If you’re an author seeking inspiration, skill-building, and a toolbox of writing craft tips, then I have what you need. The new guide for authors, LAUNCH PAD: The Countdown to Writing Your Book, is scheduled for release on Feb. 28, 2023 and this eagerly anticipated book is a literal Launch Pad for your writing career.
I have a chapter included on the most common grammar and punctuation mistakes I see as a freelance developmental editor. This chapter covers everything from the proper use of the Oxford Comma, colons, and semicolons to ellipses and beyond.
But that’s not all. As a special bonus, you can download a handy, free, pdf  that offers my ten grammar tips for cleaning up your novel. And to celebrate the book’s imminent release, one of the book’s editors, Emma Dhesi, has hosted a panel discussion featuring contributors.
In the discussion, we shared why we contributed to the book, the subject of our chapters, and what we hope readers will gain from our insights.Â
Watch the replay of this panel discussion with Kat Caldwell, Lewis Jorstad, Samantha Skal, Janyre Tromp, Grace Sammon, and myself – you’ll get tons of tips about outlining, creating characters, grammar, and much more!
You can also watch Emma interview contributing authors Susanne Dunlap, Linda Rosen, Joe Bunting, Meredith R. Stoddard, Carol Van Den Hende, and Heather Davis in a second panel discussion below.
Find out more about this essential guide for authors here.Â
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
This guest post on how to improve your writing flow was written by Asha Caldwell. Â Â
Thereâs no single best way to define what writing âflowâ looks like, but the Writing Center at the University of Carolina explains that writing that âflowsâ is a piece that can be read smoothly from beginning to end. Readers should be able to easily establish connections between ideas without stopping or having to reread. To put it simply, itâs writing thatâs easy to digest and follow. To make your writing flow seamlessly, it has to be cohesive and well-written.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Tip #1: Sentence and Word Variety
Vary the types of sentences you use. You should mix up the length of the sentences to create a natural rhythm for your readers. This ensures that they are carried from one sentence to the next, enabling them to move easily through the prose. Additionally, you should also make sure that you donât keep repeating the same words. If writing fiction, there are some words that should be used sparingly, with the most infamous ones being “look” and “said.” Check out our ‘Reduce Overused Emotion Words In Your Book’ post for tips on how to conquer crutch words.
Tip #2: Brevity
World famous author Stephen King in On Writing highlighted the need to always be looking to eliminate unnecessary words and phrases as a crucial step in writing. King relates how some of the best advice given to him was to always look to take things out during the rewrite. He emphasizes how simple writing delivers without the need to over-explain. For example, a sentence with too many descriptive words or unnecessary articles can detract readers from understanding what you want to convey.
Tip #3: Structure
The structure of an article or e-book is fundamental in terms of flow. A reader should be able to easily follow the prose as it moves from one topic to the next. If the writing lacks a cohesive through-line the reader can easily get distracted or lost. When writing an article, you should outline the key points in the introduction and continually refer back to them throughout the article.
Tip #4: Old-to-New
An old-to-new approach to writing means you donât presume that readers are familiar with the subject matter. Instead, writing experts at the University of Arizona recommend that you consider anything already mentioned in the piece to be old and all concepts and ideas written for the first time to be new. This lets you build a solid foundation for your readers that they can easily follow. Anything youâve already put in writing can serve as a springboard for future paragraphs and sections. Writing this way reduces the likelihood of readers needing time to pause and do additional research on the topic, which hinders them from reading the material as intended.
Tip #5: Inspiration
Writing should be inspirational, whether itâs fiction or nonfiction. Put simply, there has to be a purpose behind your writing. There has to be an end goal. For fiction writers, outline the story’s key points so you know what the ideas are leading up to. Similarly, nonfiction writers should have a thesis statement or a definite opinion on which everything hinges. This helps you streamline your piece and keep everything in a cohesive flow.
Just as everyone has their own writing style, each writer has their own way to make their writing flow. That being said, these tips are excellent starting points for finding your unique flow.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
Too many writers are making a big mistake. Theyâre not giving their manuscript the rehabilitation it needs, even though itâs suffering from the literary equivalent of bursitis, sciatica, an ACL tear, and plantar fasciitis.
Ouch!
Some writers believe their manuscript is much stronger than it really is because let’s face it, no one teaches you how to write a book in high school. Others arenât sure what to do next, so they tinker without a strategy. Eventually, they might send the book to a freelance editor, and only then do they realize that one round of editing wonât be enough by a longshot.
Just like a single physical therapy visit wonât suffice for a person coping with bursitis, sciatica, an ACL tear, or plantar fasciitisâlet alone ALL of those ailments at the same time.
Unfortunately, if youâre like most writers, your manuscript is a minefield of injuries and weak spots. It needs a comprehensive rehab plan and lots of TLC.
Free Book Editing Masterclass
If you are someone with a desire to help your book reach its full potential and give your story the chance it deserves, then I want to invite you to watch an on-demand recording of my FREE training: How to Create Your Editing Game Plan and Fast-Track Your Book: 3 Costly Mistakes to Avoid.
After this class, you will be able to identify the:
4 stages of editing
Types of editors and what they do
Average costs of publishing a book
You’ll also walk away knowing:
Why hiring an editor too early can be a costly mistake
The differences between high-level and low-level edits so that you can aim high
The basics of the self-editing framework I’ve taught to hundreds of authors
Intrigued? Sign up for this free book editing masterclass right here.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
Welcome to Justin Doyle who gave us a sneak peek behind the rewrite of his YA space opera, Embargo on Hope. Here are five areas that Justin focused on while editing his science fiction book. Â
Embargo on Hopetook me over fifteen years from first words on paper to publish. I worked on it sporadically until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I knew it was time to finally meet that lifelong goal of getting published.
I had never had anyone other than friends and family read it and provide feedback, so my line editor had some work to do. The manuscript was greatly improved by the changes below, and even better, now I know to look out for these things in my future novels (like the sequel, Assassination of Hope, coming this summer!)
