not surprisingly, writing plays a huge role in how these four editors...