Write.

Thanks to Mayra Bitsko for this simple post that says so much! Hope you like it as much as I do.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to my blog and you’ll never miss a post! It’s easy: Just enter your email address on the right side of this page. And please know that I’ll never sell, share, or rent your contact information—that’s a promise!

And if you want more great writing and publishing information, check out my Facebook page, where I share all kinds of interesting articles and links.

Candace

Reminder: 3 Days Left—Enter to Win Free Editing

Just a quick reminder that through Saturday, December 1, 2012, everyone who comments on one of my blog posts or website pages or refers to one of them in his or her own blog post will receive one entry for a random drawing to win some free editing for his or her project.. If you sign up to follow me, you’ll receive two additional entries. (Current followers: you automatically start out with two entries.) The prize? I’ll copyedit (line edit) up to 1,500 words* of your projects for free.

Continue reading “Reminder: 3 Days Left—Enter to Win Free Editing”

Giving Thanks for Writers with Free Editing

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday . . . they are all days to celebrate writers. In fact, every day is an occasion to celebrate writers, and I thought of a way to show my appreciation for them and offer one lucky writer the opportunity to win some free editing for his or her project.

Beginning today, November 24, and continuing through Saturday, December 1, 2012, everyone who comments on one of my blog posts or website pages or refers to one of them in his or her own blog post will receive one entry for a random drawing. If you sign up to follow me, you’ll receive two additional entries. (Current followers: you automatically start out with two entries.) The prize? I’ll copyedit (line edit) up to 1,500 words* of your projects for free. Continue reading “Giving Thanks for Writers with Free Editing”

The Song in You by LaDonna Gatlin (book and songs!)

As the editor of The Song in You, I had the privilege of working closely with LaDonna Gatlin, and what a terrific story she has to tell! Before Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers became one of the biggest hits in country music, they toured with their sister LaDonna as The Gatlin Quartet, and in this optimistic message of hope and healing, LaDonna Gatlin shares the choice she made to embark on a different “tour”: raising her children, putting family first, overcoming adversity, and ultimately helping to inspire countless others discover their own song.

You don’t want to miss this fantastic memoir!

As the editor of The Song in You, I had the privilege of working closely with LaDonna Gatlin, and what a terrific story she has to tell! #editing #amediting #books Click To Tweet

You can read it all in The Song in You: Finding Your Voice, Redefining Your Life. Today LaDonna is a Certified Speaking Professional and a member of the National Speakers Hall of Fame, part an elite group of CPAE recipients such as Ken Blanchard, Ronald Reagan, Norman Vincent Peale, and Zig Ziglar.

But in this inspirational memoir, you’ll learn all about the sometime-difficult journey LaDonna has had on the way, and why she’s such a popular speaker (and now, author!).

This book has it all—including a foreword by big brother Larry Gatlin! LaDonna shares her personal story in a very transparent and often hilarious way and crafts an incredibly uplifting message. She takes readers down an inspirational path to uncovering their own potential, purpose, and passion.

Using the seven notes of the musical scale—do (do the right thing), re (realize your potential), mi (mind your manners), fa (failures can become fertilizer), sol (solutions begin with me), la (laugh), ti (time is valuable) . . . and right back to do—Gatlin uses her own story, including her dramatic personal struggles, to craft a spiritually uplifting message.

The Song in You
 contains practical, emotional, and spiritual insights gleaned from LaDonna’s experiences as part of a famous musical family, and also as a woman whose Christian faith caused her to walk away from untold riches and fame to travel the world. With a finely tuned voice, sharp wit, and engaging communication style crafted over a lifetime of performing, LaDonna ignites readers to boldly discover their passion, connect with their voice, and embrace a life of purpose and meaning.

Happy Reading!

—Candace

Update July 2013: LaDonna discusses sharing your own story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YXszdLG7p4&feature=player_detailpage …

Candace Johnson is a professional freelance editor, proofreader, writer, ghostwriter, and writing coach who has worked with traditional publishers, self-published authors, and independent book packagers on nonfiction subjects ranging from memoirs to alternative medical treatments to self-help. As an editorial specialist, Candace is passionate about offering her clients the opportunity to take their work to the next level. She believes in maintaining an author’s unique voice while helping him or her create and polish every sentence to make it the best it can be.

If you enjoyed reading this, please subscribe to my blog and never miss a post! It’s easy: Just enter your email address on the right side of this page. And please know that I’ll never sell, share, or rent your contact information—that’s a promise!

And if you want more great writing and publishing information, check out my Facebook page at Change It Up Editing and Writing Services, where I share all kinds of interesting articles and links.

