First Word

I have been waiting for you in the sky-painted night I have dreamed of you and felt you in my bed I have brushed the tips of my fingers against my wish for you I once thought I could persuade your heart Coax you into my awaiting arms Yet like a timid creature it moved, it shied away Dear Soul Mate, I am waiting Can you feel me? Do you know me? When will you come be with me? The answers are more riddles The questions more obvious Dear Soul Mate, I have waited so long now Time has ticked away Dust become ashes Timber become petrified My warm heart melting in the heat Dear Soul Mate, Are you out there? Do you hear me? Do you want me? Because I want you! Michelle Gamble

We work with new and emerging authors, and we find authors often have perceptions that are inaccurate or sometimes even misguided. So what are some of those ideas? Professional services are valuable and will cost . If you understand that writing, editing and graphic design are professional services, it will help you place value on what we provide. Professional services are provided with people with higher education, knowledge and most importantly experience. You can't compare our services to walking into a retail outlet or Kinko's and getting behind-the-counter assistance. Each book is handled and worked on for hours and hours. As you know a professional like a nurse, doctor or lawyer doesn't make minimum wage -- and neither does a publisher's staff. If you want your book done right, you hire professionals. Mistakes galore, money spent, and upset . So many authors come to us with their books loaded with mistakes and complain. Inexperience and three editors later, an...

Some people love that with math the answer is always the same: 1 + 1 = 2. In English and grammar the rules are similar. You always use commas. You always use periods. Spelling though has its nuances. Did you know in American usage toward is always toward and in British UK usage its towards. One of the things that makes learning English so difficult is it's sometimes like a mechanical process of memorization. You have to admire those who can truly win a spelling bee. These people would have to know minor pieces of information like the difference between when you hyphen in-between (what does it mean in context defines the use of the hyphen) or in between. Tricky usage can make an editor crazy who doesn't have a photographic memory to even remember there is a hyphen in some cases. Two words that are really one word and so on. When people say they don't need an editor or their documents are completely perfect without mistakes, I nod with a glazed looked over my red, tired eyes...

Not all editing is alike. Not all writing is alike either. I get calls all of the time for different kinds of writing skills. Clients often don't understand the difference between ghostwriting, editing and proofing. Ghostwriting is writing for someone else on their behalf and then making it look like they wrote it. Many people have a story to tell, but they aren't professional writers. They are either looking to professionally publish their stories or they just want something for friends and family. A ghostwriter though does most if not all of the writing. Editing is more global. The editor is looking at the overall content and the grammar and punctuation. A great editor will also do what we call book coaching. In looking at the entire story, the editor provides feedback and guidance to improve either a nonfiction or fiction book or just content for websites and marketing materials. Proofing is drill-down and specific. The proofreader AKA copy editor is looking at ever...

Today's question from an author is a common mistake and misnomer. If you want the new rules of style in terms of word processing and digital printing, invest in the book The Mac is Not a Typewriter . Today's question: do you still put the double space after the period?  Old rules of business writing and even academic writing suggested we use the double space. Today the computer does it for us, and there is no need. Word processors put the right spacing in for the user. Older writers unfamiliar with the change in the rules still add the double space, which is unnecessary and removed during editing. The double space was used in typesetting methods where typesetters physically put the "plates" together with the words and used the spacing to distinguish between the end of the sentence and the start of the new one. Since the computer can now automatically do it, and the new digital printing methods don't require plates, it's gone away. Underlining titles now ...

This video is perfect from "Weird Al" Yankovic! Reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons where I learned things like "conjunction, conjunction what's your function ..." Yes, I just gave away my age, again! Enjoy the video and maybe learn something new like what is the Oxford comma. We don't like the Oxford comma around here, but other strict grammarian have a love affair with it.

As is the case in life, we have things we like and we don't like ... I have a very balanced list designed to either make you nod or write me a protest letter. Here it goes ... Arrogance + Ignorance = :( --I don't like arrogance not in the least. Arrogant people think they know everything, and it almost seems they don't know anything. Arrogant people try to tell me things that my educated mind refutes, but also they stand on it like it's a solid platform. I especially dislike arrogant people whose opinion about something like my profession that I do know backward and forward turns into absolute truth (for them) and they seem to know so much they will take it upon themselves to argue and argue and argue. Well, truth is ... I won't engage so that's a waste of time anyway. Humble, Open Willing --I DO like humble people. Humility goes a long way toward success and an open willingness to learn and understand that by God's grace, "No, you don't know ev...

