What's that? You've finished writing your book?! Holy shit, great work! You've just accomplished what most people in the world aspire to do 'one day', but never actually do because they have yet to discover just how hard and potentially soul-destroying it can be - banging away day after day on a keyboard, locked away from any semblance of civilisation, as your life slowly ebbs away into the ether. "...I've been writing for HOW long?!" But you're a rockstar. You pushed thro

We recently discussed all things editing with a professional editor. Next I wanted to get a writer's view on the revision process. Not just any old writer, mind you, but a multi-published author who's been in the game for a while and thus would undoubtedly have wise words to share. Thankfully I knew just the man for the job! Michael J. Martinez is the writer responsible for launching 18th-century sailing ships into space, and in doing so "seamlessly blends popular elements fr

First up in our self-titled Editing Month - which we are totally going to make a thing [UPDATE: a year later and it's still not] - is freelance editor Abigail Nathan of Bothersome Words. I came across Abigail when I went looking for an editor myself. I'd spent a gazillion years writing and then revising my manuscript, before sending out to all the rejections - at which point I figured (obviously belatedly) "hey, maybe I'm not the best person to be editing my own work becaus

We've all been there. Staring at the screen in disgust. Unable to contain our frustration at the stupidity before us. But unable to look away, thanks to a sadistic need to feel the pinch of each badly-phrased sentence and illogical thought process and THEY SAID WHAAAAAAAAAT!? Comments sections: assume the position. With few exceptions, comments sections are awful. Whatever heights the blog post, article or review may have reached above, what lurks beneath is a dank dungeon

Andrea Hannah is one of those writers you stumble across during a night’s procrastination and can’t help but blindly follow into the beautiful unknown thereafter. Aside from her sublime writing advice (see AndreaHannah.com and The Secret Life of Writers), she’s also a force of charm, wit, and superhuman work ethic on Twitter (@andeehannah)—juggling a job, two kids and yet still writing more than you and me put together. (And then tweeting about it.) Her debut novel Of Scars a