Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 37

What Is Slow Writing?

It seems like the last few days I keep seeing the term slow writing. I looked it up and discovered that it seems to mean a confusing array of things. When teachers employ slow writing in class, it means giving your students a very specific assignment so that they can only complete it very slowly. … Continue reading What Is Slow Writing? →

Revising Is More Than Checking the Boxes

Yesterday I was revising chapter one of a new manuscript. I was working from my editor’s comments. She had a question about my sidebar. By the time I answered it, I realized that the explanation was going to chew through the chapters limited word count. The fact just wasn’t important enough to give it that … Continue reading Revising Is More Than Checking the Boxes →

Keep Querying

I’ll admit it. I was getting really discouraged about querying. In January, I started querying Wild Cities. This is a series proposal that I created for Kane Press, but Kane passed on it. They had just signed something similar. UGH! I know that most often people query single titles and not series but I had … Continue reading Keep Querying →

When You Find A Story So Like Your Own

I just read a really awesome picture book that is perfect for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Lily lives in Washington DC with her parents and loves to make art on her computer. Her grandfather lives in a farming village in South Korea. He writes poetry and creates beautiful scrolls. The two are pen … Continue reading When You Find A Story So Like Your Own →

Finding a Hole in the Market

I meant to post this earlier in the week. May is Asian American Pacific Islander Month. In recognition, I requested MY LOST FREEDOM by George Takei from my local library. As much as I love him as a speaker, I wondered how he would expand on what has already been published on this topic. Takei’s … Continue reading Finding a Hole in the Market →

When Characters Do Improbable Things

I am currently listening to Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice. If you don’t know about the Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano, her character is a struggling suspense novelist and single mom. She has no choice but to become an amateur-sleuth when someone mistakes her for a contract killer. Sounds pretty improbable, doesn’t it? But … Continue reading When Characters Do Improbable Things →

Dialogue Is Not a Tennis Match

 I am currently taking Judy’s Blume’s MasterClass in writing for young readers. One off the sessions that I just watched was on dialogue. Blume emphasized that dialogue doesn’t copy real speech but it needs to sound like real speech. Blume pointed out two specific problems. When new writers create dialogue, their characters often speak in … Continue reading Dialogue Is Not a Tennis Match →

How to Prioritize Your Writing

I’m a professional freelancer. This is what I do. It isn’t a hobby. I don’t write when my Muse finds me. I have contracts. This is how I make a living. How do I do something that so few people manage to do? Step 1 I call myself a writer. That’s really essential in my … Continue reading How to Prioritize Your Writing →

Why I Don’t Write Negative Reviews

When I started reviewing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I didn’t get to review very many books. They didn’t even publish one review a month. Although I wrote the occasional stand alone review, the majority were rounds ups of up to 6 titles. Maybe that’s part of the reason that I’ve never been interested in … Continue reading Why I Don’t Write Negative Reviews →

It Can Be Hard to Predict the Tough Jobs

I’ve learned. When I’m presented with a list of books topics by my editor, sometimes it pays to Google a few. That way I know which ones are going to be easy to research and which are going to be more difficult. At least that’s the theory. I didn’t predict that either of these books … Continue reading It Can Be Hard to Predict the Tough Jobs →