The same goes for your readers. They can tell when you’re just phoning in your work and when your heart isn’t in your story.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of  wondering “does this fit a current publishing or marketing trend?” and deliberately trying to write something derivative.

If you’re one of those rare writers who can get in on a trend and still make it your own, I salute you. It’s a lot harder to do than you’d think.

However, if you’re not in that elite group of writers who can (in the words of Tim Gunn) “make it work,” you do yourself no favors by going after what’s trendy instead.  For starters, you move further away from your own, authentic voice. You also run the risk of completing your project after a trend has passed and the market has moved onto something new. And even if you deliver your story or book when a trend is at its peak, you contribute to oversaturating the  market with the same type of drivel that everyone else is adding to the pile. How will you ever stand out if you don’t make it your own?

Capitalizing on Trends: Doing It Right
There is something to be said for capitalizing on a trend, however.  If you manage to do so in a timely, original manner, there is a chance that you can stand atop the heap. Find something about a genre that nobody else has done. Is there an angle that hasn’t been explored? A mythological component that needs to be reinvented? Maybe a staid and stuffy genre needs a jolt of humor — or perhaps something that’s been done to death is just ripe for the picking of a parody. (Don’t underestimate the power of timely parody. It’s an art form that “Weird Al” Yankovic has mastered since the mid ’80s and has served him well ever since.)

Learning From Your Mistakes
The first time I sent out a story, it was a horror-comedy piece that I had written years before and earned me acceptance to Philly’s CAPA high school. (I never got to attend CAPA, but that’s a story for another day!)  I polished that story up, sent it to a few magazines… and got rejected by every single one of them.

One or two of the rejection letters were personal and offered some positive comments, particularly since they knew I was new to this whole writing-and-pitching-to-magazines thing. Some mentioned that my work wasn’t quite in the vein of what their magazine typically offered to their readers.

This was good advice. However, I wasn’t always the sharpest tool in the shed. Instead of realizing that maybe I should have approached another magazine that may have been more inclined to publish the type of story I’d written, I thought that I should change my style entirely.

I began writing the type of story that I thought some horror-fiction magazines might publish. I wrote a dark, brooding tale that (in hindsight) felt heavy-handed, laying on the gore and “shock value” pretty thick without a trace of irony.

Not surprisingly, I received just as many rejection letters as I did with my first story. One of the rejection letters that came back suggested that the story seemed forced and that I should rework it.

I was partly discouraged by the rejection letters and partly at a loss for how to re-work that story since it didn’t stylistically resemble the type of thing I’d usually write.

I tucked that short story away on a distant corner of my hard drive and didn’t touch it for ten years. In fact, it wasn’t until a good six years later that I began writing fiction again. (I’ll admit it. I was a pussy when it came to rejection and hadn’t built up a thick enough skin to get back on the horse. I took a few smatterings of rejection and just gave up. I still kick myself for all that lost time.)

If It Doesn’t Work Out, Make a New Plan
While I temporarily gave up writing fiction, I still kept on writing. I kept an online journal. (Anyone else remember the glorious days of over-sharing on LiveJournal?) I started writing my own humor blog (*cough*Delightfully Dysfunctional*cough shameless plug*).  I wrote about the things that were on my mind and just let them come out to play on the page. And I started noticing that people liked my writing and that I made people laugh.

Score!

Those small wins gave me enough confidence to try my hand at writing reviews and features for a few websites online. They liked my work enough that they gave me a shot to write for them regularly. I took that shit and ran with it.

Eventually, after a few years of applying a creative touch to non-fiction writing, I decided to dust off my fiction writer’s hat and try my hand at it again. It eventually resulted in a full-length novel that’s currently available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Along the way, I’ve written a few new short stories. I’ve pimped them out to magazines and they’ve returned with rejection notes.

And I’m cool with that. I’ve learned some lessons along the way. I’m more strategic about which magazines I send which stories. Not every story is right for every magazine. Where you pitch dictates what you pitch.