The Fear of Making a Mistake

Fear of Making a Mistake
Writer’s Block 1 (Photo credit: OkayCityNate)

“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”

Writer, actor, and tall person John Cleese is my inspiration for today’s blog. (And thanks to Jon Winokur at Advice to Writers.com for the tweets that got me to thinking about this.)

When I began this blog, I set a goal for myself to blog twice a week about something that is relevant to writers. That sounded easy . . . except “blogging day” keeps coming around. (“Didn’t I just post a blog yesterday?”)

How difficult can it be to write something that is interesting and helpful for writers and then polish it up every Wednesday and Sunday?

“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.” #amwriting #writetip #writersblock Click To Tweet

How difficult? That depends on the week, as every blogger who reads this post can attest. My hat is off to those bloggers I follow who manage two, three, or even four posts a week—you are a true inspiration! But as John Cleese said, the fear of making a mistake can keep even the most prolific writer from actually putting words on paper.

My personal crucible is the desire to write something that is practical, informative, interesting, and so good that everyone who reads it wants to follow my blog and share the post. Because I’m hoping to appeal to writers who might someday need editing services, I feel the need to be extremely careful—to not make mistakes—and that really can stifle the creative process.

So my advice today to every writer who reads this, and most especially to myself, is

 Just Do It

If you’re one of the thousands of writers participating in NaNoWriMo this month, and you find yourself spending too much time coming up with the perfect word or a character name that feels right, make a pledge to yourself: no matter how much editing you might need to do later, get the words out now, because you can always come back and polish. Don’t wait for the right time or the right mood; if you have something to say, write it down—just do it!

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes had this to say:

“If you’re afraid you can’t write, the answer is to write. Every sentence you construct adds weight to the balance pan. If you’re afraid of what other people will think of your efforts, don’t show them until you write your way beyond your fear. If writing a book is impossible, write a chapter. If writing a chapter is impossible, write a page. If writing a page is impossible, write a paragraph. If writing a paragraph is impossible, write a sentence. If writing even a sentence is impossible, write a word and teach yourself everything there is to know about that word and then write another, connected word and see where their connection leads. A page a day is a book a year.”

So yay for me—this is ready to post tomorrow, and it’s only Saturday night! Heck, I’m going to go completely crazy and post it early. Not that anyone else will notice, but I’m just happy to be writing. What about you?

Happy Writing!

—Candace

 

Related links:

http://www.kmweiland.com/images/Manifesto.jpg

http://meghanward.com/blog/2012/11/02/nanowrimo-a-different-call-to-action/

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2009/01/09/time-to-write/

http://catherineryanhoward.com/2012/10/22/nanowrimo-im-only-going-to-say-this-once-okay/

http://www.copyblogger.com/become-a-better-writer/

http://chillersandthrillers.com/2012/11/17/nano-day-16-procrastination-station/

 

 

Top Ten Lists – Merriam-Webster Online

Looking for some fun words to add to your writing? Check out  these funny-sounding and interesting words:

Top Ten Lists – Merriam-Webster Online.

Here’s the first one:

#1: Bumfuzzle

Definition:

confuse; perplex; fluster

Example:

“Irish can bumfuzzle any team” – headline about the Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” football team,Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2002

About the Word:

Bumfuzzle may have begun asdumfound, which was then altered first into dumfoozle and then into bumfoozleDumfound (or dumbfound) remains a common word today, but bumfuzzle unfortunately is extremely rare.


Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/top-10-funny-sounding-and-interesting-words/bumfuzzle.html#vYx8Hr1GF9tUJB1V.99 

What are your favorite words? Come on, don’t be shy, you know you have a few that you love to use when you can!

Happy Writing!

Candace

Minimize, Don’t Nominalize: Effective Writing Isn’t Affected, Part 3

nominalizations

In the last two posts on “Effective Writing,” I’ve covered a number of common errors I encounter when I edit and proofread. This week I’d like to discuss another affected writing style: nominalizations.

Nominalizations are nouns formed from other parts of speech, and they tend to make your writing “clunky” or “chewy.” Think about your own writing: do you find yourself using unnecessarily complex words to sound more “literary”? For example, is your writing “an amplification of a concept,” or does it amplify your idea? (See the difference?) Writing is more clear and direct when it relies on strong verbs to do the work.

Think about your own writing: do you find yourself using unnecessarily complex words to sound more “literary”? #amediting #editing #editingtip Click To Tweet

Of course style enters into the equation, and nominalizations tend to be more accepted in academic writing than in other genres, but be careful not to overdo your use of nominalized phrases in your own writing. Here are some examples:

            There was considerable erosion of the beaches due to the hurricane.

