Helping to Change the World…Word by Word
The Steve Laube Agency
Helping to Change the World Word by Word
Is this a video of me when visiting a bookstore?
Maybe it is a video of all booklovers? Substitute paint samples with books, and the face will look the same!
Enjoy!
[If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.]
The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ I’m a 78-year-old psychotherapist in a psychiatric practice and have been doing some writing for patients over the years. My question is, “How do you know when an article or book possibility is developed and written well enough to send to an agent?” As an agency, we don’t represent articles, so I’ll confine my remarks to books. The …
Save me from fear, Lord.Give me courage to write;make me “bold in our God” (1 Thessalonians 2:2) to write for you,whatever the obstacles or blockages the Enemy may throw in my way. Save me from the fear of rejection;let me write today for your approval first and foremost,and if I receive it, let me be satisfied with it. Save me from the fear of inadequacy;remind me that “all my springs are in you” …
The folks over at ProofreadingServices.com created the incredible infographic below. Four hundred and seventy-six alternatives to the word “said.” Take care not to use all 476 in your manuscript! Very often “said” is all that is needed. In fact, overusing alternatives can weigh your manuscript down unnecessarily. However, I do hope that having this handy dandy chart at your …
You thought the Lang Lang piano video was amazing the other week? Watch this one by Denis Matsuev. I’m exhausted watching the inhuman speed with which he plays. The sheer muscle memory is breathtaking since I’m not anyone who could actually think that fast to make their fingers become a blur. Be inspired that, with lots of hard work and lots of practice and a lifetime of mistakes, you, …
The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ How about more tips on some of the pitfalls of writing? What are things to look for when you are self-editing? Here is a short list: Grammar. Most people seem to have fallen asleep during the class on plural possessives, for example. Its and it’s can throw a reader. Weasel words: Look for terms that bog down your writing without adding impact. Those …
In the acknowledgments for her novel In the Midst of Winter, Isabel Allende reveals that she starts each new book on January 8. Isn’t that interesting? That little tidbit got me thinking (always dangerous, I know). So, I asked some clients to share any strange writing habits—quirks, superstitions, compulsions, etc.—they might have (also dangerous, I know). Here’s what they said: If I don’t …
Writing is hard. Writing during difficult times is even harder. And yet, it is persistence through adversity that separates successful writers from those that don’t make it. So, how do you write when the going gets tough? How do you do it with joy? We have a special guest to help us answer those questions. Our guest today is a podcaster, novelist and nonfiction author of over forty books. …
Writing is hard. Writing during difficult times is even harder. And yet, it is persistence through adversity that separates successful writers from those that don’t make it. So, how do you write when the going gets tough? How do you do it with joy? We have a special guest to help us answer those questions. […]
You can listen to this episode How to Write with Joy in Hard Times with Mary DeMuth on …
by Steve Laube
The ease of today’s social media communication brings a casual layer to the task of writing. Careful composition is trumped by the need for speed. For most “throw away” emails and posts that is the new normal. But it should never leak into the business of writing, either in craft or in delicate communication.
The other day I received an email query/proposal. There was a very …