And that short story I wrote ten years ago that was my experiment with an “Oooh! I’m gonna be all dark and sinister!” style of writing? I’ve since pulled it out of storage and found a way to re-work it. Sure, it took ten years, but that tale became the impetus for a bigger story that I’m still working on. The main character of the old story is now a minor character. In her place, I’ve come up with a trio of main characters that I love to bits and who may expand their adventures beyond this little jaunt.  And instead of dark, plodding, pathetic attempts at trying to shock the audience into being scared, I’m weaving entertaining, likeable characters into a spooky tale — along with a helping of the tasteless humor that’s become a staple of my writing voice.

The Moral of the Story: Not everyone will like what you write. It’s important to be able to take constructive criticism, but it’s equally important to know when people are telling you “this sucks” in a nice way, or when they are telling you your work may not be the right fit for their publication. It doesn’t mean you should abandon what you love to write. Keep trying to find a home for it where it can reach a larger audience. Eventually, someone will read it and like it.

If you change your style to something that feels forced, writing becomes more of a chore than a passion. It’s much easier to write something that comes from your own imagination and market it than to take something that feels rote and sterile and try to market it.

If you think it sucks to write something you love and have it rejected, imagine how hard it sucks to write something you’re not that thrilled with and then going through the trouble of submitting it and receiving a rejection letter. At least if you’ve created something fresh, you can feel as though your creative demons have been exorcised. If you write something half-assed, that’s just hours or days of your time that have been wasted on something that doesn’t mean much to you.

But what happens if you write something, half-ass it, and that piece gets published? Well,  imagine the pressure to write something in a voice or style that isn’t entirely your own. How do you replicate that continuously? Moreover, how do you develop your own style when your “style” is just cribbing imitations from the style of others?

Personally, I’d rather receive a rejection letter for something I wrote and loved than receive rave reviews for something I thought was dog poop on a cracker.  You gotta keep it real.

It can be hard to get that story out of your head and onto the page, however. Distractions abound:

• TV
• Cell phone
• A spouse, family member, friend, or roommate who won’t stop talking
• Preoccupation with the day’s events
• Social Media
• Squirrels
• Perfectionism

Here are a few tips to help you get into the game and breeze past the obstacles that stand between you and the written word.

Distraction 1: TV
TV is awesome. It can also be a major hurdle to getting things done. Fortunately, we live in the day and age of DVR, Hulu, The Hopper, and a whole host of other devices that allow you to watch your favorite shows at a time of your choosing. Use these devices to record your shows and watch them as a reward once you hit a milestone you’ve laid out for your latest project. That milestone could be writing 100 words or 5 pages. Stress to yourself that you can’t watch your show until you live up to your promise to yourself.

Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. (Particularly if it’s a season finale that you want to watch in real-time. I know I’d probably lose my shit if I had to wait an extra day to watch American Horror Story.)  Dangle your favorite show over your head like a carrot and work like a mad bastard to hit that milestone so you can watch it live.

Distraction 2: Cell Phone
A symptom of our society, we’re preconditioned to respond immediately. My own smartphone is perpetually at my side. (I’m not proud of it, damnit!) So, when that text from your friend pops up with the latest bit of gossip, it’s tempting to want to ping her back. Resist that urge. You wouldn’t think of taking a text or phone call during an important meeting at the office. You should approach time set aside for writing with the same level of respect, as well.

If you find that the temptation to text or answer calls is too strong, simply switch your phone to Airplane Mode. Those messages will wait until later! Get to work and keep that flow going!

Distraction 3: Chatty Cathies and Chatty Charlies
This can be the hardest one to tune out. You can switch off a cell phone, but it’s rude to ignore someone who’s talking to you. Particularly if that person is a  spouse, family member, or friend that you actually care about.

