Posts Tagged Karen McFarland
Bees Do It, So Why Shouldn’t We Do It?
Who of us hasn’t heard the phrase, “Busy as a Bee?” For the most part, if we keep busy, buzzing around like a Bee, it means we are productive, leading a full, meaningful life.
Well, as it turns out, Bees are very busy. They lead an industrious life filled with lots of responsibility. Yes, they are pests and some of us are allergic, but what they do is crucial to our existence. Their role is an essential ingredient needed in the development of our food chain. It’s safe to say, that without the Bee, we humans couldn’t survive.
Why?
Because without the Bee, we wouldn’t be able to pollinate our crops. Without the Bee we’d lose valuable foods that sustain our lives. You see, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination.
So, to be honest, without the Bee…we are in deep doo-doo.
After 20 years of beekeeping, Tim Lovett, a public affairs director of the British Beekeepers Association, explains why bees are vital to our existence and why we need to care. “The more time you spend with bees, the more you get drawn into their amazing world: the way they organize themselves, control themselves, and what they’re responsible for.”
Just think. If there were no Bees, there wouldn’t be orange juice on our table. There’d be no jam, no honey. And that’s just for breakfast.
For the last several years, Beekeepers from around the world have noticed the dangers that Honeybees are facing. “I’ve been to China,” says Mr. Lovett, “where the bee population was wiped out, and you see men on ladders using paintbrushes to pollinate the fruit trees. Can you imagine the cost of our food if we had to do that ourselves? You’d only be able to afford half an olive on a pizza, and the mozzarella – which comes from cows raised on (bee-pollinated) alfalfa – would be absolutely prohibitive.”
Okay, I can do the math. No olives + No mozzarella = No pizza!
Say what? Ouch! That stings!
Here’s an interesting tidbit. Hubby and I were watching a documentary on the decline of the Bee population in the United States. It chronicled the typical life of a Bee and the business of Beekeeping. We watched as a Beekeeper traveled cross country from Georgia to central California to transport his hives where they’re needed to pollinate Almond groves, one of the largest crops grown in the state.
Then, after the bees finish doing what bees naturally do, they were brought back to the east coast in order to prepare them for their next job in Florida. But…they are not allowed to directly pollinate the next crop.
Why?
Apparently, as the Bee pollinates, they absorb the release of nectar to take back to the hive in order to produce honey. But…they’ve found that after the Bees have ingested the insecticide laden nectar from their last job, they need to detox the Bees before taking them to the next valuable food crop for pollination.
Detox the Bees? Have you ever?
Yes, I know. These poor little Bees cannot get rid of all the toxic insecticide they absorb from the heavily sprayed California Almond fields. The Beekeeper is forced to take them to another field to pollinate first, thus leaving behind the excess insecticide before being taken to the next job or else there’s a greater chance they will release the leftover toxins and pollute the next vital food crop.
Iy, yi, yi! Do you see a problem here? Or is it just me?
“It’s not a simple situation. If it were one factor we would have identified it by now,” President-elect Inouye, of the Ecological Society of America said. “The problems in Europe and United States may be slightly different. In America, bee hives are trucked from farm to farm to pollinate large tracts of land and that may help spread the parasites and disease, as well as add stress to the colonies, while in Europe they stay put so those issues may not be as big a factor.”
So, even though there are many factors that weigh in on the demise of our Bee population, I think there is something positive that we can all take away from this.
And that is…Detox.
Yes, detox.
Think about it. In order for the Bee to do its job well, it needs to rid itself of the toxins it’s ingested. I mean, if Bees do it, why shouldn’t we do it?
What? You thought this was going to be a Birds and the Bees post?
Ha, ha, ha, gotcha!
So what do you think? Are you concerned about the blight of the Bees? Have you been feeling a little bogged down lately? Feeling a little more tired than usual? Not producing like you think you should? Then perhaps it’s time for a detox. What is your favorite recipe for a great pick-me-up?
Thanks everyone for coming by and for all your wonderful comments!
Karen
More Than Meets the Eye
Do you ever feel like you’re misunderstood?
Okay, maybe I should be more specific here.
As a woman, do you ever feel like you’re misunderstood?
Do people look at you as if you’re talking to them in a foreign language? More than likely this attitude comes from people you’re the closest to, people who live right beneath your very nose. Member’s of your own household gaze at you as if you’re a three headed monster. And the worse culprit of them all? Yep, you’ve got it. The man in your life.
