Larry M. Edwards's Blog, page 2

Good, best, or well wishes?

All three were first recorded in the late 16th century—“good wishes” and “best wishes” have alternated in popularity over the years, while “well wishes” has been a distant third. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2023/03/good-best-well-wishes.html

Amazon Publishing Center’s “Sliver” Marketing Module. Oops.

I received a LinkedIn message today from a “Cert. Marketer at Amazon Publishing Center® | Social Media Marketer | Publishing Consultant | Cert. Book Advisor”:

Hi! This is ­_______ from Amazon Publishing Center®. We help authors on their journey, from editing, publishing and printing; to marketing, promotion and press releases; we have it all! We’d love to explain more, when would you be available for a quick call?

My first reply: At what cost?

In response, this person sent me a link to...

Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision

Resources for Writers, Editors, and Indie Publishers updated with “Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision” — presentation to the San Diego Writers & Editors Guild, May 20, 2019.
http://www.larryedwards.com/resources.html

Renowned San Diego Attorney Releases Sphynx Sequel

One of my latest projects as an editor and publishing consultant . . .

Donald E. McInnis, defense attorney in the Stephanie Crowe murder investigation,
has moved from true crime to legal thrillers

In Return of the Sphynx: An A. J. Hawke Legal Thriller, San Diegos district attorney proclaims the police have the notorious Sphynx rapist in custody and they have the DNA to prove it.

Upstart attorney A. J. Hawke takes on the seemingly unwinnable case, claiming the man in jail is the true ...

Bropriating, Hepeating, and Mansplaining

My wife, Janis, did a Ross Trudeau crossword puzzle* today (especially bloody for Halloween), and she got all but one word. The clue for the word reads like this: “Taking credit for a female colleague’s idea.” She already had the letters “priating” so “appropriating” came to mind, but it’s too long. She finally gave up (this by a woman who does crosswords in ink) and looked up the answer. The word? “bropriating.”

Neither of us had ever heard of it, having left the office/business world behind...

Perspicacious — nice compliment

This morning, I received this comment from one of the authors I have been working with (or should I say . . . with whom I have been working . . . ha!).

“Thank you for your prompt, perspicacious and very helpful work on my [nonfiction] manuscript. I think it’s much better now.”

I don’t recall being described as “perspicacious” before — although I have been labeled as “astute” — but I take it as high praise. I know, in a general sense, what the word means, but I looked it up anyway to distin...

A call for interdependence.

The past few days, as the fourth of July—Independence Day in the U.S.A.—approached, my thoughts went to the term “interdependence.” We all talk of freedom and individual rights and independence at this time of year, and especially in this perilous time of a deadly and pervasive infectious disease that has struck not only our country, but every country on this planet.

While we have a right to freedom speech, we do not have a right to incite unlawful acts; nor do we have the right to endanger t...

Larry Edwards presents “Do’s & Don’ts of Memoir Writing” at San Diego Memoir Writers Association Event, Sept. 7

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Freelance editor Larry Edwards of Polishing Your Prose will present “Do’s & Don’ts of Memoir Writing” at...

Decoration Day Honored U.S. Civil War Veterans; Later Became Memorial Day

I posted this four years ago, and it deserves posting again.

Polishing Your Prose

On May 5, 1868, Major General John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, declared Decoration Day as a time for the nation to honor the U.S. Civil War dead. Logan declared that the day should be observed on May 30 and that the soldiers’ graves be decorated with flowers.

The veterans’ organization held the first observance that year at Arlington National Cemetery....

Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 10. Final Words

Tenth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)

FINAL WORDS

Time and Distance

Do you give yourself time away from your work—do you give yourself distance—before rereading, revising, and rewriting?

  In terms of self-editing, the best thing you can do is take a break.

I don’t mean a day or two. I mean weeks—or even better, months—so when you go back to it, you have fresh eyes.

With my memoir—Dare I Call It Murder?—a...