Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 39

Comp Titles

Comp titles.  Say the phrase and watch writers shudder and swoon.  We hate trying to come up with good comp titles. For those of you who don’t recognize the term, comp is short for competing titles. That said, I’ve also heard people say it stands for complimentary titles. Personally, I would go with competing. Comp … Continue reading Comp Titles →

All It Takes is One Idea to Help Your Brain Engage

When we were in Austin, the boys decided we were going to the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. As much as I love museums, this one was not my favorite. First of all, it meant a 2.5 hour round trip added on to the 12.5 hour drive home. I had a feeling that I knew … Continue reading All It Takes is One Idea to Help Your Brain Engage →

Beginning a Graphic Memoir

On our drive to Austin and back, I found myself jotting down ideas for a graphic memoir. My list is over three pages long. And I’m sure more scenes will come to me as I begin to work. I want to jump into the drawings. I really, really want to experiment with some computer drawing. … Continue reading Beginning a Graphic Memoir →

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Where do ideas come from? All along here. We just made a 5 day trip, covering 1700+ miles to visit my aunt. No, it would not have been easier to fly for a wide variety of reasons. Let’s just say, “It takes a village.” And if we had flown, I would not have this book … Continue reading Where Do Ideas Come From? →

Road Trips and Writing

I made this graphic while I was playing with Microsoft Designer. I wanted to let everyone know I was “out of the office” on a road trip. I’ll be back tomorrow with posts about the experience to share. And yes, they will be writing related. There are two schools of thought re: writing and road … Continue reading Road Trips and Writing →

Novellas: The Joy of Something Short

Not long ago the members of my book club had an interesting discussion. One of the women has been so busy. She just doesn’t feel like the has the mental energy to dive into a vast book. Another woman has been sick. She wanted an easy literary win. My husband and I listen to audio … Continue reading Novellas: The Joy of Something Short →

Outlining

There are a number of different ways to brainstorm, outline, or otherwise organize a manuscript. One of my writing friends loves mind maps. If you’ve never used a mind map (see above), your central idea goes into the center circle. Supporting ideas go into the secondary circles. Then the tertiary circles off those contain supporting … Continue reading Outlining →

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 →