This change was a major change suggested by my editor, but it made a huge difference. I had some stilted conversations where I was trying to expose details of the world that added depth and foreshadowed conflict. That included some of the âbutler-and-maidâ dialogue where characters were sharing things they already knew.
I was also limited by my 16-year-old protagonistâs first person perspective. There were simply things he just didnât know or understand, so there wasnât an easy way to introduce it into the narrative.
Finally, this allowed me to keep the story moving along. There were places where the main character was in the middle of something, but I spent a paragraph or two detracting from that thing before getting back. It really broke the flow of the novel.
Change #2: Breaking Up Action With Introspection
I had a lot of go-go-go, where one action scene would lead directly into another. My editor encouraged me to add scenes where the POV character reflected on what happened, how it affected him, and how it affected his goals. The introspection scenes not only gave the reader a chance to âtake a breath,â but it helped each action scene mean more while adding depth to my character. Without the introspection, the action scenes seemed to be there more just for the sake of action.
Change #3: Several Chapters or Chapter Breaks Began With the POV Character Waking Up
When I was first writing, I was getting too hung up on âthis happened, then this happened, then this happened,â even if the âthisâ in the middle wasnât relevant or interesting. AÂ great example of this is I had several chapters or chapter breaks where the character would start by waking up. Itâs unnecessary and honestly a little boring. Just start your chapters a little later where things started happening. I think it was Dan Brownâs Masterclass where he said âstart chapters as late as possible.â He was talking specifically about writing thrillers, but honestly I think it applies to most kinds of modern writing.
Change #4: Added Some Light-hearted/Bonding Scenes
Related to #2, I had so many action/fight scenes, which made each a little less meaningful and didnât allow the characters to build relationships (except in the heat of battle). Adding light-hearted scenes allowed me to show different facets of all of the charactersâ personalities while allowing them to build rapport, and even a love interest relationship. I was also able to use these scenes to write different settings and build some depth in the world.
Change #5: Making Sure Other Main Characters Had Their Own Goals
I think authors fall into a common trap of the character serving one or more plotlines or just the main characterâs interests. My editor encouraged me to make sure not only did the other main characters have their own goals, but that I made them clear in the text. That can be difficult in a first person novel, but it can be used as a growth point for your main character, e.g. realizing the world doesnât revolve around them. It helps explain their motivations and makes them feel more authentic. It can also help with twists – at first, something may seem âout of characterâ but when the reader examines their goals more closely, they realize that it made perfect sense.
5 Stars – This action-packed adventure will fully immerse the reader…Â any fan of science fiction or action-adventure would enjoy this book.” –Â Reader’s Favorite
“…a gifted story that is exceptionally compelling.” –Â D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Even gods have secrets…
On planet Vastire, worth is set by the sins of one’s ancestors. Good families rise to the elite and the wicked fall into poverty. Unfortunately for sixteen-year-old Darynn Mark, his father incited a revolution. Now, Darynn scrounges his way through life in the slums. When Vastire is surrounded by an embargo, it gets even harder to survive.
That all changes when an alien ship slips through the embargo, seeking Darynn with an offer: finish the revolution and the embargo ends. He might have a chance thanks to mysterious magic powers, and his two companions: clairvoyant crush Fyra and soldierly alien Kaylaa. Cutthroat killers, mystical beasts, Vampires, power-hungry priests and lords, and self-serving spies stand in their way. If the three of them can crack his father’s secret, maybe they can end the embargo and save the poor. If not, another poor orphan will be added to the growing piles of dead.
More About Justin
Justin was born in Galveston, TX and raised in the Houston area. In middle school, he fell in love with two life-long pursuits: space and writing. He knew he wanted to work at NASA and write science fiction/fantasy on the side, and lo and behold, thatâs exactly what he ended up doing. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, and an M.S. in Systems Engineering. He now works for Barrios Technology as a project engineer on the Gateway program. He lives in the Houston area with his wife, daughter, and various small mammals.
Check out his website starmarked.mailchimpsites.com for more information on him, bonus material in the Star Marked universe, and upcoming releases.
Are you an author interested in writing a Behind the Rewrite guest blog post? Get the guidelines here.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers Freebies including a 5-day line editing course, Facebook group, and resource for naming your characters.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers affordable courses including Book Editing Blueprint: A Step by Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, Time Management Blueprint for Writers, and the Energize Your Writing Toolkit: Cheat Sheets for Character Emotions.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
If grammar is your nemesis as a writer, then let me introduce you to Ellen Sue Feld, the creator/instructor of online grammar refresher courses at grammar-lion.com and the author of Comma Sense: Your Guide to Grammar Victory. Below, Ellen offers valuable advice on building a good grammar habit.
Because I teach grammar, people assume I believe good grammar is the key to good writing. But I donât believe that, not for one second. Hereâs what I do believe: Your creative process is the most important part of your writing. Checking for good grammar comes later. Good grammar doesnât make good writing, but good writing demands good grammar.
So how do we make good grammar a natural part of our writing process? By developing good grammar habits!
Recently, I listened to a podcast about the new science of habit building. (The good news is that we donât have to harness anything magical or elusive, like willpower.) We can build good grammar habits using the same strategies that work for building any new habit.
Hereâs the current thinking:
Desire the habit.
Start small.
Attach the new habit to an existing habit.
Make it fun.
Do it with consistency.
Create accountability and/or support.
Whew! That may sound like a lot. But donât worry. While developing good grammar habits, you donât need to employ all the strategies above. Sometimes just a few will do the trick.
Iâm going to add a couple of my own that have proved true in my experience as an instructor and writer:
Expand what you know (i.e., remain open to learning).
Listen selectively to what others have to say; be discerning in your research.
Commit to reviewing your work before sharing or submitting it.