It has been said you can't really write anything until your 40's. I remember hearing this information and thinking, "Ack! I'm 20 ... that is a long ways down the road." How do you define or describe how inexperience influences writing? The essence in the knowledge of really knowing something or having a frame of reference from which to draw knowledge deepens your ability to write about it. Writing about visiting another country without ever having visited that country is not the same. You can research it and write about it, but can you really describe it -- the exact smells, the people, the places, the cracks in the sidewalk ... For young writers this news might be disheartening. You might be like I was at age 20 and think that is a long ways off ... so my best advice, stick with what you know and can relate to. When you're 16 and attempt to write about being 40 and getting a divorce because of your midlife crisis, it will show in the work. Something is just...

The archetypical hero in fiction: good guy or girl who goes on some kind of journey (the story) and comes out the other end even a bigger hero and more white than white. The hero is a vanilla character -- and most vanilla characters don't have striations of chocolate ... unless they are flawed. Flawed characters are, in my opinion, way more interesting to read. A flawed character is a good character at heart who is a little misguided and makes bad decisions or has weak judgment. Flawed characters are more complex. They are more interesting to read about and try to understand their motivations. To write a great flawed character, here are some considerations: Not too flawed -- avoid going over the top in character flaws. Why? Because there is a fine line between a hero and a villain. An extremely flawed character can make him or her not likeable. The key is to write a likeable hero or heroine who while flawed in some way has something you enjoy about him or her. In my first book C...

I remember listening to Alice Walker, author of iconic books such as The Color Purple , speak at UC Davis. I was about 20-years old. She talked about life and experience. One thing she said was that she didn't think writers had anything to really say until their 40's. I was 20 -- and this was discouraging. At the time I remember defiantly thinking I had plenty to say. Well years later, I think I'm inclined to agree. I really didn't have any life experience to draw on. I could imagine the feelings and the experiences all right, but did I understand the "heart" of the experience? No. I had no resources to draw perspective. Fast forward to my 40's, and I've had plenty to say and much experience to understand. In my new book Body in the Trunk , the story revolves around a paranormal romance and duplicity. Having a much broader experience with different kinds of love helped create the layers of emotion in the story. It enabled me to give the character...

I read this statement in a recent review of the 3L Publishing book Vengeance is Now , which to paraphrase went something like this: strictly bad and good characters are boring. Author Scott D. Roberts and I have discussed flawed characters practically from the first time we met each other. We both have a propensity to enjoy the flaws the most -- and it's those flaws that prevent boring. In real life do you know anyone who is perfectly "white" or perfectly "black"? I know people who are overall good people, and I know people who I question their morals and ethics. Truth is most of us have our good points and our "messier" points. So when you're writing a novel or a story, it's always more interesting and provocative to make characters "gray" and then fill in the greater or lesser color of white or black. Let me give an example: In my forthcoming novel  Body in the Trunk , I've written the ex-husband as a real jerk. Yet our heroi...

I have this famous saying about editing: If it's wrong yesterday it's still wrong today. What does that mean? When you're editing a manuscript and you spot a mistake, but you're not certain you don't overlook it and keep going. You use a resource like Grammar Girl to confirm your suspicion about whether it is right or wrong. Why? Because if it's wrong, it's wrong, period. The infamous grammar police aren't going to write you a kind note that says: Dear Michelle, I suspect that the mistake on page 10 was something you questioned and then overlooked, but you did know it was wrong, right? So we're giving you a pass. All our best, Grammar Police The real trick is to know it could be wrong . I once played that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire board game with my family. I almost always won. Why? Not because I was the queen of trivia by any stretch of the imagination. It was because I knew what I didn't know -- and I knew to "phone a frie...

