Nanowrimo: Make Your Wordcount Count
Points: Making the word count count (or some other title. I’m not attached to this one) (Yes, I’m intentionally leaving this here) Nanowrimo 2018 I was…
Journal
Notes from the cold desk
Craft essays and practical rants—revived from the original Polar Bear blog and Medium years, curated for a new generation of indie authors.
Beta Readers Are Essential in Your Editing Journey
A beta reader in the writing industry is a person who reads your work in progress (wip). You’ve finished the book and done some editing and you just want…
Is Kindle Unlimited Worth it?
The extra extra bonus for me was that some books came with audio versions. When I
Advice on Advice: Don’t Take Advice
You’re going to come across a lot of writing advice as an author. Whether you seek it out or people who find out that you write offer their ‘nuggets of…
Three Types of Editing
Content editing, copyediting, and proofreading—what authors usually mean when they say they need an editor.
Emotionally Preparing for Feedback
When you hand your manuscript off to someone to read for the promise of feedback it can be nerve racking. There’s a pit in your stomach as you imagine…
You Thought You Knew: Is It ‘Worshipping’ or ‘Worshiping’? One p or two?
Vote the correct spelling Comment with what you voted and what country you live in. — Jeannette || A Novel Editor (@Polar_Bear_Edit) November 27, 2018…
Villains Should Be Teddy Bears With Knives As Hearts
Listen to it! Villains. They can’t exist solely to be evil. You can’t rely on your villain to be a psychopath who does evil things for the sake of…
When Is the Best Time to Get an Editor?
It depends on the pass you need—after draft, after betas, before copyedit, or at proof stage.
Editing A Published Book: Handbook for Mortals, Part 1
Look. Scandal aside, this book was not ready for publication. This doesn’t even encompass the entire first chapter. It’s just half of it. Between chapter…
The 10 Beta Readers You’ll Meet in Hell
A darkly comic tour of beta-reader archetypes—and why process design matters more than hope.
23 Things You Already Have In Your Writer’s Arsenal
This isn’t a list of things you absolutely must have. The list is to remind you that you already have a substantial arsenal. Wherever you are in your…
Acronyms For Writers
I’ve compiled some of my favorite time-saving acronyms from my favorite people, writers.