Let’s face it. I don’t think we can argue the fact that we woman are walking hormones. With an ever so slight, flip of a switch, an imbalance can throw our emotions to one extreme or another. One may never know what to expect.
Hee, hee, hee. You know what I say? Why be predictable. Boring!
Yet, have you ever asked yourself if men are really meant to read women’s emotions?
There’s new research that suggests men do struggle to read women’s emotions — at least from their eyes. Yes, there’s a new scientific finding that shows men have twice the problem figuring out women’s emotions from looking at their eyes verses those of men. Apparently, the part of the male brain that is tied to emotion didn’t respond as strong.
Oh, I get it. Now there’s scientific evidence that woman are double the trouble.
Great, that’s all we need.
Now hold on just a minute. Let’s see what they actually said before we all get worked up about this.
Although the popular thought is that men and women come from two different planets, both sexes are somewhat similar. Yet, regardless if one comes from Mars or Venus, small studies have implied that men have difficulty with intuition and predicting what women think and feel.
Okay, so how do they know this?
This is the cool part.
Researchers in Germany put 22 men between the ages of 21 and 52 to the test. Using a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, they measured their brain activity when the men looked at images of 36 pairs of eyes. Half of them were women and the other half men. Then they were asked to use two words that best described the emotion the eyes portrayed, whether a neutral or negative emotion.
Guess what?
They found that men took longer and had more trouble guessing the correct emotion from a woman’s eyes. They responded stronger to men’s eyes and the results showed that when it came to fear and empathy, their brains activated differently when looking at a man versus a woman’s eyes.
It seems that men are worse at reading women’s emotions. So theoretically, this mental deficiency could lead men to have less empathy for women rather than men.
Hmm. How did this happen? I mean, mental deficiency? Really? I don’t know about you girls, but I find this very shocking. 
Well, the answer is not totally clear. It is thought that this behavior in men could be hard-wired—that through the years it was more important for men to develop the ability to anticipate the intentions and actions of their male adversaries. Thus men have been conditioned to pay less attention to women’s emotional indicators due to their hunting and territorial nature.
Aha! Foreign language? Three headed monster? Moi? I don’t think so.
All these years women have been taking the blame for something that’s been embedded in men’s brains only to find out it’s not us. And the great news is women now have the scientific research to back this up! This just validates what women have known for years. I couldn’t wait to share this with you. This is exciting news!
So the next time that certain someone makes you feel misunderstood, have them look you straight in the eye and tell them there’s more than meets the eye here baby!
So what do you think about this study? Do you find yourself misunderstood? Do your loved ones look at you as if you have three heads? Are your planets in alignment with your loved one or do you find them in disarray? When talking to others, do you find it helpful to look them straight in the eye? And do they in turn make eye contact with you?
Thank you so much everyone for sharing your many fine thoughts and comments!
Karen
For more information about this subject please go to http://www.plosone.org.
And The Winner Is…Yep, Kathy Owen Sure Is Generous!
As most of you know, I was chosen as “Mystress of Ceremonies” for Kathy Owen’s “Dangerous and Unseemly Mystery Book Tour.” Why me? I have no idea. But since it’s my job, I’m gonna make sure that Kathy’s tour ends on a high note!
It’s been an exciting time for Kathy with the release of her very first mystery novel. So if you’ve had a chance to enjoy her book, let me assure you there’ll be more to come in the near future. And if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, there are links at the bottom of Kathy’s post that will direct you to your favorite book retailer.
Yet, for now, I’d like to hand things over to Kathy because she has an annoucement to make, cause we have winners! Yes winners, as in, more than one! Wahoo!
So take it away Kathy!
Hey, Karen, thanks for having me back to wrap up the Whodunnit contest! We had a great time spreading mystery and mayhem all around the blogosphere, bwahaha.
Here’s the original puzzle:
You have received a partial telegram, stating that the murdered body of Sir Reginald “Good Riddance” Crenshaw, your long-lost third cousin (twice removed) has been found. However, the rest of the message has been lost, scattered and garbled along a trail of multiple telegrams to other people by a drunk clerk at the telegraph office.
Before you can make a claim upon dear Reggie’s ill-gotten wealth, you must establish the particulars of the murder. Where was he found? What was he killed with? And, most importantly, WHODUNNIT?