            Our discussion concerned a tax increase.

            I am getting through my loss, and there is a beautiful life that still awaits me.

Here are more succinct ways to say the same things:

            The hurricane caused considerable beach erosion.

            We discussed a tax increase.

            I am adjusting to my loss, and a beautiful life is waiting.

In “The Opinionator” blog, Helen Sword writes about what she calls “zombie nouns”:

“Academics love [nominalizations]; so do lawyers, bureaucrats and business writers. I call them “zombie nouns” because they cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives and substitute abstract entities for human beings:

“The proliferation of nominalizations in a discursive formation may be an indication of a tendency toward pomposity and abstraction.

“The sentence above contains no fewer than seven nominalizations, each formed from a verb or an adjective. Yet it fails to tell us who is doing what.

“When we eliminate or reanimate most of the zombie nouns (tendency becomes tend, abstraction becomes abstract) and add a human subject and some active verbs, the sentence springs back to life:

“Writers who overload their sentences with nominalizations tend to sound pompous and abstract.

“Only one zombie noun – the key word nominalizations – has been allowed to remain standing.

“A paragraph heavily populated by nominalizations will send your readers straight to sleep. Wake them up with vigorous, verb-driven sentences that are concrete, clearly structured, and blissfully zombie-free.”

You can easily fix these awkward sentences by asking yourself, “What is happening in the sentence?” In the example above, the writer is the subject—and notice that writer is absent from the awkward version.

As The Grammar Gang writes, “If the answer to this question cannot be found in the verb of your sentence but rather in one of its nouns, then you have some work to do.”

For more on common writing errors, check out my older blog posts–you’ll find lots of great info that will help you with self-editing!

Do you have any awkward writing pet peeves? I welcome your comments and examples—I’d love to use some in my next blog, so don’t be shy, please comment away! Or you can e-mail me privately at cyjohnson5580@gmail.com, and I promise to respect your privacy.

Happy Writing!

Candace

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/gram_nominalization.html

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/zombie-nouns/

http://thegrammargang.blogspot.com/2009/04/style-tips-avoiding-over-nominalization.html

http://preciseedit.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/action-verbs-good-nominalizations-bad/

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/grammar-and-syntax/nominalization/

 

Effective Writing Isn’t Affected, Part II

awkward sentences

Welcome back to this series that highlights some of the common errors I encounter when I edit and proofread. This week I’ll tackle another affected writing style: those dreaded awkward sentences.

There are countless ways to construct awkward sentences, but let’s begin by focusing on three. A sentence can slip into awkward territory when:

  • It is wordy.
  • It is repetitive.
  • It contains a dangling modifier.
There are countless ways to construct awkward sentences, but let's begin by focusing on three. #editingtip #amediting #editing Click To Tweet

It is wordy: Too many unnecessary words and phrases do not add to the content or the meaning of the sentence, and phrases like in order to, due to the fact that, have the ability to, until such time as merely add to the problem. Try this one:

  • In my opinion, due of the fact that a situation of discrimination continues in the field of medicine, women have not at the present time achieved       equality with men, and in order to do so, they need to be increased in number.

How many other snoozers can this writer squeeze into one sentence?

Too many unnecessary phrases slow down your reader’s understanding (to say nothing of trying his or her patience). The solution? Try rewriting the sentence concisely:

  • Because of continuing discrimination in medicine, women have not yet achieved equality with men.

I challenge you to take your latest blog post, novel chapter, or magazine article and see if you can identify just one sentence that will improve if you delete a few of those unnecessary words.

It is repetitive: Saying the same thing two or three ways usually bores your reader. In The Bedford Handbook, Diana Hacker writes, “Writers often repeat themselves unnecessarily. Afraid, perhaps, that they won’t be heard the first time, they insist that a teacup is small in size or yellow in color; that married people should cooperate together; that a fact is not just a fact but a true fact. Such redundancies may seem at first to add emphasis. In reality they do just the opposite, for they divide the reader’s attention.

Here’s my example:

  • In this day and age, modern scientists are developing a new type of super-computer that will benefit mankind in innovative and important ways, both now and in the future.

Sadly, that sentence reads like something from a high-school science paper. You’re a professional writer! You can do better!

  • Modern scientists are developing a new super-computer that will benefit mankind in the future.

It Contains a Dangling Modifier: These are among my favorites when I’m editing because I usually get a good laugh as I imagine the scene. Join me in imagining this one:

  • Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed.