Letâs make this real with some common grammar problems youâll want to consider:
run-on sentences
lack of subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement
homophones
random commas and lack of commas
ambiguous pronouns
wordiness
shifts in person and tense
dangling and misplaced modifiers
punctuation with quotation marks
punctuation with conjunctive adverbs
capitalization
We all come to grammar at our own starting place. Cross off what you donât need to work on, and add more topics as you think of them.
Building Good Grammar Habits
Now letâs use habit building to turn around these grammar problems in our writing. For our example, weâll use homophones as our target good grammar habit.
Desire the habit. If the desire isnât there, youâre unlikely to develop a good new habit. So what might motivate you as a writer? Consider this: Your writing is a reflection of who you are, and you want the best possible reflection. In other words, you donât want anything to detract from the overall picture of the wonderful writer you are. Good grammar will enhance your writerâs image.
Resolve: I want my writing to be polished and professional. And I want to have confidence in my writing whenever I share it with someone else.
Start small. You donât have to know everything. Begin with one, two, or three points of grammar to master. You can always challenge yourself later with additional topics.
Resolve: I want to be sure Iâm using the right homophone. Iâm aware I sometimes mix up their, there, and theyâre even though I know the differences. Iâll pay more attention to this.
Attach the new habit to an existing habit. Youâre already set because youâve attached the habit of using good grammar to your existing habit of writing and editing. One of the great things about grammar is that you get to practice your skills every time you write. Practice is naturally built in to the process!
Resolve: When Iâve finished writing, Iâll review my work and look for their/there/theyâre to make sure Iâve used them correctly. Iâm also going to start a list of homophones I mix up. Iâll check my writing against that list.
Make it fun. Reward yourself. Use whatâs positive for you. Here are a few ideas for adding pleasure to your grammar-check process: Eat a jellybean when you catch an error. Play your own special grammar-check music in the background. Compile a list of the errors you catch so that your pride in recognition will grow as your list grows.
Resolve: I love numbers and puzzles as much as I love words, so Iâll enjoy solving a sudoku after I do a grammar check.Â
Do it with consistency. This may feel hard. Weâre often pressed for time. But try your best to factor in time for a grammar check. Itâs a vital part of your writing process.
Resolve: Iâll look for homophone errors in all my writing, including emails and texts.
Create accountability. If you thrive on community support, go ahead and tell someone about your new plan to build good grammar habits. Keep them updated on your progress. And if you like to work solo, thatâs fine, too. You can be accountable to yourself.
Resolve: This is a pact Iâm making with myself.
Be open to ongoing learning. Youâre learning every time you look up something online, go to a dictionary, take a course, or ask another writer a question. Every little bit you learn and put to use contributes to big changes in your writing.
Resolve: A writer friend just mentioned whet/wet to me in the expression âwhet your appetite.â I always thought it was âwet your appetiteâ! Though Iâm aware of a few other homophones I misuse, Iâm going to have some fun perusing lists.
 Be discerning. Thereâs a lot of information out there. You know not all of it is legit. Some well-meaning people can inadvertently spread misinformation. Vet your sources. For example, if a grammar information site is connected to a university, itâs more likely than a random site to be trustworthy.
Resolve: I just found a comprehensive online grammar resource. Itâs a writing lab thatâs part of a public university, and itâs available to everyone. Itâs easy to use, and I can trust what I learn there.
Review your work before submitting. When youâve finished writing, take a break. Walk away. Distance will help you spot errors when you come back. Then read through your work in an unhurried way. Because we get accustomed to our own words, itâs easy to overlook errors. Reading aloud can help. Another useful technique is reading your work from the bottom up, paragraph by paragraph. If you can, read from a print version instead of on the screen.
Resolve: Iâm going to factor in a few minutes of grammar review time for every thousand words. This will allow me be methodical and relaxed.
You may be wondering how long it takes to build a new habit. It depends on how complex the habit is and how often and how much you get to practice. The more consistent you areâas in doing a grammar check and making corrections every time you writeâthe quicker youâll develop the habit. But this isnât a race. Good grammar habits are for the long term, for as long as you are a writer.
Come join us at Grammar Lion of Facebook (@grammarlion). Weâre a diverse, international, nonjudgmental group of learners who aim to let no grammar question go unanswered. Everyone is welcome!
Comma Sense: Your Guide to Grammar Victory– Learn the rules of adverbs, punctuation, abbreviations, prepositions, and much more. Ellen covers topics such as em dashes, parentheticals and parallelism, diction and logic, run-on sentences and sentence fragments, and more. Become a master of capitalization and punctuation, subjects and predicates, and contractions and possessives. After every chapter, take a quiz to practice your new grammatical skills in this great grammar workbook. At the end of the book, a comprehensive test allows you to utilize all you have learned. At 512 pages, there is lots of content in this book! Readers who enjoyed The Elements of Style; Actually, the Comma Goes Here; The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation; or The Perfect English Grammar Workbook will love Comma Sense: A Guide to Grammar Victory.Â
âIn her new book, Comma Sense, Ellen Sue Feld demystifies grammar with clarity, conciseness, and empathy.â âAnu Garg, author and founder of Wordsmith.org
âIf you really want to go deep into the âhowâ and âwhyâ of grammar, then Comma Sense is for you. Ellen covers the basics like a pro and delivers practical examples to help you learn. Youâll never mess up âlieâ and âlayâ again!â âLisa Lepki, CMO at ProWritingAid
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
Today’s Behind the Rewrite meant a lot to me as author C.E. Flores made her revisions after taking my free editing class, Line Editing Made Simple: 5 Days to More Polished Pages. If you haven’t gone through the course, be sure to sign up. And if you took it a long time ago, sign up again as it now has an online classroom component and interactive quiz. But first, read this informative post from C.E. Flores as she gives a behind the scenes glimpse into polishing up her nonfiction book on herbal remedies.