(by K.B. Owen)
Now, I know you’re all dying for the solution, but bear with me for a minute as I walk you through a few of the clues from various sites on my book tour. You needed four letters to solve each piece of the puzzle. Those letters, unscrambled, corresponded to a Clue-game style ROOM, WEAPON, and CULPRIT.
The first four stops (Elizabeth Craig, Janice Hamrick, Jill Edmondson, and Margot Kinberg) had the letters to the ROOM. Here were their questions, with the answers:
1. One of the following is NOT a rule of Golden Age detective fiction, as famously listed by literary critic Ronald Knox (in a preface to a 1929 collection of detective stories). Which is it?
Answer – B: The butler should be the culprit
2. What famous fiction private eye said: “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter”?
Answer – I: Sam Spade
3. This detective said: ”Warning. Assholes are closer than they appear.”
Answer – L: Ace Ventura
4. What percent cocaine solution did Sherlock Holmes inject when bored between cases?
Answer – R: 7% (some of those other percentage choices would have killed him!)
The next four stops gave us the letters to the WEAPON. Now that you have the idea, I won’t go into the specific questions, but here are the letter answers:
Nancy Lauzon: E / Renee Schuls-Jacobson: R / Julie Glover: O / Jenny Hansen: V
E – R – O – V Unscrambled, we get: REVO or REVOLVER
Then the final three stops (Tiffany had two clues) gave us the CULPRIT:
Rachel Funk Heller: U / Laird Sapir: M / Tiffany White: P, L
U – M – P – L Unscrambled, we get PLUM, or PROFESSOR PLUM
So, there you have it! Professor Plum killed Sir Reggie Crenshaw in the library with the revolver.
I’ve always thought that one of the defects of the Clue game, however, was that the motive isn’t part of the equation. Well, no more!
Professor Plum had murder in his heart ever since 2005, when Sir Reggie had written a mocking review of Plum’s beloved scholarly work: “T.S. Eliot and Geoffrey Chaucer: Reciprocal Influences on a Wasteland Pilgrimage.” It had been the loving work of 13 years and ran 1,847 pages long. Plum had considered it the crowning glory of his academic career, until that philistine Reggie ruined it for him. Then it was “bye-bye” tenure. Since then, Plum has gone from college to college like an itinerant farm-hand, teaching part-time writing classes to privileged college brats whose idea of writing was sitting in the back of the room, texting with their thumbs. Enough was enough – it was high time for payback.
He found Sir Reggie alone in the library. At first, Plum thought it would be poetic justice if he konked Crenshaw over the noggin with his “Wasteland Pilgrimage” volume – 1,800+ pages makes for a substantial weapon, after all – but he couldn’t bear the thought of bloodstains marring his precious book, even for a good cause. That’s what revolvers are for, after all.
And The WINNER Is: Julie Glover!
Congratulations, Julie, and great job! I’ll be sending you a free ebook copy of Dangerous and Unseemly, and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice).
But, wait – that’s not all! I’ve decided to give away an additional copy of my ebook.
The winner of that drawing is…Nandini Lal!
Congrats! The Kindle version is on its way.
Thanks so much to everyone for commenting, visiting, and competing in the contest, and supporting me on the book tour. It was a blast!
~Kathy
Thank you Kathy! And congratulations to both winners!
Kathy Owen’s new book “Dangerous and Unseemly” is available now at:
And please check out Kathy Owen’s website for more historical mystery at kbowenmysteries.com!
Let’s all give Kathy a big hand for a most exellent Mystery game! She did a fantastic job, don’t you think?
So how did y’all do? Did Kathy stump you? She can weave a mean mystery, can’t she? Did you have a fun time? What was your favorite part of Kathy’s book release tour? Do you have a new book on the horizon? What are your plans for making the most out of its release? Are you self-pubbing or going the traditional route? Inquiring minds want to know!
Thanks everyone for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments!
Karen
“The Return of Kathy Owen, a Mysterious Murder and Clues”
What does Kathy Owen, a mysterious murder and a bunch of clues have in common?
Well, they’re all part of the “Dangerous and Unseemly Mystery Book Tour”.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve visited lots of different author sites in an attempt to keep up with the release of Kathy Owen’s new book. I must say that girl is one popular author. Yet, not only that, Kathy, as the talented mystery writer that she is, weaved a Murder Mystery throughout every post on the tour.
