I love to teach.  (Here’s a post from my personal blog about my most recent teaching experience.)  In my experience, the key to happiness and success, for student and teacher, is the right structure.  I’ve been considering three potential teaching scenarios:

• a personalized, one-on-one single-month intensive, online
• an eight-week class for 8 – 12 students, online
• a one-week workshop here in Seattle for 10-12 participants, in person

None of them would be for beginners. In general, I prefer to teach writers who have already done their own learning (whether in a formal environment or self-taught). My favorite students are those who understand that writing is work, who have put in their hours, who have taken themselves as far as they can.  Serious students who now need a final tempering, a keen eye and a firm hand to hone them to a brilliant edge.

This kind of study is intense and demanding. Its effects can be profound.  It is not for wusses.

If you’ve been through something like this (as student or teacher), please talk to me. I’d love to get some input. If you like the sound of any of my scenarios, if you think one might be for you, do leave a comment, or email me at info at sterlingediting dot com.

This could be exciting!

• First we turn to business: every writer should understand the way that returns work (or not) in publishing. Eric at Pimp My Novel is here to help…
• …and from Writer Beware, should writers pay for reviews?
• On the writing side, Writer Beware offers advice on how to write a query letter….
• … Agent Sarah LaPolla on genre, voice, and no more werewolves!…
• … and Writers Digest on combining genres.
• And here’s writer Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity, daemons, and why we should continue to show up. A beautiful talk. Olé to us all!

 

We will be open to sample edits before the end of the year. Really. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

• We lead today with some of the best advice to writers we’ve seen in a long time. Warning: Rated NSFW for… well, you’ll see. (Muchas gracias, Karina.)
• Our roundups include a lot of Nathan Bransford’s posts lately: in response to the curious person who emailed, no, he is not our agent or our cousin (smile). He is very good at sharing valuable information with writers. Here’s his take on how to write a novel.
• Writer Marcus Sakey assures you that you can persuade 75% of agents to request your material.
• Writer Audrey Beth Stein takes a look at publishing options.
• Gina Frangello offers a very interesting and informative two-part post on independent publishing (Part 1 from an author’s perspective, and Part 2 from a publisher’s). Be sure to stay for the comment conversations.
• Find out about new books — and share news of yours — at Galleycat’s new Facebook tab. Details here.

And here are two ways to entertain yourself this weekend:
• Looking for that perfect mate? Here’s an internet dating site based on your taste in books.
• Looking for that perfect subtitle? Here’s how you find it (and be sure to follow the link to subtitle-o-matic for more fun…)

We will be open to sample edits before the end of the year. Really. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

Yes, we’re still closed to sample edit requests, but we’re making our way through the Mountain Of Work (thank you to all our wonderful clients!) and will be open to sample edits before the end of the year. Really. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

The internet is talking about what makes a good book…
• Are there still good modern novels being published? A thought-provoking conversation.
• Agent Nathan Bransford is thinking about the fate of literary fiction (and be sure to follow the link in that post to this very useful analysis of differences between literary and commercial fiction).
• And here’s a post and an essay from Your Editor Nicola about joy, storytelling and what fiction is for.

In other news…
• Moonrat the Publishing House Editor gives a rundown of the pros and cons of trade publishing, indie publishing and self-publishing…
• … and Eric the Publishing House Sales Guy has a great timeline of what to do after you sell your book.
• We leave you with these thoughts from the great screenwriter, director and producer Billy Wilder — just as relevant to great fiction!

Yes, we’re still closed to sample edit requests, but we’re making our way through the Mountain Of Work (thank you to all our wonderful clients!) and will be open to sample edits before the end of the year. Really. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

I’m an independent editor as well as a writer and screenwriter, a partner, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor… and I know from my own experience how hard it can be to find time to write. But here’s the thing: writers write. We need to find strategies to make room for writing in our lives.

Writing does not have to be a precious and sacred ritual. It can be a daily task, like washing the dishes (there are times when washing the dishes is more fun — that’s life). The point is, that sometimes we get ourselves believing that we don’t have “enough time” to write; and the result is that we spend no time at all, for weeks or months or years, in writing. No one ever finishes a book by not writing. No one ever learns to be a better writer by sitting around thinking about it. Never.

