Category Archives: editorial

advice, editorial

Today’s Writing Tip: How to Spell Internet

sig2010

It comes as a surprise to some people that the word Internet is always capitalized. Ditto for the abbreviation “Net.” Why is this?

The Internet is like a place. It is a large computer network that connects computers all over the world. In grammatical terms, it is treated as a proper noun. However, as Wikipedia points out, when we refer to the World Wide Web and the Internet, we want to capitalize that, but if we are referring to smaller internet channels, we don’t necessarily have to capitalize them.

By and large, when people write about the Internet, they are referring to the big picture, hence the need for caps. One way to make sure that you spell this right is to perform a spellcheck at the end of your e-mail, article, or manuscript.

It will pick that error up right away.

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor http://tinyurl.com/7wnk5se and two erotic short stories, which she wrote under the pen name Tiffanie Good. Silver Publishing just released “The Pink Triangle,” a tale of friendship, lust, and betrayal. You can view her story here: http://tinyurl.com/6v65rgr

advice, blogging, editorial

Today’s Writing Tip: Going to My Parents’ House

sig2010Apostrophes can be tricky and, as a manuscript editor, one of the most common errors I see is the misspelling of the term “my parents’ house.” Most of the writers that I work with are apt to spell the term “my parent’s house.” Why is that usually wrong? And when is it right?

It’s wrong because most of the time, but certainly not always, we have two parents. Therefore the apostrophe goes after the term “parents” because the house belongs to the parents. It’s like saying, “I’m going to the squirrels’ hideout.” If there is only one squirrel, we can say, “the squirrel’s hideout”; otherwise, we use the plural.

Likewise for parents. If our parents are divorced, separated, widowed or otherwise reduced from two to one, it’s appropriate and absolutely correct to write, “I went over to my parent’s house.”

But chances are you’re not going to say that because it’s pretty formal. When you’re referring to both your mother and father, you’re likely to say, “parents” whereas if you’re talking about one parent, you’ll probably say “my mom,” “my stepmom,” or “my dad.” For example, “I went to my mom’s house.”

One way to catch this mistake is to keyword your manuscript or article at the end and look for the word “parent’s.” Then you can tell if the context is correct.

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor (http://tinyurl.com/7wnk5se), and is both a line-by-line and a content editor for books, articles, magazines, and essays. Visit her at http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com/

advice, blogging, editorial

Today’s Writing Tip: Varying Your Style

sig2010Usually I read nonfiction or dramas that take place in the present day, but in the beginning of 2012 I forced myself to read seven Shakespearean plays.

I wanted to break my routine and expand my thinking. Whatever is true for reading habits is also true for writing habits. You can benefit by varying your style.

Maybe you like to write long, lyrical prose. In that case, you might want to try writing short declarative sentences like Hemingway did. If you tend to write very emotionally or persuasively, try drafting an article or something that requires research or precision instead of opinion.

It’s easy to follow our routine – even Bilbo would have preferred staying in his hobbit hole and eating scones to venturing out into the jungle, but he forced himself out of his comfort zone. And as a result he discovered all kinds of character traits that he never would have known he had. You’re probably skilled in more ways than you know. Take the great leap: walk among the wolves, bears, and goblins.

Sigrid Macdonald is an author and editor. You can find her at http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com/

advice, editorial, fiction, Marketing yourself

3 Massive Goals for Writers (Move Over NaNoWriMo): Part 3

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by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Insanity of Epic Achievement

Writing a book in a month (NaNoWriMo, the World-Wide National Novel Writing Month of November) isn’t the only insanity of epic achievement in the house. I’m giving you 3 other massive goals that you can take on, mano a mano, if novel writing isn’t your thang.

So far, we talked about…

1. Create your own Writer’s Manifesto.

2. Put together your Leonardo de Vinci-style “mastery” resume.

And today, I’m going to bring the real pain.

3. Create a Big Hairy Audacious (Marketing) Goal.

First, a word about big, hairy audacious goals and what they mean. BHAGs is a term created by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 book entitled Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

This is not just a big goal or an important goal.

This goal is about being the visionary of something that doesn’t exist. It’s about being ambitious on a big playa scale and finding those long-term goals (not just a month long, you NaNo people!) that, as Jim says in an INC interview, “galvanize successful companies.”

