Spelling, punctuation and grammar.  Without which a piece of writing is not worth the reader's time, even if he could puzzle out the meaning.

I'm (still) with URL.  I'm happy to help writers with less experience to polish their work.  I am not prepared to teach them basic English.  Nor am I interested in their need to be loved.  This is a hard trade: make the effort to learn it, or take up something easier.

Thanks, Jo. The 'and' threw me! ;) Should be SPaG (?) (Maybe?)  ;D

And people think I'm pedantic!  (Only joking, Mrs N!)

Quote from: Jo Bannister on April 15, 2018, 01:42:15 PM
And people think I'm pedantic!  (Only joking, Mrs N!)

;D ;D ;D

I don't know how I've missed this excellent discussion. I'm bumping it with my two-cents worth.

Jo, if I ever need an editor, I'd be willing to pay you to give me the gory details about my writing. I'm sure the mistakes would be glaring. I probably couldn't afford you.

I haven't published anything good and sort of feel like a fraud here at times because I haven't taken my writing seriously enough to submit anything since, 'Really Good Quotes' because I'm a chicken who lacks confidence.

I see myself alone in a cabin with a crackling fire in Montana writing the winters away and summoning my greater self to write and get my damn books published. Someday. When I leave this house of anxiety, the focus will return.

My point, if you want to be taken seriously as a writer, I believe brutal honesty is always best. I hate being lied to.

If I've got food stuck in my teeth, or my mascara is melted on my face, don't let me look like an idiot to spare my feelings. Tell me.

~Deb

The mascara problem is easily solved, Deb. Just don't wear it. (Saves you a lot of time, effort, and money, too.  ;) )

I also hate being lied to. And I give you this to consider:

If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, you should always take your own writing seriously.
(Because if you don't, I can guarantee you, nobody else will.)

I'm sure you're under-selling yourself, Deb.

Everybody makes stupid mistakes.  It's what first drafts are for.  You write from the heart with as few interruptions as you can manage, keeping the flow going, knowing perfectly well that the text will need cleaning up but that's a job for another day.  One of the things which you see in experienced/professional writers and tend not to see in inexperienced/amateur writers is the willingness to do edits and rewrites. 

You finish telling your story, then you put it aside long enough to come back to it with a cooler, more clinical, more critical eye - the eye of a potential agent or publisher or reader.  That's when you start spotting the weaknesses, the inconsistencies and the out-and-out errors.  You fix them - and then you put it aside again.  Rinse and repeat, as often as it takes - five or six edits is by no means excessive.  I only stop when I find myself reinstating changes I made in the last edit. 

This stage can take almost as long as the first draft.  But it's not wasted time.  Apart from improving your text, it teaches you a lot about the business of writing - about how to tell a story well.

I suspect that most people who think they need a professional editor actually just need to spend more of their own time working with their own book.  (Though they're very welcome to ask their friends for bits of help from time to time!)

Thank you, Jo and Dan.  :)

Aww, Deb, (may I call you Deb?) your post is heartfelt, BUT, now you've cleared your airways, bloody pick up the pen and start scribbling again.

We don't write because we are good at it, we write because we have to. And the more we write the better we'll get!

Don't write to be clever, write from the heart. Even simple phrases have the power to move when sincere.

I have read your posts over the years but this is the first time I truly felt connected. Honesty in words shine through.

As you can see, my muddled phrases haven't improved much over the years.  ;D

Have a better day tomorrow. You've done your soul-searching, now just enjoy. Write something that gives you pleasure.xx

Thank you, Mrs. N. Of course you may call me, Deb.

Good to see you back.

You have read my posts, and this is the first time you truly connected?
I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.  ;)

That was me, trying to be funny.

I appreciate everyone's feedback.

I am convinced that once I get a home where I have a room I can write in without distractions and constant stress, I will make real progress. Hopefully, that's in the near future.

Quote from: DGSquared on February 26, 2021, 07:46:46 AM
You have read my posts, and this is the first time you truly connected?
I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.  ;)

;D
Actually everybody seemed to know you and I found it all a bit intimidating. Stooopid really, but insecurities pop up in the strangest guises.

Nice to tap in with you, Deb. Have a lovely day. xx

We all have days when we don't feel like 'engaging' with the world.  This doesn't mean we don't or can't enjoy looking over the hedge and watching it pass by ;-)  But if you spend too long in your own 'secret garden' you forget how to join in.  It's a bit like your first day at a new school or workplace.

When I went down town for the first time in a couple of months after the total lockdown it felt incredibly busy, noisy, and uncomfortable.  All I wanted to do was get back to my lair.  The second time it didn't feel quite so strange.

Gyppo