Isn’t that cool? Besides our introduction to Kathy’s new book, you and I have a Murder to solve!
Uh, Karen.
Yes Kathy.
Aren’t you forgetting something?
Oh, that’s right Kathy. Sorry about that. I forgot. It’s just that I get so excited every time I talk about your Murder Mystery. I wonder Whodunnit? Has everyone collected all the clues? Because we have a Murder to solve and that’s why Kathy is here.
So take it away Kathy!
Hi, everyone! We’ve finished the book tour now, and it was a blast! Thank you all for taking the tour with me, and I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting the fab writers and bloggers along the way.
Hasn’t Karen McFarland been a terrific Mistress of Ceremonies?
You’re making me blush Kathy!
Karen.
Okay, I’m going, I’m going.
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yes. I’m so grateful to Karen for helping things along. I know I was originally planning to announce a winner of the Whodunnit puzzle contest and giveaway today, but I’ve decided to give folks more time to email me with their guesses. Remember, the winner will get a free ebook copy of my debut novel, Dangerous and Unseemly, and a $25 gift card of his/her choice to either Starbucks, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble! I’ll notify the winner by email, too.
If you missed any of the stops or trivia questions, no worries. I’ve compiled them all here!
But first, a recap of the puzzle:
You have received a partial telegram, stating that the murdered body of Sir Reginald “Good Riddance” Crenshaw, your long-lost third cousin (twice removed) has been found. However, the rest of the message has been lost, scattered and garbled along a trail of multiple telegrams to other people by a drunk clerk at the telegraph office.
Before you can make a claim upon dear Reggie’s ill-gotten wealth, you must establish the particulars of the murder. Where was he found? What was he killed with? And, most importantly, WHODUNNIT?
HOW TO SOLVE: Look at the mystery trivia questions below. Each correct answer will give you the alphabet letter you need. You want to solve 3 puzzle pieces: which ROOM, which WEAPON, and which SUSPECT.
ROOM CLUES (4 letters, unscrambled):
Question #1 – One of the following is NOT a rule of Golden Age detective fiction, as famously listed by literary critic Ronald Knox (in a preface to a 1929 collection of detective stories). Which is it?
A) No more than one secret room or passage is allowable
B) The butler should be the culprit
C) No Chinaman must figure in the story
D) Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we are duly prepared for them
Question #2 – What famous fiction private eye said: “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter”?
I) Sam Spade
J) Phillip Marlowe
K) Mickey Spillane
L) Raymond Chandler
Question #3 – This detective said: ”Warning. Assholes are closer than they appear.”
I) Charlie Chan
J) Sam Spade
K) Miss Marple
L) Ace Ventura
Question #4 – What percent cocaine solution did Sherlock Holmes inject when bored between cases?
O) 20%
P) 75%
Q) 5%
R) 7%
So, was dear old Reggie killed in the…
Kitchen (KITC)?
Ballroom (BALL)?
Conservatory (CONS)?
Billiard Room (BILL)?
Library (LIBR)?
Study (STUD)?
Hall (HALL)?
Lounge (LOUN)?
… or Dining Room (DINE)?
Clever, aren’t you? Okay, so now you know where Sir Reggie was dispatched, but what was he killed with?
WEAPON CLUES (4 letters, unscrambled):
Question #1 – Nancy Drew had two friends (who were probably jealous of her cool red roadster!) who acted as her sidekicks and assisted in her investigations. They were:
D) Porgy and Bess
E) Bess and George
F) George and Ned
G) John and Yoko
Question #2 – Nate the Great, a “soft-boiled” kid detective from a popular children’s series, eats a favorite food when he needs to think out a case. What is it?
Q) hot dogs
R) pancakes
S) Doritos
T) broccoli
Question #3 - What trademark tune does Columbo whistle (beginning with the episode “Any Old Port in the Storm”) which the producers worked into the musical theme?
N) “I dreamed a dream”
O) “This Old Man”
P) “Star-Spangled Banner”
Q) “Hokey Pokey”
Question #4 - Agatha Christie’s detective, Hercule Poirot, favored this method of detection:
U) examining physical evidence, such as footprints and tobacco ash
V) using the little gray cells
W) beating a confession out of the murderer
X) relying on eyewitness testimony
*gasp* Oh no, was it really done with the —
Rope (ROPE)?