Up with the chick-a-dees and the Facebook in-box where I receive these messages from hapless guys who can't spell. What's up with the inability to spell? Now I realize there are those who shorten phrases in text. U know ... and then there is R U ... makes me think of Toys'R'Us. Yet there are those out there who literally cannot spell. I'm not talking sort'a can't spell. I'm talking barely using the alphabet. First, if you're a guy who messages a "publisher" who is also a writer, give this some consideration. Do you think someone who is all about spelling (I'm an editor, too) will appreciate the failure to attend spelling class. What does the ability to spell project? Think about it? In our digital-ease world, you realize that spelling and punctuation take center stage more than ever. You are projecting quite a bit of your "learned" ability in writing. A guy who can't spell the word "beautiful" (thank you for call...

Some writers have a bad habit of doing what we call "telling and not showing". They will do this in two different ways: #1 Underdeveloped scenes aka as impatient writing -- to progress a story faster than an ice melting on 220-degree pavement, writers will in one sentence or less tell you a major plot point. I call this impatient writing. The writer is often much more excited to get to the action and climax then to develop important plot points. For example, telling us a character got summoned to the police station for questioning and then just skipping to the after scene and briefly saying what happened. A police questioning scene is ripe for drama. Why would you skip over it, especially if it's an essential plot point. Sometimes writers just aren't as fascinated or excited about the scene so it's easier to just jump over it. This leads to... #2 Lack of story development -- when you skip really fast over important plot points, you are making your storytellin...

The best books take interesting approaches to storytelling. I recently received a submission from a new writer who naturally and successfully broke linear storytelling structure. As her memoir unfolded it wasn't the typical "...and I was born ... and died" approach. Yes, a story needs a beginning and an end. Her story was unique. She began with an opening that defined the theme in the book. She then fluidly moved to major life events. Guess what? Not in chronological order. She began building intrigue by providing her life story through defining events. As she did so, she opened questions to be answered and pull the reader forward -- and that is what you call a page-turner. The reader wonders okay how are we going to get back to this plot point? After building, for example, a chapter where she alludes to her own "death," she then successfully plunges back into her past and how this history makes her who she is now. Brilliant! So the point? Don't take a strai...

I have been blogging and providing tips for writers. Now even the most seasoned writer can make these common mistakes. Since I have been providing the most common mistakes made by new and seasoned writers alike, I will continue that theme. Here are some of the mistakes I see the most often. Non-parallel verb structure : this is hard. The sentence can seem like it reads right, but it's not right. Non-parallel verb structure is when your verb tenses don't match. Here is an example: Wrong : He walked to the store, stopping and picking up a paper, and continued inside. Right : He walked to the store, stopped and picked up a paper, and continued inside. Shifting from present to past tense in storytelling : this one is another common mistake. The rule: pick a tense and stay in it. For example, if you decide to write your story in present tense, you have to stay in the present tense the entire story. You can only shift to past tense when referring to something that did, i...

I had this great writing class in college. I will never forget this excellent exercise. The professor taught us how to "trim the fat" to tighten our writing. The major tip is to look for the excess and unnecessary words. It will sharpen your writing, and it makes it easier to read. I'm going to show you an example of how it's done.  This sentenced is pulled from my own newsletter (you can sign up at www.3LPublishing.com ... look for the First Word button).  Exercise: Trim five words from this sentence: Speaking of warmth, let's discuss what isn't particularly warm, but perhaps slightly "cold" and maybe even bad for business. Speaking of warmth, let's discuss what isn't warm, but "cold" and bad for business. You can clearly see how much better that sentence is. Now here is why I didn't write it that way in the first place: voice. The "excess" "fat" in that sentence conveys my voice. In a person...

Okay, it's Friday -- and we'll call it "not-serious-day" ... because I am not in a serious mood. So, here we go "Ready to Ramble". All right so I think I should share some of the most common grammar and spelling mistakes I see perpetrated by the masses -- and I'm just itching to correct them. Since I can't correct a billboard, I guess I will just share here on my blog and hope the news spreads throughout the land ;). Alright vs. All right -- it's not all right to be alright! Are you smiling yet. No, my friends alright is incorrect. I know this may shatter a glass house or two, but it's always "all right" ... all right? Toward vs. towards -- guess which one? It's America, is it not? Yes, I believe I am blogging on American soil. British usage sanctions towards. American usage embraces toward. Fair enough! So given that I own an American publishing company (www.3LPublishing.com ... plug), we will go for toward. Backwards, ...