Conversely, they may not realize that they’re being rude to you by disturbing you while you’re working. If space in your home or apartment is at a premium, you may not have the luxury of closing a door and cordoning yourself off from everyone else. Or maybe you don’t get a whole lot of time to split between your work and your family. Everyone’s days are pretty action-packed and we all spend enough time away from loved ones — but you still really want to work on your manuscript, too.

Here’s the tricky part: Learn to assert yourself. Nicely. If you’re banging out your work on your laptop while still lounging on the couch with your spouse, let him or her know you’re focusing on your work but wanted to hang out with them, too. (I have no experience / advice for distractions that involve children under the age of 10, but if there are any writing parents reading this, please chime in with your on experiences on the comments!) If they keep talking your ear off or offering a Madden-esque play-by-play of everything going on on TV at the moment, or if they are silent and don’t begin their gum-flapping until they hear you start typing, you may need to step up your game and ask them to ease up on the commentary or move your writing area to a new venue. (#SorryNotSorry)

Distraction 4: Preoccupation With the Day’s Events
One of the consequences of living in a rapid-fire society is that so much is happening at once. Not just around us, but in our own minds. Not everyone is able to compartmentalize their day, their problems, the next deadline at the office or the next milestone you want to reach with your own project. There is no convenient on/off switch that you can flick to take yourself from “writing mode” to “panicking about my day job / deadlines / personal life mode.” However, there are ways that you can minimize anxiety so you can sit your ass down, get your head in the game, and write… without having to resort to Xanax!

Try meditation, yoga, or — if you’re pressed for time and neither of those options appeal to you — do some deep breathing. Taking 3 to 10 deep, cleansing breaths can help clear your mind and lungs. You’re taking in fresh air and expelling stagnant air from your body. As in yoga, focusing on the breath helps divert your attention from the jumble of thoughts that are racing through your mind.

Another way to calm your mind is to have a little ritual you engage in before you start writing. Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, or if you live close enough to a good coffee shop or tea bar, go for a quick walk and pick up a cup to go. The fresh air on the way to and from will take your mind off of what’s ailing you and you might find some inspiration among the friendly faces behind the counter. Give it a shot!

Distraction 5: Social Media
For me, this is one of the hardest distractions to get past. Facebook is almost always running in the background of my computer and my OCD makes it impossible to see a notification and not respond back. Plus, I really, really like seeing what other people are talking about and interacting with friends halfway across the country. A lot of my friends post some interesting articles and I dig checking them out.

I wouldn’t call social media a “time waster,” since it’s never a waste of time to connect with friends or see what’s going on in the world. However, if you’re using it to stalk your ex or watch a frenemy implode, social media can do more harm than good when it comes to putting your creativity (and not negativity) into action.

Social media can be a wellspring of inspiration for your next story, but it can also be a major distraction. If you want to get shit done, you’re just going to need to use some self-control and pry yourself away from social media. If you do find it difficult to ignore social media, here’s a good article with some suggestions for apps to temporarily block your access.

Note: Taking my own advice on this one is going to be a bit more challenging since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to be better about tweeting crap on Twitter!

Distraction 6: Squirrels
Sorry, man. Can’t really help you with this one. Squirrels are adorable, fluffy, fascinating, and EVERYWHERE. (Especially if you live in Philly.) There is no evading squirrels. They will find you. And when they find you, they will offer you either an acorn or some Pepto Bismol. You cannot refuse. Do yourself a favor and just embrace the squirrels.

Distraction 7: Perfectionism
One of the most difficult parts of writing is finding the first words. When you’ve got a million and one words trying to fight their way to the front of your brain, each one of those damn things is jockeying for position in a race from your grey matter to your keyboard. The only way to stop those horses dead in their tracks is to immediately declare a winner. Type one word. Then another. And don’t you dare delete a single one of them. Just keep typing or letting your pen trail across the page until that word diarrhea has squelched its last.

Yes, it can be difficult to write, no matter how much you do enjoy the act and art of writing.  You can’t always force yourself to be creative on demand. Many people assume, “Oh! You love to write! It’s fun for you!” Sure, it’s fun, but writers and artists take a lot of pride in their work and put a lot of pressure on themselves to create something “perfect.”

