Amazon River image by Jon Rawlinson , via Flickr This month here at the noble Blood-Red Pencil we are writing about Amazon the giant bookstore/publisher. But of course, there’s that other Amazon - the river and surrounding rainforest - not to mention the legendary race of female warriors. More on them later. No one would launch a boat onto the Amazon without preparation - why would you treat the digital publisher with any less respect? Both arenas are home to: Anaconda - the world’s largest and heaviest snake. Can grow as long as 30 feet eating up to 30 pounds of prey a day. On Amazon, the Anaconda would be the newest release by John Grisham or Stephen King. Jaguar - a solitary killer that climbs trees as a vantage point when hunting prey prior to pouncing on their target. On Amazon, the jaguar is the person who hunts new successful authors and gives them one star reviews. Piranhas - Perhaps the most famous danger of the Amazon River, red-bellied piranhas are actually sca...

Whenever I start a new editing project, I have to prepare myself. In between projects, I'm doing a multitude of things - teaching, reading (students' work, books for review, etc.), grading, prepping lectures, being a sister, a best friend...and the list goes on. The last thing I want is for these things to distract me - especially on the first day of editing. I usually take an hour to prepare. I grab the first chapter of the manuscript and a cup of coffee, and I go into a quiet corner and read - purely for pleasure. The dreaded blood-red pencil is far away on a desk somewhere. I do this to unwind. I do this to discard all the goings on of the day and to focus on the task at hand. I do this to acquaint myself with the style, flow, characters, ideas behind the story. That first chapter needs to do a LOT for the reader, and I know that if I can sit and read it without being "the editor", then I can commit myself to the project. Once I read the chapter for plea...