Erin Brenner's Blog, page 2

Procrastination: A Writer’s Secret Weapon

By Sean Brenner

A writer’s workday is mostly spent writing, right?

Wrong. Writers spend most of their time, on average, procrastinating.

Procrastination is endemic to many workers, but writers and other creative professionals elevate it to an art form, often exploring any possible avenue to delay the inevitable for as long as can be.

Unless you have superhuman discipline, procrastination will come for you eventually, so it’s important to learn to manage it—and maybe even take advantage of it. 

The me...

Should Your Editing Prices Be Visible on Your Website?

If you want to liven up a conversation among freelancers, ask whether you should put your editing prices on your website. In no time at all, you’ll get as many opinions as there are freelancers. And many people will be convinced that their solution is the only one.

The question, as my pal Amy J. Schneider likes to say, is a “how long is a piece of string” question. Your business doesn’t look like anyone else’s. And as a result, whether to put your prices on your site will depend on who your clien...

Sticking the Landing: Tips for Writing Strong Conclusions

By Sean Brenner

For many writers, the worst part of any given manuscript is finding a way to start it. The curse of the blank page can be overwhelming.

For others, though, it can be just as overwhelming to try to end the manuscript. Conclusions might not be hated as passionately as introductions, but they have a way of taking the wind out of your sails just as it seems the hard part of a project is over.

They may not always have as much ground to cover as intros, but conclusions can still give you ...

Surviving and Thriving as an Editor in Lean Times

An editor new to the industry recently asked me why the job market is so tough for freelance editors and proofreaders right now. Why are new projects and new clients so scarce? Is it the current administration? AI? Something else?

Challenges in the Editing Profession

Editing and proofreading (I’m going to refer to both as editing hereafter for simplicity) are not highly valued in general, which leads not only to low fees but fewer people and organizations having their projects edited. Like writing...

Breaking the Blank Page: Two Simple Tricks for Writing Stronger Intros

By Sean Brenner

“Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.” — Terry Prachet, The Hogfather

Writing intros can be a painful process. 

A blank page can be intimidating to the point that just making the effort to start is difficult. Where do you begin? This question can become overwhelming, and eventually, just thinking about it puts you off.

A good intro has a lot to cover. It needs to introduce your topic and the major points you make in your manuscript. It also has to get reade...

From Puzzle to Plan: Organizing Complex Writing

Editor’s Note: I’m excited to welcome Sean Brenner (yup, my kid!) as a monthly contributor to Right Touch Editing. Sean brings a fresh perspective on writing, drawing from his experience crafting fictional universes and scriptwriting. Each month, he’ll share insights on tackling writing challenges. You can find more of his work at Imagined Worlds Writing Services. Welcome, Sean!

More often than not, the hardest part of writing is figuring out where to begin, especially when you’re writing about a...

Balancing Act: Maximizing Productivity Without Burning Out

“Work smarter, not harder!”

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve heard this productivity mantra. And who doesn’t want to maximize their workday? I love working efficiently and getting the most out of my day. And the sooner I can get work done, the sooner I can relax, right?

But many of our cherished productivity beliefs are actually myths. What we think makes us more productive often does the opposite. Through my research for a Lenovo Pro article on productivity and years of r...

Split Infinitives: Breaking an Outdated Rule to Write Better

The English language is full of supposed grammar rules that many of us learned in school. One persistent myth is that we should never split infinitives, that is, we should never put a word between to and its verb. But like many grammar “rules,” this one deserves to be broken.

First, let me explain what I’m talking about. In the phrase to boldly go, the adverb boldly splits the infinitive to go. For decades, some writers and editors have twisted themselves into knots to avoid such constructions, p...

Using GenAI as Your Writing Assistant: The Business Writer’s Guide

These days, business writers face mounting pressure to produce more content faster while maintaining quality. Generative AI (GenAI) tools, like Claude and Perplexity, can help streamline your writing process—not by replacing you but by serving as a capable assistant. Let’s explore helpful ways to integrate GenAI into the different stages of your writing process.

Important! Remember that AI isn’t a magic wand, and it’s not a replacement for human thinking. It can make some very big mistakes. Alway...

Help! I’m Stuck on Citations

Citations can be the bane of a copyeditor’s existence. Whether one author writes them or multiple authors do, copyeditors are often left to fill in blanks and apply a style where none exists.

Theoretically, writers are responsible for writing complete, properly formatted citations. Editors should only have to do a light edit, querying any missing information. Among other items, your citation checklist should include the following: 

The desired citation style was used.Citations in the text are li...