Can’t you just envision that poor little written excuse running ran late for practice?

Neither can your reader.

A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept.

When you begin a sentence with a clause, be sure it actually modifies the subject:

  • Having arrived late for practice, the team captain needed a written excuse,

or even better:

  •  The team captain, who arrived late for practice, needed a written excuse.

Another common problem with dangling modifiers is the supposition that the reader understands who is performing the action. For example:

  •  Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him.

Who didn’t know his name? This sentence says that “it” didn’t know his name. To revise, decide who was trying to introduce him. The revision might look something like this:

  • Because Maria did not know his name, it was difficult to introduce him.

The phrase is now a complete introductory clause; it does not modify any other part of the sentence, so is not considered “dangling.”

Readers: do you have any awkward writing pet peeves? I welcome your comments and examples—I’d love to use some in my next blog, so don’t be shy, please comment away! Or you can e-mail me privately at cyjohnson5580@gmail.com, and I promise to respect your privacy.

Happy Writing!

Candace

Next week: Part III: Nominalizations

The Song in You by LaDonna Gatlin

As the editor of The Song in You, I had the privilege of working closely with LaDonna Gatlin, and what a terrific story she has to tell! Before Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers became one of the biggest hits in country music, they toured with their sister LaDonna as The Gatlin Quartet, and in this optimistic message of hope and healing, LaDonna Gatlin shares the choice she made to embark on a different “tour”: raising her children, putting family first, overcoming adversity, and ultimately helping to inspire countless others discover their own song.

You can read it all in The Song in You: Finding Your Voice, Redefining Your Life. Today LaDonna is a Certified Speaking Professional and a member of the National Speakers Hall of Fame, part an elite group of CPAE recipients such as Ken Blanchard, Ronald Reagan, Norman Vincent Peale, and Zig Ziglar.

But in this inspirational memoir, you’ll learn all about the sometime-difficult journey LaDonna has had on the way, and why she’s such a popular speaker (and now, author!).

This book has it all—including a foreword by big brother Larry Gatlin! LaDonna shares her personal story in a very transparent and often hilarious way and crafts an incredibly uplifting message. She takes readers down an inspirational path to uncovering their own potential, purpose, and passion.

Using the seven notes of the musical scale—do (do the right thing), re (realize your potential), mi (mind your manners), fa (failures can become fertilizer), sol (solutions begin with me), la (laugh), ti (time is valuable) . . . and right back to do—Gatlin uses her own story, including her dramatic personal struggles, to craft a spiritually uplifting message.

The Song in You
 contains practical, emotional, and spiritual insights gleaned from LaDonna’s experiences as part of a famous musical family, and also as a woman whose Christian faith caused her to walk away from untold riches and fame to travel the world. With a finely tuned voice, sharp wit, and engaging communication style crafted over a lifetime of performing, LaDonna ignites readers to boldly discover their passion, connect with their voice, and embrace a life of purpose and meaning.

You don’t want to miss this one! Stop by your favorite bookstore on your way to the polls on Tuesday—the line won’t seem nearly as bad when you have a great book to read!

—Candace

The Undefeated Mind by Alex Lickerman, MD

Tuesday is the long-anticipated publication day for “a powerful book that helps you cultivate your inner strength to face hard times with a fearless heart. It’s more than a book. It’s a set of tools for life.” By combining his experience as a physician with his practice as a Nichiren Buddhist, author Alex Lickerman, MD offers a groundbreaking and contrarian exploration of why hardiness—not happiness—is the key to a resilient mind and attaining indestructible happiness.

“A powerful book that helps you cultivate your inner strength to face hard times with a fearless heart. It’s more than a book. It’s a set of tools for life.” #editing #books Click To Tweet

The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self is an amazing and must-read book. Publishers Weekly wrote, “The principles are well constructed and the book well written; the author not only describes an undefeated mind but also teaches the thinking that yields one.” Sources of Insight adds, “The depth of the book really surprised me in that it connected some old dots in new and profound ways.  It’s a beautiful blend of ancient wisdom and modern science.  Through science and stories, Dr. Lickerman teaches us what makes us or breaks us, and what really makes us happy.”

As the editor of this book, I was moved by the profound simplicity of these concepts. This is a book that will subtly change the way you view life going forward, and one you’ll return to again and again.

Click on the hyperlinks above to read the full reviews, and don’t forget to vote on Tuesday on your way home from the bookstore!

–Candace

Related links:

Alex Lickerman’s blog

Read a sample chapter

Win an autographed copy