Wrench (WREN)?
Revolver (REVO)?
Knife (KNIF)?
Candlestick (CAND)?
Lead Pipe (PIPE)?
My oh my, you are a smart one! How about the biggest mystery of all…WHODUNNIT?
MURDERER CLUES (4 letters, unscrambled)
Question #1 - There was a mysterious incident in Agatha Christie’s life. In her early adulthood, she:
T) was accused of murdering her first husband
U) disappeared for 11 days and when she was found had no memory of the time
V) had charge of the hospital pharmaceutical dispensary, in which a large quantity of poison disappeared
W) was rumored to have an illegitimate child
Question #2 – Who were the smartest of the Scooby-Doo gang?
L) Scooby and Shaggy
M) Velma and Fred
N) Daphne and Fred
O) Batman and Robin
Question #3 – Sherlock Holmes is partly modeled after a person in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s life. His name was:
O) Han Solo
P) Dr. Joseph Bell
Q) Dr. Joseph Whittingham
R) Oliver Wendell Holmes
Question #4 – Jessica Fletcher, a mystery writer/amateur detective on the long-running Murder, She Wrote, lived in which town (whose per capita murder rate would have been the despair of local real estate agents)?
J) Ann Arbor, MI
K) Intercourse, PA
L) Cabot Cove, ME
M) Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Was it…
(by K.B. Owen)
Colonel Mustard (MUST): did the upstanding retired army man do the dastardly deed?
Mr. Green (GREE): who is really behind that colorful exterior?
Professor Plum (PLUM): perhaps the professor is the passionate perpetrator.
Mrs. White (WHIT): would White wield the wicked weapon?
Miss Scarlet (SCAR): could the sexy Miss Scarlet be the secret sinner?
Mrs. Peacock (PEAC): who knows if poor old Reggie ruffled that lady’s feathers, and she committed murder most fowul?
Think you have the answer? Drop me a line! Send an email with your answers to kbowen (at) gmail (dot) com. Heck, email me even if you get lost and/or don’t have time to figure it out. This is all just for fun, after all. I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll put you in the drawing, too!
Thanks, and catch ya later,
Kathy
Okay, now can I pop in here Kathy?
Yes Karen, go right ahead. I’m finished.
Great job Kathy! Thank you so much for the re-cap! Is everyone as excited as I am?
Remember, the winner will get a free ebook copy of Kathy’s debut novel, “Dangerous and Unseemly”, and a $25 gift card of his/her choice to either Starbucks, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble!
So what do you think? Do you like a good Murder Mystery? Do you like to play Clue? Have you any ideas as to whodunnit? You may share your thoughts in the comment section below. But in order to recieve a FREE copy of Kathy’s new book, please send a brief email to kbowen@gmail.com.
Thanks everyone for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments!
Karen
Guest Post by Marcy Kennedy
I always get excited when I have a guest. And having Marcy here is no exception. That’s why I’d like for us to take a few moments to get to know a little bit about Marcy Kennedy.
Marcy grew up within the peace and sincerity of a small town, as a farmer’s daughter. Thus, when growing up, her dreams were filled with lots of heroism and adventure. Maybe that’s why Marcy is an author of fantasy fiction, so she can share with us her super secret weapon against a world that can be dark, brutal and an unfair place to live.
Besides writing fiction, she is married, has a human-sized Great Dane and seven cats. And on occasion, Marcy has been known to have an adventurous streak that includes scuba diving with sharks and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. Yet, Marcy admits, the scariest undertaking of them all, is playing her flute…in public.
Okay Marcy, now that we know this, we’d all like to hear you play! Right guys?
Sorry Marcy, I just couldn’t help myself.
As an Editor, Marcy puts to use her Bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology and a Master’s in Theological Studies. It is with this education that Marcy instills intense curiosity in human nature and history, along with a faith that makes her not only want to be a better person, but it is the very reason she took this journey to become a professional writer.
Thus in 2007, Marcy won the suspense/thriller category of Writer’s Digest’s Popular Fiction Competition and 2009, she won the grand prize. And since then, she’s won numerous other awards.
Wow Marcy, you’ve been busy! Congratulations to you!
