Does this hilarious song describe your day?
Sing this tune the next time it happens to you…and it will!
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The Truth About Criticism
Last week I talked about limiting the amount of mean criticism you have to put up with. This week, let’s revisit that topic, only to learn from it. Yes, we can learn when someone is mean to us. We’ve all had unhappy feelings when attacked. Maybe it’s a twinge in your chest or gut, a reflexive desire to lash out, a sense of unfairness, of being misunderstood. Maybe it’s all of those. Everyone has …
What Does an Editor Do?
When I tell people I’m an editor, I get some interesting comments… “Wow, you must really know how to spell great!” “So, what, you fix commas and stuff?” “An editor, huh? Don’t you get tired of rewriting other people’s stuff?” “Don’t you get tired of reading?” “Wow, so you get to tell authors what to do, huh?” What’s especially interesting to me is that some of these comments aren’t, as you might …
No Comment
A few years after the dawn of the internet in the mid-nineties, vision for the world wide web shifted to the “2.0” version, which involved encouraging audience interaction, viewed as significant progress by marketers and communications experts. Comment sections, message boards, chat and community discussion started off with great energy and excitement as we began to “engage” our audience. What …
Leap into Word Play
February 29th comes every U.S. Presidential election year. It is called Leap Year day. I pondered what we could do to celebrate this reaccuring phenomenon. Should we sing along with Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” when Frederic discovers that he was born on February 29th and the whole story turns on a most ingenious paradox? Instead I thought we could play around with all the uses of …
Fun Fridays – February 26, 2016
A lack of gravity doesn’t stop this group from making an amazing video. The combination of music, choreography, creativity, and sheer genius is breathtaking. Enjoy!
Criticism – What Are They Really Saying?
Any time you send a book – or even an article – into the world, you subject yourself to both praise and criticism. Sometimes praise seems embarrassing but criticism can hurt. By criticism, I’m not referring to the helpful, constructive kind. I’m talking about the mean kind. When someone says something hostile, consider that it’s not about you. That person is expressing what matters to her. The …
A Word to the E-mail-Wise: Don’t Assume
I received an email from a client the other day, asking a question. I read it, and as I did so, I made an assumption as to the motivation behind her question. So, as you can imagine, I responded with that assumption firmly in place. Her email response was short and to the point. And just a bit miffed. As I read what she wrote, I realized the motivation I assigned to her question was wrong. …
Gather ‘round The Platform
The issue of authors needing large social media platforms before they can be considered by certain publishers (and therefore agents) has been a source of frustration for some and a challenge for others. For few, it is an energizing, motivating pursuit. Agents at this agency have blogged about it here for years. We’ve all given presentations at conferences on the subject. Questions about platform …
Publishing Acronyms
After being in an industry for a while there is a natural tendency to speak in code. Acronyms flow freely and can be a foreign language to those new to the conversation. Below is an attempt to spell out some of the more common acronyms in the publishing industry and some specific to the Christian publishing industry. They are grouped by topic in a rudimentary way but in no particular order. If …