Editing hurts. Yes. It hurts when someone cuts your words, rearranges your sentences, deletes your creative use of language, etc. It hurts. The first thing a writer has to do is leave their ego at the door. Most writers write with passion and passion doesn't always reflect good grammar or proper use of punctuation. I recently edited for the CEO of a large corporation. She was taken aback by my edits and questioned if she wanted someone cutting her writing up like I did. But, while she might be a great CEO, her grammar, word choices and sentence structure were lacking. Most people, when writing with passion, give little thought to how their words are put together. The words spill out with feeling while grammar is laid aside. And that's ok. That's actually how it should be. We should write with passion.....then hire a good editor to make our points flow well and be cohesive. We editors make your passion shine by clothing your writing in easy-to-read prose with good ...

I was invited to write a guest blog for Anne Wayman of About Freelance Writing and am thrilled that my blog post is live today. Check it out here . It was a pleasure to work with Anne and write this post for her blog. It's all about how I started my online editing business and the unique things that led up to it and the launch of my editing website - editmaster.pro . A big thank you to Anne Wayman for the invitation! Happy Writing!

What is content marketing? Simply put, it's marketing your content....putting your content, the information you produce, out in the world for potential readers to see. You are marketing your content. This can be easier said than done. I briefly cover content marketing in my ebook, Writing for Publicaation , available here . In the ebook, I share that it's important to not only market your content, but brand yourself in your market. You are giving content to sell a brand....and that brand is you, but you're marketing your content, not yourself. Market your writing, not your personality. Use your personality as a marketing tool, but don't market it as the brand. People can get tired of you, but they will never tire of relevant, consistent information which helps them succeed. For more, be sure to read the ebook so you can be on your way to e-publishing success.  You can do this! Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

In my e-book, Writing for Publication , I list my top five editing tips. If you have not read the book and you want to earn money writing, read the book today. It's available on Amazon, here , and on Fiverr, here . Editing is vital to writing success, but I do understand that not everyone can afford to hire an editor; some have to edit their own work. I never recommend this, but I know finances require it at times. Here are my top five editing tips: Get rid of "that" whenever you can Use both "very" and "really" in a very limited way. Really. Be careful of repetition. Don't repeat yourself repeatedly. Keep your tense consistent.  Don't start a sentence or paragraph in past tense,  then time travel to the present tense by the end. Do not write the same way you talk. These tips will help you a great deal. Memorize them and learn to mentally use them as you write or as you review your writing. I tend to e...

I am a wife. I am a mom. I am a writer. I am a crafter. My favorite craft is paper crafting. My second favorite is drawing. Even that involves paper. As does my writing. When I craft, I think.  When I think, I write.  When I write, I get published.  When I get published, I earn money.  It nearly always starts with crafting for me.  As I've taught my writing students, thinking is a huge part of writing. I've spent weeks thinking about things I've written before I finally sat down and wrote them. Funny thing is, when I spend so much time thinking about writing, before I even write, when it's time to write those thoughts down, they are usually written within 20 minutes and these are the ones most purchased by a publisher. So, whenever I'm in my studio making pretty paper crafts, I'm actually working on a writing project. Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

Failure is hard but it's part of the writing process. Once we accept failure as truly par for the course, we will fear it less and not allow it to define us. This applies to all life, not just writing. In light of the recent election here in the US, I read this article in Forbes Magazine, Exclusive Interview: How Jared Kushner Won Trump the White House . This article ties in perfectly with today's thoughts on overcoming failure. In the quest for the White House, the article tells us that, behind the scenes, Jared Kushner tried many avenues and social media tactics to promote his father-in-law's presidential campaign, quickly halting what didn't work and putting more energy into what did work. Did you read that? He quickly halted what didn't work. This means not everything he did worked. This means he failed along the way, but still saw success in the end. The one thing he did was constantly take risks. Some risks panned out and some didn't, but he took the...