Recently I published Volume 2 in my Mexican Herbal Remedy series. Since I needed to update the back matter to include information about the second book, I decided to use this opportunity to make some changes to Volume 1. Stacy Jubaâs free course, Line Editing Made Simple: 5 Days to More Polished Pages, helped my editing processes tremendously.
First, I searched through my writing for crutch words as instructed in Lesson 1. Since my non-fiction book focuses on the medicinal uses of certain herbs, would you be surprised to learn that the word âuseâ was entirely overused? I found it in various forms (used, use, using, useful), at least five to ten times per chapter. I rewrote almost all of those sentences using synonyms such as remedy, treatment, therapy, and so on.
Then, from Lesson 3, I went through the book again, looking for the five common offenders (some, that, very, as, just). I found entirely too many instances of âsome,â âthat,â and âjustâ plus my personal nemesis âso.â Those sentences received a little tightening up. Additionally, I took a leaf out of Lesson 5âs book and checked my prepositions. âIn order toâ was there almost as many times as âuseâ had been. Wordy phrases–be gone!
Lesson 4 had me go back through for dangling modifiers that disrupt the meaning of the sentence. I was guilty there as well. Some of the sentences needed complete rewrites. I took this opportunity to reduce passive voice use as well. I most certainly want to say what I mean and mean what I say when writing about these fascinating herbs and be clear about it.
I took to heart Stacyâs comment, âYour job is to finish your manuscript and to make it your best work, a professional book that will stand out from the competition and attract positive attention.â
Since I was on a roll, I made a few additional changes. The herb book was initially designed to record my own experiences with Mexican remedies. After completing Volume 2, I felt like I had a better idea of what I wanted to accomplish and what would appeal more to my readers. So, in my editing process for Volume 1, I took out several personal anecdotes about the herbs and added a bit more history in some cases and scientific support in others.
Then I switched out most of the images with better quality ones. After all, part of learning about the traditional use of these herbs was proper plant identification. A higher resolution image will aid herbalists interested in foraging their own supply. I also changed the cover so that it was more similar to other herb books on the market. With a much-improved manuscript, I republished Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico: An Introduction to Natural Healing. Thanks for your guidance, Stacy!
More About The Book
Curanderos (healers) in Mexico still practice traditional herbal remedies learned centuries ago. It is only recently that scientists have begun to take these healing practices seriously. Study after study has validated the medicinal use of plants native to North America and those brought by the Spanish after the conquest. Itâs time to reexamine the basic healing power in 34 common remedies used by traditional Mexican healers.
InExploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico: An Introduction to Natural Healing,youâll discover:
34 traditional Mexican remedies
Effective herbal treatments for common ailments
Well-researched scientific support for herbal use
Accurate botanical identification of native Mexican plants
C.E. Flores was born in the Eastern United States and currently lives in central Mexico. She received her Bachelorâs in Education at the University of NebraskaâLincoln and picked up her husband while attending there. She writes about her wild and crazy off-grid life in rural Mexico as well as references books for ex-pats, writers, bloggers, preppers, and herbalists.
Does the thought of editing your book seem overwhelming? If your manuscript could use trimming and polishing, sign up for this free mini course. It features bite-sized concepts and assignments to help you kick-start your line editing.
 Here’s what you’ll learn inside this course, led by author and freelance editor Stacy Juba:
Lesson 1: The one thing that will jump-start your editing.
Lesson 2: Three mistakes you may be making and what to do instead.
Lesson 3: Five little words you need to start cutting now.
Lesson 4: The truth about editing.
Lesson 5: Struggling with wordy sentences? This will help.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
I’ve found some wonderful free grammar resources to share from my friend Ellen at Grammar Lion, which you’ll find listed below. As a freelance developmental editor and line editor, I work with a lot of writers. Many of them have problems with grammar and punctuation and I explain that they will definitely need to hire a copyeditor and proofreader for their final draft.
Some of my clients have grammar struggles due to learning disabilities, or maybe English isn’t their first language. For others, grammar doesn’t come as naturally to them as the creative part of writing a book. They might have errors in every line of the manuscript, or they may just need to brush up on certain rules such as when to use a comma and how to punctuate dialogue. For many of them, high school English class was a long time ago.
While I do light copyediting on my clients’ manuscripts, my focus is on developmental and line editing. There’s no sense fixing all the commas and run-on sentences when the manuscript needs structural rewrites as all those little changes will become obsolete. I will never specialize in copyediting or proofreading as in all honesty, I don’t like it. I find it tedious, and while I have a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style on my bookshelf, that is one monster of a book. It’s huge with small print, and I don’t enjoy hunting through it, trying to find the answer to small stylistic questions. I’d much rather brainstorm with the author on how to flesh out a character, or tinker with a sentence to make it more active and engaging.
When I work with a client who struggles with grammar and punctuation, my job as the developmental editor isn’t to fix the mistakes. Instead, my role is to point out the problems to make sure the writer is aware of it. I’ll give a few examples of how to make a sentence grammatically correct and point the client toward resources to help with their weaknesses.
Second, I recommend that these writers visit my friend Ellen Feld at Grammar Lion, the creator/instructor of online grammar refresher courses that have served over 44,000 students. She’s worn a variety of editorial hats, including newspaper reporter and copy chief, personal essayist, website reviewer, writing coach, and developmental editor. Ellen has a master’s degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and is the author of the childrenâs storybook Paragon and Jubilee.
You can find out more about her free grammar resources and paid grammar course below. While copyeditors and proofreaders may always be necessary for some authors, the more you can improve your grammar skills on your own, the better off you’ll be. Some copyeditors charge by the hour, so if you turn in a cleaner manuscript, it will lower your cost. Even if they charge a flat fee, that might be for one round of copyediting. I’ve seen manuscripts so riddled with errors that it would take multiple rounds of copyediting and proofreading to get it ready for publication. If you submit a more polished draft, you can reduce your expenses. Ellen’s courses are a great investment for writers who need to do a deep dive into grammar and punctuation or refresh their skills.