The first step to getting shit done is to stop trying to achieve perfection right out of the gate.

Not. Gonna. Happen. (Okay. It might, but that’s not usually the case.)

Instead of striving for perfection, just get something on the page. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can go back and edit later. You just need to keep conditioning yourself to chip away at that story every day. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Just write.

After 5 years in a row that hardcore sucked (to say the least) and felt like having a rug ripped out from me on repeat, this year taught me a lot. Sure, there were (a lot of) times in those 5 years I wallowed. But I learned what I was made of and figured “It’s gotta get better than this.”

I know a lot of people have had a shitty year and are happy to see it pass. And ya know what? The bad times WILL pass. You just gotta keep your head together and keep pushing on, even when it feels like everyone is punching you in the gut. Fuck ‘em. No one holds more sway over your life than you. You can’t control everything, no matter how hard you try. Some decisions may be made for you by others, but how you face what they dole out is up to you. Keep getting up. Better things are around the bend. Even when it feels like you’re buried under a mountain of shit. Dig out of it and look at it all as fertilizer for a field of better days. (Yeah. Me and shit metaphors. What do ya expect?)

Hoping everyone has a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2014, the strength to turn even the worst situations around, and most of all, good people in their lives to share it with. Damn, dude. It sounds corny, but I hope with my whole heart everyone has a big slice of happiness in 2014. Here’s to a fresh start (new moon tonight!) and better days for everyone.

That’s right. I said FREE! Absolutely free! The whole thing’s on me! (And if you know the title of the movie that quote comes from, you are my freakin’ hero!)

I even made neat-o, super terrific, suitable-for-framing cover art for this sucka to entice you to download it. Isn’t it purdy? Don’t you just want to click “download” right now?!

Yes, the story that was rejected by such esteemed publications as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Apex, and Cemetery Dance can now be yours to read whenever you want in a  handy-dandy PDF format. Load it onto your Kindle, Nook, or mobile device of your choosing and enjoy!

Multiple editors said I couldn’t give this story away… but I just proved them wrong, now, didn’t I? (Okay, no editors actually said that. They were really quite kind in their rejection notices and/or form letters.)

All kidding aside, thank you for “liking” my Facebook author page and for giving my story a chance to be read. I hope you enjoy “The Djinn of the Computer.” If you liked it, please let me know. (And if you think it stinks on ice, I’d like to know, too. However, I’m really hoping you like it.)

Happy Halloween!

I’m currently in the process of self-publishing my first novel, Bad Taste In Men (cough… shameless self-promotion), via CreateSpace. I had an interior design consultation on Friday and my project manager mentioned that production on the interior had been halted since they needed to obtain a Library of Congress control number (LCCN) for my book that would go on the copyright page.

Because the government had shut down on October 1st, no LCCNs could be issued.

Dun-dun-DUN!!

My project manager explained that the team could work on the design of the interior, but it couldn’t be finished until they received the LCCN. Given the backlog that the Library of Congress must be sifting through, this could take (anyone’s guess) anywhere from 1-4 weeks.

Who knew, huh?

So, just a heads-up: Whether you’re self-publishing or if your book is being published via a major or independent publishing house, you may experience a bit of a delay in obtaining the LCCN for your book. It may delay the ultimate delivery date of your book by as little as one week or as long as one month.

There’s a romantic cadence that accompanies names like “Romeo” and “Juliet.” They roll off the tongue and bring to mind images of sunset poetry and undying (and incredibly stupid teenage) love. Had Shakespeare named his star-crossed lovers “Joanie” and “Chachi,” “Romeo and Juliet” may not have had the same lasting impact.

Taking a cue from the Bard of Avon, choosing the right names for your characters is important. Not only is it important, but keeping track of any changes in names for your characters is important, too. Here are a couple helpful pointers.