I didn't mean to take a break from this blog, it just happened because we were moving, I developed frozen shoulder, life got too hectic and I couldn't focus. I'm not sure I'm focusing any better than I was, but when I realized I had not posted anything on my writer's blog since Jan 2, I felt a bit of panic. I write nearly every day, regardless of what I post. My personal blog about how my theology shapes my everyday decisions, The Priscilla Principle Blog , has been more active than this writing blog. If you click on that blog link, you'll find there no pictures to represent the content of the blog. I was recently warned about using Google images for blogging and advised not to. I had just started doing that, and had used a Google image for that post, but I took the picture down. Apparently, a blogger was sued and had to pay over $5,000 for using a Google image. Ok. Lesson learned - from them. I will use my own photography or stock photos I've eith...

There's no reason you can't be the next wildly successful writer and my new e-book will show you how. I'm pretty excited about this new e-book and I hope you'll share my excitement by getting your copy now for the introductory price. Writing for Publication has been a long time coming in e-book form. I had published a shorter writing book, Write, then Publish. Today , but this new, revised version is the complete course, revised and updated just in time for the new year. This comprehensive course is an easy-to-read, to-the-point handbook for writers of all genres and all levels. As a private writing coach, I use these step-by-step methods in my coaching....and my students get published. From an 87-year-old great grandmother who wrote her first article in longhand on the back of a store ad, to a 14-year-old girl who wanted to enter a school writing contest, my students get published and win awards. I've coached pastors who wanted to be published in religious...

I started writing early in life. As a child, I wrote long, elaborate stories while sitting in a hollow tree down by the creek and it was an absolute escape for me. But, it never occurred to me to share that writing with anyone else. I did writing assignments in school with gusto and always got good grades on them, but it still didn't occur to me to write something that anyone else would want to read. My teachers had assigned the writing, so it was their demand I wrote for. I didn't write anything for anyone other than my teachers and myself to read. Then I got to college and a professor at Summit University (then Baptist Bible College of PA), Glenn Crabb, changed my life. I wrote a paper for his class and I not only got an A on the paper, he wrote a note in red at the top. He simply said, "Reading your writing is just like talking to you. You should write." I was not used to receiving compliments. His words astounded me, but it took years before I had the ner...

I read a few tips on writing from J.R.R. Tolkien today and this one, "Keep writing, even through adversity," really spoke to me because our family is facing a time of great adversity. 19 days ago, a large tumor was discovered at the base of my husband's spine. It turned out to be cancer and quickly turned our lives upside down. You can read more of that story here , on another one of my blogs. Yesterday, I posted on The Total Writer's Facebook page that I'm taking a hiatus from writing in order to deal with my husband's cancer. Well, today, I'm discovering that I can't keep to that. I can't not write. I need to write and was feeling very much like I needed to write, but felt guilty as though, somehow, my writing was an invalid distraction to the cancer and all it entails. But, today, I no longer feel that way. I realized, through reading J.R.R. Tolkien's tip to write through adversity, that writing through his cancer is actually a good,...

I've recently stepped up a major writing project that I've been working on in a slower mode for the past couple of years. In my efforts to be accurate and remain true to my topic, I have found myself reviewing ancient writings of different theologians of days past for historical input. One such writer, Theodoret of Cyrus, lived from 393 - 460 A.D. My project is summed up here and here . Imagine his writings still being read today, over 1,500 years later! The power of the written word should not be underestimated. The Bible, much of it written long before this man's writings, is still the most-read book in all of history. What you write today matters. It matters to today's audience and will matter in the audience of generations to come. So, write. Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

Webster's New World College Dictionary , the one we use in our home school, defines daily as " 1 done, happening, published, etc., every day or every weekday." I thought it was so interesting that part of the #1 definition for daily included the word "published." The timing of this news was so cool because I read a great article today by Jeff Goins which gives reasons why a writer should develop a daily writing habit. Jeff gives good advice. Many of us have to write daily to "feel like ourselves." I'm glad I'm not alone! Thanks for the great advice, Jeff! ~Tricia

Now is the time to learn. Now is the time to write. Now is the time to self-publish. I love the tips in this article . Quick, to the point, helpful. Learn. Write. Publish. ~Tricia

I'm on a vacation of sorts. I'm in GA with one of my daughters. She's about to have a baby, it's #2 for her, and I came down to help. But, I've been here a week and no baby yet. I have another week till I need to go home, so I'm hoping baby makes an appearance today or tomorrow so that I get some quality time with the new wee one. In the meantime, I'm not posting much since I'm spending my days with my daughter and her little girl, an active and delightful 2-year-old. But, I'm still writing! I've made written notes and made plans for future projects as I take a break from my normal routine. Also, I wrote a successful pitch this past week for an idea I've had floating around in my head for a few months. It was a successful pitch because it got enough attention where I sent it to garner a direct, personal response, which prompted a meeting. My first response was an automated response. My second, because I sent a second pitch to get their ...