Free Grammar Resources
Grammar Lion: Comma Mini-Course(Free) – Master the comma and write more effectively starting today with this free mini-course. Don’t let this little punctuation mark slow you down. Stop random comma use and say goodbye to wasting time on comma decisions. In approximately thirty minutes, you’ll know when to say yes to a comma. You’ll also learn when to say no.
Grammar Lion Pretest(Free) – Grammar can be fun when you know the rules! Try the pretest to gauge your grammar know-how. Challenge yourself with thirty-three grammar questions.
Grammar Lion: A Grammar Refresher – (Paid) This comprehensive online course will help you navigate the linguistic twists and turns of American English grammar. Take your time and enjoy twelve weeks of learning. I have gone through the course myself, and love how Ellen includes quizzes to assess your skills and determine whether you need to continue reviewing a topic. She gives lots of examples and makes the intimidating world of grammar much easier to navigate.
If you need to review your grammar skills, start with the free comma mini-course and the pretest. You’ll be on your way to mastering grammar and punctuation in no time.
Please note that affiliate links are included in this post, so I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase, however, I’m only an affiliate for products that I recommend.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
Do you know you need editing, but are worried about how you’re going to afford it? Would you love to do a lot of it yourself, but know you have blinders on when it comes to your own work and that self-editing may not be your strong suit? Never fear! Recently, my friend Liesel Hill interviewed me on The Prolific Author Podcast. The topic was self-editing tips for the indie author. You can also find the interview at the bottom of this post.
I’m an author herself, and as someone who also does a lot of editing for other indie authors and has created a self-editing online course, I have a unique perspective. Give the interview a listen to learn some self-editing tips and find out how you can improve your revision and rewriting skills. You just might save yourself tons of time and expense on editing!
If you haven’t listened to The Prolific Author Podcast before, you’re in for a treat. Liesel is a USA bestselling author and Story Clarity Coach, and her podcast is a wealth of information on everything from story craft to book marketing tips. Here is her description of the podcast:
Do you dream of making your living writing fiction, but donât know where to start? Believe me, I understand. I worried and struggled over my writing for years, afraid it was cheesy and amateurish, and not TRULY resonating with readers. Meanwhile, at every turn, I was told I couldnât make money this way. It takes too much time and hard work. Itâs not a ârealâ job. I bet you can relate, right?
Well, Iâm gonna let you in on a secret the traditional publishing industryâand letâs face itâmost of society at large, donât want you to know: itâs VERY possible to become a career author. To make your living writing stories full emotion, passion and morality.
With all the upheaval and negativity in our world, people NEED your stories more than ever before. Stories only you can bring to them. I created this podcast to show you how. And I promise it will take less time than you think. So, join the revolution of authors following their passion and changing lives, both their own, and those of their readers. WEâĤare prolific authors!
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
I love guesting on podcasts. It’s always so much fun chatting with the host about topics I love. Below are three recent interviews where I discussed everything from online course creation to writing and editing books to turning my hobby into a business. Check out their past episodes also. These are great podcasts to listen to while driving or working around the house.
The Course Creator’s MBA Podcast
Guesting on this podcast was a thrill for me as I’m such a fan girl. I found the podcast invaluable when I was developing my first online course, and I still listen to it regularly. On this episode, Destini Copp interviewed me about expanding my business from writing and editing books to creating online courses for writers. The episode is part of a series where Destini chats with course creators about their journey in their online course business, how they got started, the challenges they’ve experienced, and how they overcame them. My signature course, Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable, empowers fiction writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money.
Destini and I chatted about how I educated herself on marketing, website development, and sales funnels which has led to success in my online course business.
Undercurrent Stories
I stumbled onto a new podcast favorite in Undercover Stories hosted by Bob Welles. The show explores the interests that people have and seeks to discover more on a wide variety of subjects. Each episode features a guest telling all about their interest, why they do it, and Bob uncovers some fascinating stories in the process.
At some point in their lives many people have thought about writing a book. This desire is sadly often thwarted due to fears about time, commitment, and the technical aspects of editing and publishing. Since I’ve faced all these challenges, I shared with Bob and his listeners how by breaking the writing process into steps, it is possible to both enjoy the creativity of writing and produce a publishable book.
Hustle Like Hannah Podcast
I also enjoyed talking with host Hannah Lockwood on another new favorite, the Hustle Like Hannah Podcast, your “how-to” guide and inspiration for turning your creative side into a business opportunity. Hannah, the owner of Hannah Danielle Dance, chats with inspiring people who have turned their creative hobby into a business, sharing their stories and tips to help listeners realize their potential.
Since the second novel in my Storybook Valley chick lit series, Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty, features a dance teacher who dreams of opening her own studio, it was fun talking with Hannah, someone who has accomplished that goal. I shared about my passions for writing and publishing books, editing, and developing online courses for writers, and we discussed my journey toward making those dreams come true.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
I’m always fascinated by how authors approach the rewrite process, but there’s one type of project I’ve never considered before: turning a script into a book. When I was researching SEO tags for this post, I discovered that lots of people search for phrases like “how to turn a script into a novel.” Well, author D.G. Driver has valuable tips for you and she shares them in the below Behind the Rewrite. D.G. will take you behind the scenes of revising her script for Songwriter Night: A Musical Romance into book form. That’s right. It wasn’t just any script. It was a script for a musical! I’m sure you’ll find this post as intriguing as I did.
In addition to being a writer, Iâm also an actress and theater director here in Nashville. Last year, when all the theaters in town closed, lots of theater types were creating virtual ways to do shows. I got a crazy idea to combine my novel writing skills with my love of musical theater and decided to write a story that featured songs, hire a cast to record it, and release it as a full cast audiobook called Songwriter Night: A Musical Romance.
