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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Writing Life » Page 61

The Writing Life

Rewrite is Constant

By Bob Hostetleron April 17, 2019
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Whether you’re a published or unpublished writer, aspiring or “arrived” (as if), you have probably discovered one of the foibles of the writing life: Rewrite is constant.

You can’t escape it. In fact, unless you’re a brand new writer, you probably can’t help but edit and rewrite repeatedly and reflexively during the course of a day.

You might be walking through the airport and find yourself shuddering at the “Be Relax” sign that greets you. It makes you just want to grab a permanent marker and add an –ed to the phrase everywhere it appears.

Or, as my friend Liz Curtis Higgs mentioned in a recent writers conference keynote address, you might shake your head at a “Help Wanted” sign for a “part-time adult.” (Or you might be tempted to apply, figuring you can at least fake adulthood for a few hours at a time.)

The writer’s sensibilities are almost constantly offended by misplaced apostrophes (“Professional Sign’s and Lettering,” seriously?) and the apparent inability of 99% of the English-speaking world to properly use your/you’re, they’re/their/there, and it’s/its. We proofread and mentally rewrite restaurant menus, restroom signage, and newspaper headlines, such as these:

Missippi’s literacy program shows improvement

Law would require most retailers to except cash

More adults have died from eating laundry pods than kids

Police shoot dead wanted man driving Maserati

Scientists to unleash millions of mosquitos to have sex with their cousins and kill them

If you’re anything like me, you definitely have my sympathies because you can’t even listen to some popular songs without rewriting them. Like Neil Diamond’s “I Am, I Said,” in which the lines, “To no one there, and no one heard at all, not even the chair” could’ve been, with just a few seconds more thought, “and nobody cared” or “my words went nowhere.” Or almost anything besides, “not even the chair”?

If any of this describes you, there may not be a cure; but at least you’re not alone. What have you mentally rewritten recently?

 

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Category: The Writing Life

020 How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 16, 2019
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On the Christian Publishing Show, I don’t just like talking with publishing insiders, I also like talking with folks in related industries. It is often in these related industries where some of the more revolutionary insights come from. One such industry is art. Authors and artists face many of the same challenges. Today we will be talking with Matt Tommey, an artist from Asheville, North …

Read more020 How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career
Category: The Writing Life

020 How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 16, 2019
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How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career
You can listen to this episode 020 How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career on Christian Publishing Show.

Read more020 How to Get Unstuck With Your Writing Career
Category: The Writing Life

019 How to Build a Tribe

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 9, 2019
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How can authors build a tribe of raving fans? To help us answer this question, today we will be talking with Alice Crider the Editorial Director at David C Cook. Alice has done this as an author, agent, and editor. So Alice, what does it mean to build a tribe? Questions: Let’s talk about building a tribe, what does it mean to build a tribe? What are some of the biggest challenges authors face when …

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Category: The Writing Life

019 How to Build a Tribe

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 9, 2019
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How to Build a Tribe
You can listen to this episode 019 How to Build a Tribe on Christian Publishing Show.

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Category: The Writing Life

018 Tribe Building and Trends in Publishing

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 2, 2019
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Where is Christian publishing heading? To help answer these questions, today we are talking with Alice Crider the Editorial Director at David C Cook and an international speaker. Alice welcome to the Christian Publishing Show. Before we get started I want to tell you about how great your team at David C Cook is. As you know I am not just a literary agent, I’m also a podcaster and I run a podcast …

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Category: The Writing Life

018 Tribe Building and Trends in Publishing

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on April 2, 2019
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Tribe Building and Trends in Publishing
You can listen to this episode 018 Tribe Building and Trends in Publishing on Christian Publishing Show.

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Category: The Writing Life

Write for Narcissists

By Bob Hostetleron March 27, 2019
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Every reader is a narcissist. Hold on, there. Don’t get all mad and sassy yet. Let me explain I often tell developing writers, “No one reads about other people; we read only about ourselves.” Go ahead and quote me, just be sure to give me credit and send me the royalties it produces. Seriously, I think it’s true. For example, I read several memoirs every year. And many of them are about writers …

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Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Creativity, Get Published, Marketing, Pitch, Pitching, The Writing Life

017 How to Find Agents and Editors with the Christian Writers Market Guide

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on March 26, 2019
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Have you ever been frustrated while looking for an agent or editor? In today’s episode, we are going to talk about where to find good editors and agents using the Christian Writers Market Guide. I am joined today by Steve Laube, the president and founder of The Steve Laube Agency and a veteran of the bookselling industry with nearly 40 years of experience. He and his agency have represented over …

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Category: The Writing Life

017 How to Find Agents and Editors with the Christian Writers Market Guide

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on March 26, 2019
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How to Find Agents and Editors with the Christian Writers Market Guide
You can listen to this episode 017 How to Find Agents and Editors with the Christian Writers Market Guide on Christian Publishing Show.

Read more017 How to Find Agents and Editors with the Christian Writers Market Guide
Category: The Writing Life
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