You do not have to write thousands of words a day to be a writer. You do not have to write a book a year. You do have to write; you have to finish things; you have to get feedback; you have to revise; and you have to keep learning how to write better. These things make you a writer. (Being published makes you an author).

I’ve been very busy lately: I have a full editing and coaching schedule, a screenplay in development, and I’m the board chair of the Clarion West Writers Workshop (CW). It’s not necessarily the best time for me to take on a new project. But recently, CW held one of our most important fundraisers, the Write-a-thon, six weeks in which writers sign up for a writing goal and solicit supporting donations to CW. Like a walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon with writing goals instead of miles. And so I signed up to write 12,000 words of a new YA novel.

And I set aside 30 minutes a day to work on this project. That’s all I could give myself. I got a timer, I turned off the internet, and I wrote.

In 30 minutes a day (with a little extra time here and there), I made my 12,000 word goal in six weeks. And I expect that in 15 minutes a day, I can do at least half as well. A thousand words a week is nearly a YA novel first draft in a year. If that feels like a long time to you — if you’re impatient to be done, done, done — then I suggest you consider the alternative, which is waiting for the perfect time to write; because what if that golden time never comes? WFMAD is a great chance to help train your writing brain to understand that you don’t necessarily need two hours, absolute silence, the right software or a character bible to do your work. Of course it’s better to have more time and to have a supportive environment to write. But what if you don’t? Will you throw up your hands and curse, or will you write anyway?

Take 15 minutes a day in August with Laurie Halse Anderson, with me, and with lots of other people. Let’s all be writers.

• Moonrat at Editorial Ass is our hero of the week for this smackdown of focused look at why present tense is not necessarily your best choice.
• Consultant Marian Schembari offers tips on using social media to publicize your work.
• Agent Chip MacGregor does the math on making a living from writing…
• … and agent Rachelle Gardner encourages you to manage your expectations while getting there.
• A window into how one editor thinks, works (and still finds time to write!) in this interview with editor and writer Jill Santopolo.

Please note that we are still closed to sample edit requests while we catch up on work. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

• Susanna Daniel speaks about the 10 years of writing her first novel.
• Are you familiar with agent Nathan Bransford’s regular Monday page critiques? Learn something with every critique about how professional readers — agents and editors — look at your work.
• Possibly the best list we’ve seen of writing tips for every writer, from writer Janet Fitch (hat tip to the aforementioned Nathan Bransford).
• Nalo Hopkinson on ways stories go off track (hat tip to Gwenda).
• Amazon.com announces that Kindle book sales have overtaken hardcover sales. These authors have already sold more than 500,000 Kindle books each. And here’s more in-depth analysis of what it all means.
• Powerful agent Andrew Wylie announces he will sell some of his heavyweight clients’ backlist e-rights exclusively to Amazon.com. In response, Random House announces it will no longer do new English-language business with the Wylie Agency.
• What if Writers United?
• Too funny. Drink liquid while reading at your own risk (we snorted ours).

Please note that we are still closed to sample edit requests while we catch up on work. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.

• A fabulous essay from writer Tim O’Brien on failure of imagination in stories. (thanks to Sharon for the link)
• Writer Nora Jemisin with thoughts on building fictional worlds that are immersive and inclusive. (Hat tip to Gwenda).
• The Writer’s Digest Annual Short Short Story Competition is open (1,500 words or fewer). Good luck!…
• … and be sure to format your manuscript properly!
• Calling all emerging screenwriters: Hop on board the 40 Days of Screenplay challenge and read/discuss 40 great scripts with screenwriter Scott Myers. Edited to add: here’s an update on the process with a link to all 40 screenplays.
• Mike Shatzkin has been thinking about where bookstores will be five years from now. Be sure to dive into the comment conversation as writers, booksellers and other industry folks express their own ideas and concerns.
• Finally! A comprehensive and frighteningly accurate map of the creative process….(hat tip to Scott Myers) .

Please note that we are still closed to sample edit requests while we catch up on work. To those who have inquired, thanks for your patience.

Enjoy your weekend. Write something wonderful!

If you have a link of interest to writers that you’d like to see in a roundup, please email us or leave a comment.