An Update #writing #editing

It’s been ages since I have posted on the blog, so I thought an update was in order!

I have been lucky enough to work on lots of wonderful editing projects, and they have kept me incredibly busy. What has been especially lovely this year is that I have taken on lots of new clients who have got in touch because other clients have recommended me. It’s a huge privilege to help writers bring out the best in their manuscripts – manuscripts that mean so much to them – and I am so lucky to have a business that I love.

I have also dipped my toe into a new venture – ghost writing. I am working on a project with a lovely client right now and am enjoying writing again. I’m planning to take on more clients, so if you would be interested in this service, do get in touch. I am offering a discounted rate at the moment as this is a new venture, in exchange for honest reviews. I’ll be adding more information as I work through this initial project and hope to have a new blog for this aspect of the business in the very near future.

On a personal level, the summer was incredibly busy. Both children were home so there was a lot going on (and a lot of washing!). Both have now gone back to London, so the house is very quiet. Scott has gone back to Kings College to start a PhD in Film and Philosophy, and Jess has begun her fourth year at the Royal Veterinary College.

We found ourselves down to our last rescue chicken out of six – so of course decided to take on another five. Sylvia is the last survivor of our original six (she was the smallest and weakest of the bunch, but outlived them all!) and has been joined by Flora, Indigo, Ned, Keith and Lavender. This is what happens when everyone is allowed to choose a name.

We also spent a lot of time building and insulating an outside house for Gus the tortoise. This included having an outside plug socket installed for a heater and a lamp. You might think a tortoise only needs a tortoise table but if you buy a baby tortoise, then please do a lot of research. They have very specific needs if they are to grow properly and be healthy. When I was a child people bought tortoises and left them in the garden to their own devices. But these tortoises would have been imported as fully grown adults, so their needs were completely different to what is required if you have a baby tortoise. Without the right environment, they can suffer from horrible deformities to their shells. When you buy a tortoise, you often aren’t given the right information – so do make sure you research thoroughly. In my opinion, it’s honestly best not to have one as a pet. But now we do have Gus it’s down to us to make sure he has the best life.

We decided that life was too simple with two and a half dogs (Belle the cocker spaniel spends term time in London with Jess), so we decided to offer to foster for Galgos del Sol. Jasper came to us at the end of June. He’s three and a half and has only been in the UK a few months. His new home didn’t work out for him and so we were supposed to foster him until a place come up in rescue kennels. Of course, the inevitable happened, and we fell in love with the great big goofy boy, and he’s staying with us for good.

So it’s hardly surprising I haven’t had much time for the blog – but I have several book reviews going up in the next few days, and will be back to posting editing and writing tips and advice next week.

In the meantime, here’s Jasper.

I am an experienced editor, and have worked on more than five hundred projects in a variety of genres including dystopian, romance, memoir, erotica, YA, fantasy, short stories, poetry and business. I am happy to edit in either UK or US English. 

I have a first degree in English Language and Literature and a master’s degree in creative writing.

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Update – and a special offer!

The year is flying past and it’s hard to believe it will soon be Christmas (how exciting!). My editing schedule has been full to bursting this year, which is wonderful, but it has meant that I’ve spent less time blogging, tweeting, sharing etc. than I would like. Add renovating a house, acquiring two more rescue dogs and attempting to knit a huge Harry Styles inspired cardigan (don’t ask!) into the mix, and the New Year has become March has become August has become October, and the year is nearly over.

• 

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The Lovely Ted and Annie

The absolute bane of my life (the cardigan, not Harry)

But hectic as life is, I can’t complain. I’ve worked with some really lovely clients, old and new, on some fabulous books, I’ve read some amazing novels, now have four (yes, FOUR!) gorgeous dogs, and I have almost knitted a cardigan that has the dimensions of a small eiderdown.

So, to sort of celebrate, I have a special pre-Christmas offer. If you book an edit before the end of next week, you’ll get a 10% discount on the total price.

But hurry – I only have a couple of spaces left in my schedule before the end of the year!

Merry Christmas!

As 2016 draws to a close (thank god – what a crap year it’s been) just a quick post to say thank you to all the people who visit this blog, who take the time to read and comment and whose support and friendship mean a great deal to me.

The amount of views and new followers I’ve had this year has been amazing, and it’s been a joy to meet new people, to connect with other writers and bloggers, and to read and share books. It’s lovely to know there are like-minded souls out there, near and far.

Because the world is crappy right now, and sometimes the hate and the intolerance and the bigotry and the unfairness of it all can seem overwhelming. But looking at a wonderful painting, hearing a favourite song, escaping into a beautiful film and sinking into a good book, all these things make life a bit better. So thank you to all those authors who have shared their books with me this year, and to all the writers I’ve worked with. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege.

I wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday.

It’s August – It’s Write An Amazon Review Month! #AugustReviews

August 2016 is Write An Amazon Review Month! 

On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, writer Terry Tyler is starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers including Rosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and me!

 

The idea is that, during August, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!). You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time.  The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it, your review will show the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.

Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book.  No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used.  Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!

Why should you write a review?

• They help book buyers make decisions.  Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use?  Book reviews are no different.
• If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand.
• The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly).  If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen.
• It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes!

 

 

Off we go, then!  A few more pointers:

• If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.
• A review can be as short as one word.
• You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.
• No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.
• Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review?  If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you!  Terry will do one blog post a week featuring these links: The #AugustReviews Hall of Fame (thank you, Barb!).

If you have a blog and would like to spread the word about #AugustReviews, please feel free to copy and paste this blog post, provide the link to it, re-blog it, or whatever ~ many thanks, and we hope you will join in to make this idea a success 🙂

 

 

 

Guest post: reading, blogging and fit men!

I’m over on Wendy Lou’s blog today talking about reading and blogging. I’ve also managed to find an excuse to include Tom Hardy, Johnny Depp and Ryan Gosling. Click the link above to come and have a read. And in the meantime:

#AtoZChallenge – Reflections

When my lovely friend and fellow blogger Rosie Amber suggested I take part in the A to Z Challenge I didn’t really know what to expect. Yes, I knew I’d be posting every day except Sundays in April, and I had an idea for a theme – writing and editing tips – but I had no idea how interesting and valuable an experience it would be.

I started off the way I always do – incredibly efficient and well-organised (to begin with). I had ten posts ready to go before the challenge actually started – all scheduled so that all I had to do was hit publish. This, however, lulled me into a false sense of security and by the time I’d reached letter ‘M’ I was writing posts the day they were due. So much for being well-organised!

The best thing about the challenge was making contact with other bloggers – bloggers and blogs mostly concerned with writing, but in a variety of genres and with a variety of interests and insights to share. These are recommended:

https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/

http://lucciagray.com/

http://www.shanayatales.com/

and of course

https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

The trickiest thing was navigating blogs other than those on WordPress – it was irritating reading and appreciating a blog post and taking the time to add a comment only to have to jump through hoops to get the comment published. Not the bloggers fault of course, but a bit of a shame as sometimes I just gave up!

Another minor irritation was the amount of blogs listed that actually weren’t taking part. I’m pushed for time and the challenge was a big commitment. It was annoying to click on link after link to find no mention of the challenge or to read about theme reveal that looked really interesting only to find that the blogger had decided not to take part. Having said that, with the amount of blogs listed, I can understand that it would be extremely difficult and time consuming to remove these blogs from the list.

That said, I did thoroughly enjoy the challenge. I made lots of new blogging friends and had a big increase in visits to the site. And I’ll definitely take part next year. Although I’ll try and stay organised this time!