Only there was a hitch. In order to have it available on Audible, there had to be a corresponding book. Well, even though the narration in the book is novelesque, I wrote Songwriter Night in script format. I had to revise and reformat the whole manuscript. The narration and dialogue remain 95 percent the same, but there were some definite snags that I want to share with you that makes up that other 5 percent. Hereâs how I handled them and what I learned.
How To Write The Song Lyrics
There are twelve songs in Songwriter Night. Most of these have the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure typical of Country music. It felt tedious to have so much repetition of lyrics in the book version. Also, the reader canât hear the songs like in the audiobook version, so I had to figure out how to help the reader imagine what the songs sound like. Here is an example of how I did this for one of the songs.
In this scene, Aiden, a former member of the group whoâs hit the big time, has come back to show off one of his new songs, and heâs brought backup singers to sing it with him.
The three of them sing the chorus again. Instead of a bridge, the song repeats the last half of the verse, similar to the way Lyle had written his song.
âYou took her on one date, and I took her to prom.â She didnât stick with either of us very long. What do you say to finally letting that rest? Clink my beer and letâs reminisce.â
A slightly longer hold on the chord builds up to the final chorus, where Aiden embellishes the notes. Trish wonders if a key change might have been effective here, but she doesnât think itâs her place to suggest it. Aiden repeats the final line of the chorus with a nice run on âold daysâ and a chord change to emphasize it. The girls end the song with some pretty âoohsâ that remind her of songs from another era. Nice choice.
Action In Narration Versus Dialogue Tags
One real plus to writing a script is that I donât have to write âHe said/she saidâ dialogue tags at all. With this being a full cast recording, all the actors are played by different people with distinct voices. I didnât need to write who said what. Personally, I love books where instead of using tags, the author uses action from the character to denote who is speaking. I did this a lot more for this project than my other works. It needed a little revision from the way it looked in a script to what it needed to be for a book, though.
Hereâs an example from the audiobook script:
NARRATOR: Maybe she should sing a cappella. Does anyone do that here? TRISH: Is there anything to drink? LYLE: Yeah. What do you want? NARRATOR: Lyle leaps out of his chair before Trish even thinks about standing and getting the drink for herself. She looks past him at the assortment on the counter. TRISH: Water will be fine. Thank you. LYLE: Happy to be of service. NARRATOR: He hands her the water, and their fingers overlap for a moment. His fingertips are callused from playing guitar, and they scratch her knuckles ever so slightly as he whisks his hand away. She opens the bottle and puts it to her mouth, hoping he wonât see her blushing.
Now, hereâs the same scene reformatted for the book.
Maybe she should sing a cappella. Does anyone do that here? âIs there anything to drink?â she asks. âYeah. What do you want?â Lyle leaps out of his chair before Trish even thinks about standing and getting the drink for herself. She looks past him at the assortment on the counter. âWater will be fine. Thank you.â âHappy to be of service.â He hands her the water, and their fingers overlap for a moment. His fingertips are callused from playing guitar, and they scratch her knuckles ever so slightly as he whisks his hand away. She opens the bottle and puts it to her mouth, hoping he wonât see her blushing.
Adding Dialogue Tags
So, I couldnât get away completely with narration guiding the reader toward who is speaking, especially in scenes where there are more than two people having a conversation. I definitely had to use dialogue tags. I will tell you, when your main job is to go through your manuscript and tag dialogue, it gets awfully repetitive writing âhe saysâ and âshe saysâ over and over. You become intensely aware of how often youâre writing that. On the other, hand, you donât want your tags to be too all over the place or filled with unnecessary adverbs. Then it gets annoying.
Hereâs a group scene from the original script:
NARRATOR: Tammy huffs instead of answers. George raises an eyebrow to acknowledge that he won that round. The rest of the group is frozen in uncomfortable silence. NEIL: So, uh, are we continuing or not? GEORGE: Yeah, letâs go on. NARRATOR: George strums his guitar, and Neil begins to play. TAMMY: Youâre all going to sit here and let him embarrass me like this. ROY: It sounds like a good song. A real tears in my beer heartbreaker. ODETTA: Iâm interested to hear how the rest of it goes. Sad songs are the clay that Country music builds with. NARRATOR: George looks at Lyle who gives him an approving nod. TAMMY: Iâd like to point out that the middle part â the chorus? Thatâs mine. I wrote that. GEORGE: You did not. TAMMY: I did.
And hereâs the novelized version. Note the variety in the tags:
After a moment, Neil asks cautiously, âSo, uh, are we continuing or not?â âYeah, letâs go on.â George strums his guitar, and Neil begins to play. Tammy says to the group, âYouâre all going to sit here and let him embarrass me like this?â The music stops again. âIt sounds like a good song,â Roy responds. âA real tears-in-my-beer heartbreaker.â Odetta agrees, âIâm interested to hear how the rest of it goes. Sad songs are the clay that Country music builds with.â George looks at Lyle who gives him an approving nod. Tammyâs not done yet. âIâd like to point out that the middle part â the chorus? Thatâs mine. I wrote that.â âYou did not,â George says. âI did.â She sings a cappella to a tune very similar to the chorus of Georgeâs song. When I write first drafts, it is sometimes the dialogue tags that cause me to trip up or hit a block. I want to keep going with the action and dialogue and not waste time figuring out how to show who is saying what. Writing in script format first and then going back through the manuscript to adapt it to book format helped make this a more streamlined process. I may try this again with other projects.
More About Songwriter Night: A Musical Romance
In this sweet romantic comedy, Lyle and Trish are two aspiring Country music songwriters that meet at a Nashville coffee house. With Trish being new in town, Lyle invites her to his monthly gathering of songwriters to get to know her better. The evening of quirky characters and light-hearted singing is interrupted by the arrival of Aiden Bronson. He’s got a hit song on the radio, and he’s back to show off, stirring up some rivalry while he’s at it. How will Lyle compete against Aiden’s charisma and talent in order to win Trish’s heart?