Galvanize.

Not motivate. Not lead to success. Not “make logical sense.” But galvanize, as in skewer the hearts and mind of people and echo in their heads as they march off into battle for a war that will last years.

That’s the kind of goal we’re talking about.

As John Corcoran says of his BHAG, “I didn’t know how it would go – and I don’t know how it will end.” He’s saying he might fail.

I point this out because most of us don’t set goals we won’t meet. We’re taught not to fail.

Time to take a risk.

But BHAGs are about taking on the “worthwhile but potentially impossible” even though you might fail. Why? Uh, because it’s worthwhile. Because as we search for meaning in our lives and careers, those choice of “good enough” versus great is up to us.

A Handy Example of BHAG:

In this short interview, Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, talks about why he has an 100 year goal.

Now, let’s talk about you.

One of the columns I write here at Freelance-Zone is called Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Writing. And here’s what I know:

1. You hate marketing.

2. You’ll do as little as possible.

3. You’ll fumble around doing what other writers or business owners do.

4. You’ll never blow anyone away with your skill, your strategy, or your innovation.

So change that.

Set a BHAG.

Become a marketing superstar who masters the skills and invents a campaign so successful, so original, it’s copied for decades to come by other writers.

Now that’s worthwhile.

Find your galvanizing, marketing goal. Be a visionary. Inspire. Infuse your writing and your marketing with passion. Reach your readers in a way that makes them gasp with delight. Become known on an international scale.

And decide right now to create something magnificent and full of meaning to replace everything you dread about marketing.

And then do it.

clip_image001[4]Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: (1) Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and (2) Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Writing.

advice, editorial

Today’s Writing Tip: All Right, Already, and Altogether

sig2010All right, already, and altogether are phrases that may confuse writers. When are they one word and when are they two?

Let’s start with all right. The one word version is slang. It’s not acceptable and you won’t find it in a proper dictionary.

Altogether is another story. Let’s say that my uncle died and the family assembled to celebrate his life. We were all together at the funeral. And when I added up the cost of my hotel room in my airfare, altogether the bills amounted to $1000. Both versions are adverbs, but the one word version means completely or entirely whereas the two word version refers to a group of something – people, books, things.

Likewise with already. I had already finished my homework means I had completed it before the due date. But if I was going out for coffee with a group of friends, I could say, “We are all ready.” Another way to think of the latter is, “All of us are ready.”

Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor http://tinyurl.com/7wnk5se and two erotic short stories, which she wrote under the pen name Tiffanie Good. Silver Publishing released “The Pink Triangle,” a tale of friendship, lust, and betrayal. You can view her story here: http://tinyurl.com/6v65rgr

advice, blogging, editorial, social networking

Want to Protect Your Writing From Content Scrapers?

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Joe-Wallace-Vinyl-Collector-and-author

by Joe Wallace

This is old news to some, and a bit of a revelation to others. Google offers writers something I interpret as both an extra layer of anti-plagiarism protection AND a bit of search engine brand recognition with Google Authorship.

It requires you to use Google+ (surprise, surprise) and publish your work on your Google+ profile page, but it’s pretty handy as a way to show to Google who got there first when it comes to your work, content scrapers, or out-and-out plagiarism. Here are the steps to getting started, from the official Google Authorship page:

“You can link content you publish on a specific domain (such as www.wired.com) to your Google+ profile.

  1. Make sure you have a profile photo with a recognizable headshot.
  2. Make sure a byline containing your name appears on each page of your content (for example, “By Steven Levy”).
  3. Make sure your byline name matches the name on your Google+ profile.
  4. Verify you have an email address (such as stevenlevy@wired.com) on the same domain as your content. (Don’t have an email address on the same domain? Use this method to link your content to your Google+ profile)

(Here on the Google page there is a text box where you enter your e-mail address)

“Submitting this form will add your email address to the Work section of your profile, which by default is viewable only by your circles. You can keep your email private if you wish. It will also add a public link to the domain of the email address to the Contributor to section of your profile.”

It’s as simple as that!

You aren’t necessarily promised protection, better search placement or any other perk–I personally interpret what Google has done here as a two-fold means to protect the original author of an online work AND help that work get better Google ranking versus scraped content or copied material. Your own mileage may vary.