whenever i get too mad about grammar, i remember Arabic scholar Sībawayhi, who lost a grammatical debate about wasps in 796 AD and got so mad about it that he went home and died

Fear of the New York City subway is a mark of low moral character. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-subway...

clear up some mental hard drive space, get an editor

i can tell quickly in a draft if a character is about to get important to a story, because the author starts describing their eyes real sexy

the greatest editorial feeling in the world is when your suggestions cause an author to add the word "chittering" to a line that didn't have "chittering" in it before

I simply think beyond all the environmental and moral factors AI is just for losers

your darlings went to a farm upstate and they really like it there there is sunshine and so much room for them to run around

why so many posts about how to find a good editor and never posts about how to find a dark and arcane editor, barely contained to the human form?

take this on your travels today

if you imply that something might happen in your book, why not let it happen? should your characters almost get in a bar fight, or should they get in a bar fight?

try not to take critique to heart from author groups, betas, or early readers that are not your target audience or natural readers of your genre. any opinions can be valuable through the right lens, but you do not want to tailor your book to the tastes of people who do not want it or understand it.

the names of spaceships are always italicized pirate ships are italicized  dragon mounts are not italicized, because dragons are people

very passionate about creating tracked changes that do not leave a stray space or doubled punctuation it is my life's mission

happy birthday to my partner, who is a genius many times over and who loves me in a way that i think she invented.

hannah and kelley of the wonderful Graveside Press put their energy into our community and invest their talents in writers all day, every day. if you can do anything to help them create a peaceful life, it would be so appreciated. www.gofundme.com/f/help-hanna...

hannah and kelley of the wonderful Graveside Press put their energy into our community and invest their talents in writers all day, every day. if you can do anything to help them create a peaceful life, it would be so appreciated. www.gofundme.com/f/help-hanna...

harlequin HERSELF is open for unagented submission 👀 they're specifically calling for submissions from underrepresented communities here as well harlequin.submittable.com/submit

manuscript feelings that i can help with: • pains • agonies • struggles • trials • troubles

getting very booked out for edits through the summer and fall here but still weirdly available in may. are you all going to something in may that you didn't invite me to?

have you written "the fact was" into your manuscript lately? try taking it out of that sentence and read the sentence again, i think you will like it so much.

if AI editing is so great then why are there entire fields of work dedicated to removing errors introduced by AI editing

this is your sign to write that thing into your book that you think only you like either you will find out that you're wrong or you will convert people

i am your partner in perfecting your novel. i am your ally. i am on your side. i am standing very still behind the tree in your front yard so that you cannot see me. i am making bird calls.

especially when i am doing dev edits, i will never point out a problem without also proposing a solution, and sometimes that means i go for a very long walk in the woods until the trees & i have solved your plot hole

editing fiction is one part gardening, one part cryptography, and one part underwater welding

get to know me: • i like bullet points

this is what copy editing is like

p.s. authors, your editor cannot review your book. as much as we would love to and as much as we can help promote in other ways, it is considered a commercial conflict on most platforms and can even run the risk of getting your book banned.

if you're converting your fanfic to an original work, consider the benfits of getting an editor. find/replace will go a long way, but you could use a second set of eyes out for smaller canon details you might have missed.

you don't need to stress about offending your editor by not accepting a suggestion, especially if it's an idea suggestion and not a grammatical rule. editors expect about a 20% stet rate, and you know your story better than anyone.

Looking for people to help me out with METROPOLIS DOWN's release and future releases. #booksky #diversebooks #writingcommunity

damn, being told "a comma goes where pause goes" as children really fucked us all up, didn't it?

There's a particular scent to a good used bookstore that's recognizable as soon as you step through the door. Pedantics might describe it as mere paper or even 'dusty', but in my brain it is forever tagged as "treasure"

my ideal used bookstore experience is to feel that i am in constant peril of haphazard piles of books falling on me

somebody has GOT to be able to use this in their book

Meet the gender-neutral name generator! This name generator comes with 1300 character names to choose from, generating 12 choices at a time! With 50 names for every letter of the alphabet, you'll never be stuck for a name. Try it out: hnossproofreads.co.uk/gender-neutr... Reposts appreciated!

as an editor, i consider myself a support class, like a bard or a cleric. i provide buffs and inspiration dice.

i love deadlines, they are so good for me mentally and spiritually

it's a wonderful day of editing when i get to let someone keep an interrobang

not only will i never ghost an email, i may answer it at a speed that some clients have previously called "startling"

reposting this for the evening crowd, i think i will probably attend the in-person conference rather than the VCON this year but i need a few more excuses

their presence on here is pretty limited, so if you missed it, @bookshop-org.bsky.social has begun selling ebooks! you can now buy ebooks from indie booksellers thanks to this service. www.wired.com/story/booksh...

any of my edibuddies here going to the ACES conference in SLC this spring?

copy editing some begging punctuation choices so important in begging

if you're ever wondering if your editor is annoyed by your manuscript not being in its final shape, they're not. we do this work because we like to fix things!

just a reminder that writing is a highly effective coping mechanism, and in fact it is the only coping mechanism with the same efficacy as substance abuse, but without the obvious downsides. feel bad? write about it. #writersky www.google.com/amp/s/www.ps...

i hate to see posts where authors feel scared because they tried an AI product and it was competent or "felt so real" people read because it feels cold and alone to be a human being, and everyone wants to know that someone else has felt what they are feeling

anyone specialize in specifically ghostwriting LGBTQ+ romance? i may have a fun opportunity to pass along #writersky #authorsky 📚 🌈