Buy it in ebook and paperback formats on Amazon. Itâs also available as a full cast audiobook recording wherever you like to get your audiobooks and podcasts. Find all those links, hear samples, and meet the cast on D.G.’s website.
More About D.G. Driver
D.G. Driver is a multi-award-winning author of young adult and middle grade books. She primarily writes contemporary fantasy, but she also loves writing realistic fiction and has even dabbled in romance. D.G. lives near Nashville, TN and is a teacher in an inclusive classroom of typically developing and special needs children in an early Intervention program. Visit her on the web at:
Are you an author interested in writing a Behind the Rewrite guest blog post? Get the guidelines here.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers Freebies including a 5-day line editing course, Facebook group, and resource for naming your characters.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers affordable courses including Book Editing Blueprint: A Step by Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable and the Energize Your Writing Toolkit: Cheat Sheets for Character Emotions.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
I see a lot of writers who need to learn the logistics of making sentences less passive. In this Behind the Rewrite, Liesel K Hill explains why limiting passive voice is important and how she approached line editing her fantasy novel Dragon Magic. Since Liesel is both a writing coach and an author, you’re in for an insightful lesson.
As a writing coach, one of the main problems I see is authors failing to edit passive voice out of their manuscripts. Most of us, especially after our first book or two, know what it is, but I donât think enough emphasis is put on the importance of learning this skill.
If readers cannot connect deeply with your words, which passive voice keeps them from doing, youâll never create megafans. One of my secret sauce editing techniques is what I call editing for crutch words. Crutch words are words used too often by you, the author. Theyâre also red flags for passive voice. So, if you edit out the crutch word, you also edit out ninety percent of passive voice.
Some of the crutch words I edit for are âwas,â âbut,â âhad,â and âthat.â There are plenty of others as well, but these are some of the biggest culprits for me personally.
I edit for these intentionally, not just reading through my manuscript and hoping I catch them, but actually using the Find feature in my writing software to look at each, individual case.
Unedited Version
Iâve highlighted the crutch words and other issues in the passage below, which comes from my WIP, a medieval high fantasy novel.
   âYou cannot beat me!â He practically shrieked. He stalked forward and thrust his face toward Boriladâs. âYou are merely a soldier! I am fierce! I am formidable! I have powers you cannot wield or even comprehend. I will kill you, General. You know I can do it. You know I will.”
   Borilad noted thatMalicroft did not even attempt to take the egg, thought it was within his grasp. The man knew better. Boriladhadto give him credit for that, at least.
   He merely nodded. âI know you have powers I do not possess. I know you are willing and capable of killing me. I’ve always believed you a formidable enemy, Malcroft.â
   Leaning forward, Borilad peered into the man’s eyes. âBut do not insult me by leaving me out of the equation. I’ve killed more men on battlefields than you’ve met in your entire life. I wield plenty of power, after my own fashion.â
Most of these words can be edited many ways, depending on how theyâre used in the sentence. It generally boils down to the word being filler, meaning you can cut it without changing the meaning of the sentence. (And you should.) Or, itâs a vague word and you can come up with something much stronger and more specific. (Which again, you should.)
1. âWasâ is a lazy and vague word. Switch it out with something more specific. I chose the word âlay.â
2. Thatâ can often simply be edited out. Unless youâre using it for emphasis, which I did with my second instance, it can simply be cut.
3. âHadâ can often be cut without changing the sentence as well. In this case, this phrase is more a matter of far too many words to say the same thing. âhad to giveâ became âgave.â I often see this with the word âcouldâ as well. Something like, âcould hearâ can becomes simply, âheard.â The past tense, single word is much tighter and stronger than its more progressive counterpart.
4. It also occurred to me that this is a medieval fantasy and âcreditâ is too contemporary a term. I changed the core word to ârecognitionâ and Borilad ârecognized him for that, at least.â
5. There are many instances where âbutâ must be kept in a sentence, especially if youâre making a comparison. BUT, I use it far too often, as many authors do. ;DGo through each instance, read the sentence, and if you can cut it, do. Thatâs what I did here. If you make too many comparison sentences, consider splitting them into two separate ones. For example, âHe wanted to go to the store but couldnât find his walletâ can become, âHe wanted to go to the store. He couldnât find his wallet.â Depending on your prose, that may sound clunky, so youâll have to see if it works for each instance, but youâll find that often this works to cut down on overuse of the word.
Edited Version
Here is the edited passage. Youâll note a few other typos and issues that Iâve also fixed.
   âYou cannot beat me,â he practically shrieked. He stalked forward and thrust his face toward Boriladâs. âYou are merely a soldier! I am fierce! I am formidable! I have powers you cannot imagine. I will kill you, General. You know I can do it! You know I will.â
   Borilad noted Malcroft did not attempt to take the egg, though it lay within his grasp. The man knew better. Borilad recognized him for that, at least.
   He merely nodded. âI know you have powers I do not possess. I know you are willing and capable of killing me. I’ve always believed you a formidable enemy, Malcroft.â Leaning forward, Borilad peered into the man’s eyes. âDo not insult me by leaving me out of the equation. I’ve killed more men on battlefields than you’ve met in your entire life. I wield plenty of power, after my own fashion.â
This story, book 1 of my Dragon Magic series, wonât debut until early 2021. Until then, you can read the prequel, The Hatching. Get it on most major retailers, or download it free here.
More About The Hatching
What if a dragon looked into your eyesâĤand saw into your soul? Wenlyn dreams of seeing one of the legendary Harpyâs Servants up close. As a poor village boy, he canât help but dream of the adventures the dragon-riding protectors of the Six Realms must have. Now one of them has come to Tranquil village.
With the Servant’s arrival, Wenlynâs entire world falls away. He’s about to embark on an adventure of his own that even his wildest dreams couldnât have conjured up. Soar the skies with Wenlyn in this short prequel to Dragon Magic, an epic fantasy series.