Consider Setting and Place

Those same names will not fly if your story is set in Dubuque, Iowa. Unless you’re telling a fish-out-of-water tale to about Brody and Jade adjusting to a rural life far-removed from the West coast, your setting may dictate sticking to names like Joe, Beth, Matt, and Shannon to convey a more salt-of-the-earth feel to your protagonists right off the bat.

If your story is set in the distant past, choosing era-appropriate names is something to consider, too. If your tale is set in the Victorian era, names like Emily or Reginald are good choices, but Coco or Donnie-Rex probably aren’t.

Avoid Similar-Sounding Names

For Name Changes, Find-Replace Is Your Friend …. Most of the Time

Back in the day, if you were writing your manuscript on a typewriter, you’d be knee-deep in White Out, striking “Chris Coswell” from your manuscript like Rameses II excising Moses from all Egyptian monuments. (So let it be written… So let it be done!) Today, it’s much simpler to use the ol’ Find-Replace feature in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or whatever software you’re using to type up your novel.

While Find-Replace is a beautiful thing, it’s not 100% foolproof. Look it over, particularly for any hidden areas that may contain “Chris” somewhere in your manuscript. Otherwise, the final version of your work may contain one scene where the Coswell family is sipping eggnog around the Craigtmas tree.

Keeping Track of Who’s Who

I like to break out my Character Cheat Sheet with:

• Character’s name
• A one or two sentence description of that character, who they interact with, etc.
• Any name changes you make to that character (This makes it easier to go back through your manuscript to make sure you don’t miss an instance of referring to them by an older name from a previous draft.)

This Character Cheat Sheet gives you an at-a-glance list of all of your characters, where they fit into your story, and lets you visualize if some character names may be too similar to one another or the wrong fit for your character.

These are just a few things I’ve found helpful in terms of characterization. Hope they help you! If you’ve got any tips or tricks you like to use to craft your characters, please feel free to share ‘em in the comments section below.

I’ve always loved to read. As a kid. I’d read anything Mom would chuck at me: dictionaries, her old Shakespeare book, TV Guide. I’d gobble it up. The year I graduated from college, I stumbled upon a disturbing statistic: Most people never crack open a book — much less read it to completion — once they graduate high school or college and reading is no longer required of them.

This bummed me out. I vowed I would never become one of “those people.” I couldn’t imagine a life without reading books for enjoyment. That statistic prompted me to make a list of all of the books I read in a given year for every year since graduation. It’s been my goal to increase the number of books I read each year. I’ve stuck to it since 2001. I keep these annual lists in a journal and record:

• Title
• Author
• Page count
• Date I finished reading the book

Rules I set for myself:

• I only include books that I’ve read from start to finish. If a book sucks and I drop out one-third of the way through, I don’t count it — or even list the pages I read.
• As much as I love comic books, I don’t count the number of comics I read in a given year. (That would seriously bulk up my numbers.) I do, however, count graphic novels since they’re complete works in themselves.

Summer Reading Revisited

Comparing my annual lists side-by-side, I noticed a “seasonal trend”: I read a shit-ton of books during the summer months.  Taking a look at my list for this past summer, I noticed another trend cropping up in my reading material: nostalgia.

For the first time, I felt the urge to re-read books I hadn’t looked at in over a decade — in some cases, we’re talking elementary school. I don’t know where this urge came from, but it resulted in me reading the following books these past few months:

• NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – This was Patient Zero for kicking off my summer of nostalgia. NOS4A2 came out this year, but reading it took me back to being an 11-year-old horrorphile, huddled in bed with my stuffed animal, lights on, reading Stephen King books past midnight. Granted, Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, and while the two have different styles, Hill threw out some cool shout outs to his Pops in NOS4A2. The book gave a terrific, non-sparkly spin on the vampire genre and legitimately creeped me out for the duration of its 700+ pages. And like devouring the Stephen King books of my youth, I read Joe Hill’s book in just 4 days, enjoying every syllable.
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White – Sometimes, you gotta brush up on your fundamentals. I do a lot of proofreading for my day job, so I felt compelled to give myself a refresher course with a tidy master class courtesy of Messrs. Strunk & White. I know it sounds cliche, but every writer needs to read this book at least once. (Don’t worry! It’s a short read and far from a dry manual!)
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman – I’ve always been fascinated by ancient religions, myths, and folktales. I first read American Gods shortly after graduating college, a year or two after discovering Gaiman’s series of Sandman graphic novels. Recent news of American Gods being turned into an HBO series prompted me to give this old favorite a re-read.  I still geek out every time I read Gaiman’s modern interpretations of classic mythological themes and how he weaves them into brand new legends. Speaking of, I also read  latest this summer, The Ocean At the End of the Lane. It’s a much shorter book, but packed with Gaiman-y goodness in the form of fables and fairy tales for adults.
• Bunnicula Strikes Again! by James Howe – Yes, I realize this is a children’s book. And no, I don’t care. Actually, James Howe throws in a lot of humorous references and snappy parodies that adults would get and that kids would still enjoy. The Bunnicula series was a staple of my youth, so I practically tripped over myself to pick up the three books in the series that had been released in the past *cough* few years since I graduated 5th grade. Talking dogs and cats? Vampire bunnies? Whacky hijinx? Some things never go out of style.
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury – Yet another book I read when I was a kid that stuck with me. Ray Bradbury takes the mundane and finds the mystical, and even horrifying, within. One part horror and one part coming of age story, Something Wicked This Way Comes will ensure you never look at a carnival or carousel in the same way again.

Fall Reading Depth Chart

Labor Day has passed and Dunkin Donuts has their plethora of pumpkin-flavored offerings available — sure signs that summer is over. Although I’ve never been a big Beach Boys fan, I like the idea of an endless summer. I think that’s why I’m still hanging onto a few summer-y themed books for my fall reading depth chart (Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine and another YA favorite I hadn’t read since 3rd grade, Jelly Belly by Robert Kimmel Smith — about a chunky kid who spends his summer at a fat camp).

For what it’s worth, I think that any adult who feels they’re “above” reading kids or YA books is totally cheating themselves. There’s something really sweet and satisfying about simple stories.

I’m still reading new books, but interweaving them with some familiar faces I’ve rediscovered — such as Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, and the aforementioned James Howe’s relatively new crop of Bunnicula books I haven’t read yet, alongside The Misfits, a YA novel he wrote with a premise that hits home for me, even after all these years removed from middle school.

Taking a look at my reading list and the nostalgia kick I’ve been on, maybe it’s a reminder that I never really left middle school. Then again, how many of us really do?

So, what have you been reading this past summer? What books do you have on-deck for fall? Any good recommendations, just dump ‘em in the comments below!

Note: Apparently, I’m not the only person bugged that so few people crack open a book after graduating high school or college. Just this week, I came across this infographic by Robert Brewer that breaks down the statistics. Check it out and see where you sit on the list:

In the time since I first completed my manuscript, I made a lot of missteps  that many first-time novelists make. Fortunately, I learned from those mistakes, although I wish I had that knowledge before I started querying agents with a 145,000-word unrefined beast in-hand. To help save other first-timers from doing the same, I’m going to break down three things I know now that I wish I knew then. (Cue the Rod Stewart.)

Lesson 1: More Isn’t Always Better

A lot of writers fall into the trap that inflating their word count will make them look prolific. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The standard word count for a book varies by genre. Word count also depends on the author. A proven best-seller like Stephen King  can get away with writing 1,000-page tomes because publishers know his work will sell. On the flip side, if you’re a first-time author trying to get an agent to bite on a 200,000-word manuscript, your query letter may wind up lining the bottom of a hamster cage.

Seeing a 145,000 word count may lead folks in the publishing biz to assume you’re a rank amateur who hasn’t taken the time to edit your manuscript.

