Edit yourself like a pro. I'm a writer, editor, and book coach who has worked with more than 4,000 students, entrepreneurs, and corporate/institutional clients over the last 30+ years. You'll hear from me in your Inbox every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 2pm EST :) Reader Testimonials: "You're one of the cheeriest, funniest, most helpful writer-oriented people I know! Thanks for being out there!" "Love your newsletter, especially your light-handedness! Thanks :-D" "I enjoy your insights and style. Thank you for providing the newsletter!" "I am LOVING your newsletter and am very happy I discovered it 😊" "You're awesome—keep up the good work!" "Can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your newsletter. You uncomplicate things authors are puzzled about." "I so enjoy your writing and sense of humor. You make editing sound like fun!!" "I love everything about Editorial Notes. Keep up the great content!"
✍️ Wedding Shame, Excess Function, and Modify It!
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Hiya Reader, I recently attended a wedding, and like many, the reception included numerous speeches/toasts from family and very close friends of the bride and groom. We've all been through drunken/embarrassing/horrifying speeches at such events, and while many of those shameful exhibits stick in my memory, this is not the vignette I want to share. Instead, I'll say this: if you are chosen to toast a couple on their wedding day, please share the warmest, most loving and supportive words you can honestly give from your heart....about the couple. If what you have to say is not focused on them and about them: you're doing it wrong. Remember your audience. And don't even get me started on quadrupling the "five minute" time limit for speaking. It's not your day. Sit down. Think a friend would appreciate Editorial Notes?Send them this link to sign up:
(And if you’re the appreciative friend, you can subscribe at the same link.) Example of the WeekSometimes this is a good example—or a great one. Sometimes this is a bad example—or just a funny blooper. Sometimes a combination. You never know. Just gonna drop this one here. Reader, how would YOU caption this? Actionable Tip/Reader Question of the WeekA trick to add to your self-editing toolbox right now! Allison wrote: I've heard many times that adverbs and adjectives should almost always be cut, but is that really true? I get why you might not want to use too many of them, but why are they considered so bad? Allison! What a fantastic question. My answer is quite long (seems I had a lot to say about this!) so I'm making your question the Actionable Tip of the Week! Read the full response here. Want to Submit a Reader Question to Helene?Give in to the urge.
Link of the WeekMost of us know how many words and phrases first entered the English lexicon from Shakespeare, but can you guess how many were coined on Saturday Night Live? Even if you don't watch the show (or, like me, can't stay up that late anymore), I'm willing to bet you know most of these catch phrases. IYKYK I ❤️ Hearing from You!Comments? Just reply to this email or click this link. I respond to every email—that's a promise. Thanks for reading!~Helene, your writing sherpa P.S. Free Live AMAGo to the link to register for the session and type your question! The session will be recorded and sent to all registrants, so no worries if you can't make the call live (but I sure hope to see you). Don't have a question but want to attend? Please sign up! Nothing is for sale. This is a free event offered to subscribers. Have a friend who'd benefit? Send them the link to subscribe and then they can register. |
Editorial Notes
Edit yourself like a pro. I'm a writer, editor, and book coach who has worked with more than 4,000 students, entrepreneurs, and corporate/institutional clients over the last 30+ years. You'll hear from me in your Inbox every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 2pm EST :) Reader Testimonials: "You're one of the cheeriest, funniest, most helpful writer-oriented people I know! Thanks for being out there!" "Love your newsletter, especially your light-handedness! Thanks :-D" "I enjoy your insights and style. Thank you for providing the newsletter!" "I am LOVING your newsletter and am very happy I discovered it 😊" "You're awesome—keep up the good work!" "Can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your newsletter. You uncomplicate things authors are puzzled about." "I so enjoy your writing and sense of humor. You make editing sound like fun!!" "I love everything about Editorial Notes. Keep up the great content!"
Editorial Notes = clarifying information, additional insight, annotations Hiya Reader, I love my morning coffee. I NEED my morning coffee. My morning coffee is black, medium roast, and hot enough to shock me awake. I also enjoy tea, dark chocolate, the occasional soda of the brown fizzy variety. So, imagine my horror to learn that it is actually possible to die from caffeine consumption! (Granted, I don't come anywhere close to a toxic level of daily caffeine, but I nevertheless appreciated...
Editorial Notes = clarifying information, additional insight, annotations Hiya Reader, As a child of working parents in the seventies and eighties, I grew up on a steady diet of engineered, processed food. White bread “fortified” with a fraction of the nutrients taken out in processing, carcinogenic pink bologna, square slices of “cheese food” glowing yellow-orange in plastic wrap. “Read the labels,” I taught my children. “If you can’t pronounce it, if it doesn’t seem like a name for food,...
Editorial Notes = clarifying information, additional insight, annotations Hiya Reader, A dear friend of mine once observed that "there are really only 600 people in the world; the rest is done with smoke and mirrors." The older I become, and the more people I meet and talk to, the more this quip seems somehow true, even if not literally. Where would all that smoldering glass come from? I prefer my friend's observation to the more prosaic theory of six degrees of separation, though I have...