Liesel K Hill is a novelist who writes across three genres. Her scifi and fantasyare written under her full name, Liesel K. Hill. She loved to read and write at a young age, and her earliest memories consist of her father sitting in the doorway of her room at night, relating stories of Frodo, Gandalf, and the One Ring. Her mother also read to her every afternoon as a child, sometimes for several hours a day. Today she is an award-winning author and a Story Clarity Coach. She plans to keep writing until they nail her coffin shut. Or the Second Coming happens. Whichever comes first. ;D
Are you an author interested in writing a Behind the Rewrite guest blog post? Get the guidelines here.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers Freebies including a 5-day line editing course, Facebook group, and resource for naming your characters.
Check out Shortcuts for Writers affordable courses including Book Editing Blueprint: A Step by Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable and the Energize Your Writing Toolkit: Cheat Sheets for Character Emotions.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
When I read Judy Penz Sheluk’s Behind the Rewrite post, I chuckled as boy, does it ring true! We all have crutch words and phrases that we rely on when we’re talking to others. It drives me crazy when I listen to myself in a podcast interview and hear myself say “you know.” Writers also have to worry about using crutch words in their books. One of my favorite, (okay, overused) words in my own fiction is “as.” As a developmental editor, I’ve discovered that EVERY writer has their favorite overused words. Judy’s post is a great lesson for beginner writers and a terrific reminder for seasoned authors.
It was while golfing this past summer that I first noticed it. Every time one of my foursome hit an errant shotâand there were manyâsheâd say, âAre you kidding me?â At first, I found it amusing. After a while, I started counting the number of times sheâd say it. I stopped at seventeen.
I remember thinking, at the time, that I could never get away with that in a novel. True, characters have quirks, and dialogue needs to be authentic, but too many âAre you kidding meâsâ and the reader is going to find it distracting at best, and annoying at worst.Â
That thought was firmly in my mind when I was rereading Where Thereâs A Will, the third and final book in my Glass Dolphin cozy mystery series, before sending out ARCs and getting the manuscript ready for my proofreader.Â
Because Iâd already read the book more times than I cared to remember, and because it had gone through four beta readers, I didnât expect to find any instances of âAre you kidding me?â and I didnât. What I did find was an inordinate number of âgiven this or thatâĤâ And when I say inordinate I mean twenty-nine. How had I missed those? How had everyone else?
Since the âgivensâ were scattered throughout the book, Iâm going to share six examples, before and after.Â
Example #1
Before: The break-up with Hudson had caused a few minor ripples in Emilyâs life, given that she had recently become engaged to his best friend, Luke Surmanski, but it was nothing they couldnât work around.
After: The break-up with Hudson had caused a few minor ripples in Emilyâs life. She had recently become engaged to his best friend, Luke Surmanski, but it was nothing they couldnât work around.
Example #2
Before: Emily had hesitated at first, given what she knew about the propertyâs history. How many people wanted to buy a house where the owner had been murdered, especially since the case had never been solved?
After: Didnât change a word. Some âgivensâ are okay, and I thought it worked well in this instance.
Example #3
Before: Emily didnât believe him, given that he was the CEO of Pemberton Productions and his TV show had been a ratings winner for the past five seasons.
After: Emily didnât believe him. He was the CEO of Pemberton Productions and his TV show had been a ratings winner for the past five seasons.
Example #4
Before: Arabella wanted to laugh out loud. Trust Poppy to refer to a murder as a âcircumstance.â Then again, maybe she was being a hypocrite, given that sheâd just signed a contract with Faye Everett.
After: Arabella wanted to laugh out loud. Trust Poppy to refer to a murder as a âcircumstance.â Then again, maybe she was being a hypocrite, since sheâd just signed a contract with Faye Everett.
Example #5
Before: In Arabellaâs experience, all secrets tended to weigh heavily, given enough time and perspective.
After: In Arabellaâs experience, all secrets tended to weigh heavily, with enough time and perspective.
Example #6
Before: They agreed to split up, Levon staying at the Hadley house to finish the appraisal, time being of the essence given this latest set of circumstances, and Arabella charged with finding a lawyer.
After: They agreed to split up, Levon staying at the Hadley house to finish the appraisal, time being of the essence with this latest set of circumstances, and Arabella charged with finding a lawyer.
Want To Read The Book?
Emily Garland is getting married and looking for the perfect forever home. When the old, and some say haunted, Hadley house comes up for sale, sheâs convinced itâs âthe one.â The house is also perfect for reality TV star Miles Pemberton and his new series, House Haunters. Emily will fight for her dream home, but Pembertonâs pockets are deeper than Emilyâs, and heâll stretch the rules to get what he wants.
While Pemberton racks up enemies all around Lountâs Landing, Arabella Carpenter, Emilyâs partner at the Glass Dolphin antiques shop, has been hired to appraise the contents of the estate, along with her ex-husband, Levon. Could the feuding beneficiaries decide thereâs a conflict of interest? Could Pemberton?
Things get even more complicated when Arabella and Levon discover another will hidden inside the house, and with it, a decades-old secret. Can the property stay on the market? And if so, who will make the winning offer: Emily or Miles Pemberton?
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans and Heartbreaks & Half-truths, which she also edited. Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves as Chair on the Board of Directors.Â
Book Editing Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Plan to Making Your Novels Publishable â Learn how to streamline the editing process in this affordable, self-paced online course that will empower beginner and intermediate writers to think like an editor so they can save time and money. A steppingstone to hiring an editor.
Hi there! I’m Stacy Juba, an author, freelance editor, and the founder of Shortcuts for Writers. I’d love to connect. If you’re a writer, here are a few ways we can work together:Â
I see a lot of writers who need to learn the logistics of making sentences less passive. In this Behind the Rewrite, 