Write daily. Publish if you want, but write regardless of whether you publish or not. I write daily. I publish periodically. Whether you write a chapter to a novel or a clever tweet on Twitter, it's important to write daily. Writing daily keeps your mind fresh. Writing daily helps ideas flow. Writing daily helps your writer's focus. Writing daily is fun. Writing daily is good discipline. So, write. Daily. See what happens. ~Tricia

It is no secret that blogging helps sell books. Even the most prolific authors of our day have blogs, including  Amanda Hocking ,  Danielle Steele , Stephenie Meyer and many others. I recently met a young woman who said she was a writer. Immediately, I asked her for her blog address and she said she did not have a blog. It turned out she was afraid to blog because she was afraid of criticism. She was afraid that someone might read the blog, disagree with her about something, then criticize. I tried to tell her that she can control all comments on her blog and that if someone posts a negative comment, she can simply remove it. But, the idea of being criticized was too much for her and she shrugged it off. I felt bad for her and encouraged her to think about blogging, even if it's just about a hobby she has. Blogging is becoming necessary to writing success. It's a fearful thing even for some established authors, but, most take the plunge and are always so very glad they ...

As a writer, I'm constantly reading. I just finished reading Alaska Bound, One Man's Dream...One Woman's Nightmare ! by Tammy Jones and I wrote a review on Amazon about the book. The title of this book had immediately caught my attention, plus the fact that it was a free Kindle book at the time. It is no longer free, but I was able to nab it when it was. What struck me about the writer, Tammy Jones, is that she revealed so much truth about her relationship with her husband as she wrote. She did not directly address her marriage, but woven into the adventure were certain phrases and feelings that clearly revealed some major issues in her marriage. When we write, our words become more powerful than when we speak. I highly doubt she intended to paint her husband in the light she painted him in, but through her writing, truth came out. It always does, especially if we are vulnerable enough to write about intense personal experiences. What does your writing reveal abo...

I prefer to think of Monday as a blank slate to a new week with new opportunities. This morning, my opportunities were very limited. Our power went out. No explanation, no fanfare....but no power. Then our water began to be very slow until.....oops! No water! No power, no water. Ok, then. What is a girl to do? My kids, one by one, came downstairs asking about the lack of power. "The power went out..." was all I could say. Fortunately, my laptop's battery was fully charged so I wasn't completely without access to the great Google machine. Upon "Googling" outages for our area, I discovered that our great electricians were already aware of our plight and were sending a crew. Only 10 houses were affected, but it grew to 14 in the next hour. My blank-slate Monday turned out to have a slow start due to the lack of power and water. But, I must say, I'm back on track now and busy updating my website , making notes on new e-book projects and back in my writin...

I get inspired to write no matter where I am. I can have a conversation with someone at the grocery store and get inspired to write an article, title or even an entire book. A wait in the doctor's office often inspires an idea. I can get motivated to write while listening to a good sermon - and while listening to a bad sermon. Many of these writings never see publication, but that doesn't dissuade me from writing. I write volumes, making notes and writing down ideas every day. Get inspired. Look around you and make mental notes on what's happening. Stay inspired. Write. ~Tricia

I write. I am a writer. I write all the time, daily actually. Most of what I write does not get published, but I write anyway. Sometimes I write and find it therapeutic, as is the case with my book, Victory Over Violence . Sometimes I write because something so deeply touched me that I have to put it down on paper, as with my book, Tears in a Bottle . Other times, I write because I have information that I think others will find helpful, like in my book, How to Not Potty Train Your Kids . I write for many reasons. When stuff happens in my life, I write about it. When stuff happens around me, I write about it. When I feel passionate about something, I write about it. When I feel silly, I write. I've written songs, poems, books, short stories, Bible studies, a memoir, silliness, doctrine and kids' stories. I don't publish all my writings, but I write them just the same. I mostly write non-fiction, but am working on a few fiction projects and finding it interesting to...