In my case, two years ago, that assumption would have been correct. I didn’t think I had to edit my manuscript. I was so full of piss and vinegar that I just wanted to send it to an agent now, now, NOW! When the rejection letters came flooding in, it prompted me to hunt for info on what I was doing wrong. That’s when I realized my word count may have contributed to agents passing on my work.

I needed to edit my book. A good writer should be able to take stock of his or her work, see where the story lacks or lags, and take a second — or third — pass to trim the fat.  After my first round of edits, I came back with 112,000 words. I still felt that was too long and that there were more areas where I could tighten things up or make the story flow better. Six months later, I had carved it down to 99,000 words.

Even if you have put in the hours to edit your manuscript and still come away with 145,000 words, many agents may still see it as unsellable.  A book with 145,000 words is a lot thicker and more costly to print than a 100,000-word book.

If you’re self-publishing, depending on the service you choose to print your book, that bigger word count may cost you more to print, too.

If it does take 145,000 words to tell your story — that’s fine! If you’ve edited it and those 145,000 words make for an interesting, engaging read  that’s what counts. (No pun intended.) However, if you give it a read-through and say, “Damn. This shit is boring. Do I really need this 15,000-word chapter about the magical summer my character spent working at Burger King?”, it’s time to bust out the red pen.

Lesson 2: “There’s a Book Inside This Manuscript!”

A writer’s best friend is his or her editor. And sometimes, you gotta be your own best friend. Read your book over. Then read it over again. More importantly, read it as an objective outsider picking up this book for the first time. It’s hard to be objective where it concerns your own work. Sometimes, we writers fall in love with certain passages or sentences. And like many a doomed relationship, that passage of your manuscript may be good… But it may not be good for you (or your book).

Remember: Just because you take a sentence out of this book doesn’t mean you can’t save it for another book. Take that sentence, passage, or chapter you love so much and transform it into the backbone of a whole new project.

Putting on your “editor hat” is very different from slapping on your “writer hat.” When you’re writing, you’re in the zone. You’ve got the written equivalent of verbal diarrhea pouring out of you and  just want to get those words out onto the page.

As an editor, sometimes you have to take a step back to be effective. Maybe you need to back away from your book for six months and start working on something new before you come back to it. Once there’s a safe distance from the “honeymoon stage” of completing your first draft, you’re better equipped to make meaningful edits that will make your book a better read. You may not be as emotionally attached to certain portions of your book and able to recognize what’s not a good fit. You have to be cruel to be kind. It may result in cutting huge chunks from your novel, but your book will be better for it.

Lesson 3: Check Your “Writing Ticks”

When you’re editing your first draft and (hopefully) viewing it through the eyes of an objective first-time reader, you may notice you have some “writing ticks” — bad habits or writing crutches you use repeatedly. Some people abuse adverbs. Others throw in fancy, five-dollar words where a much simpler word would work better.

My “writing tick” happened to be using the phrase “some kind of” [blank] to lead into a description of something. For instance, I would write:

                    “I was worried that he would think I was some kind of douchebag.”

                    “It looked like she was wearing some kind of dishrag on her head.”

                    “He had some kind of brown spot on the back of his pants.”

When I put my “editor hat” on and kept seeing this phrase cropping up, I wanted to smack myself for being so redundant.

Once I replaced “some kind of” with the much simpler “a,” I shed some serious word count. Not just that, but it made my story much more direct and readable.  It also broke me of a bad writing habit. “Some kind of” is a phrase that doesn’t commit to anything. It’s indecisive.  If you can’t commit to a description, how the hell do you expect your readers to commit to the mental picture you’re trying to paint?!

Everyone has a “writing tick” or two. Once you identify that tick and take steps to correct it, you and your work will be much better for it.

Every writer’s path to publishing is different. These were just a few of the things I stumbled upon on the way. I’m still easin’ on down that road myself, but hopefully, learning from my mistakes will help others preparing to take off down that same path avoid those potholes. Good luck!