Now, I’d like to talk about the reason I invited Marcy here today. I had found not only myself, but others over the last several months, had either written posts or made remarks about floundering as a writer. Yet, this is not just something that happens to a new writer. This curse happens to plague all writers, no matter where you are in this venture.
So when we reach a point in our writing when we need some help, what can we do? Where do we go for help? It may just be a friend or fellow author. But have you thought about working with an editor? And what are the benefits of working with an editor?
Here’s where I think Marcy can help!
Take it away Marcy!
When Karen asked me to write a post for her on why an editor is so important and how an editor can make our writing better, I leapt at the chance. As a freelance editor, I love helping authors take their books to the next level.
I also find nothing is more depressing than reading a book that could have been great…but isn’t.
And most of the time the only thing standing between an okay book and a good book, between a good book and a great book is a professional edit. (Or, and I think it’s important to be completely honest here, more than one edit.)
I know that hiring a freelance editor can be expensive, so I thought the most important post I could write is one to explain how to make the most of your time working with a freelance editor, especially if you’re on a limited budget.
I’ve written about the types of edits before, so I’ll direct you there if you need a refresher on the differences between a developmental edit, line edit, copy edit, and proofread. Where I’ve found most writers need an experienced editor’s eyes is on the big picture level of a developmental edit. But those can cost $500 to $3000 (or more!) depending on the length of your book, the depth of the edit, and a number of other factors.
Waiting a little longer to publish and saving up the money is the most common advice you’ll hear for solving this problem. I agree with that, but I think there are other things you can do as well.
So here are my top three tips for making the most of your time with a freelance editor regardless of your budget.
(1) Ask if the editor is willing to do a plot review.
This will mean a little extra work for you, but it’s well worth it. Go through your book and write a paragraph detailing each scene. What’s the point of view character’s goal? What happens? What essential plot/sub-plot information is revealed in this scene? In what way does this scene affect the characters? What’s the total word count after each chapter? (This last one is important for structure.) Include as much detail as you can. For an 80,000-word novel, you might write 20-30 pages.
Then hand that document over to the editor for review. They’ll look for plot holes, loose ends that haven’t been tied off, episodic writing, and places where the pacing may be wrong. If you go into enough depth in your summary, they’ll also be able to comment on your main character’s motivation, the consistency of their actions, whether they’re active or reactive (you want the former), and much more.
If you can’t afford any other kind of developmental edit, please find an editor who will do a plot review for you.
Even if you can afford a developmental edit, a plot review in advance can help avoid the problem of your book needing more than one developmental editing pass. It’s not uncommon for me to work on a book that really needs a second developmental edit due to major plot problems before it’s ready to go on to a line or copy edit. It’s heart breaking for an editor because our hands are tied. The author can’t afford a second developmental edit, and we can’t afford to work for free.
If you stall out on a book you love and desperately want to finish, a plot review can also help you get back on track.
(2) If this is your first book, hire an editor to do a critique of your first three chapters.
This is also a great idea if you’re aiming to traditionally publish, but have piled up rejections from agents or publishers.
Few things will improve your writing quicker than working with a good editor. They’ll help you see your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. They’ll even give you mini-lessons on how to improve your areas of weakness.
This is another way to make sure you get the most from a full developmental edit. A critique of your first three chapters will allow you to fix craft issues in the rest of your book before sending it off to an editor.
(3) Don’t be afraid to tell the editor you can’t afford the amount they quoted you, and ask what they could do within your budget.
Not every editor will be willing to customize, but a lot of us will, especially if we’re also writers ourselves. I’m committed to finding ways to help self-publishers put out the best work possible because the higher the quality of self-published books on the market, the more the stigma will go down and the more we all benefit.
Important Bonus Tip: Contact an editor well in advance!
So many writers don’t understand you should book an editor a month or more in advance of when you expect to need them. I’ll often squeeze a writer in, giving up my evenings and weekends, but I’ve also had to turn people away because they hadn’t talked to me far enough in advance and I was already overbooked.
I know it can be difficult to predict when your book will be ready, but at least contact the editor you want to work with and give them a rough time frame. You don’t want to lose the chance to work with a great editor because you didn’t email them far enough in advance.
And now it’s your turn. What questions do you have about hiring or working with an editor?
About Marcy Kennedy:
Marcy is a fantasy writer who believes there’s always hope—sometimes you just have to dig a little harder to find it. Alongside her own writing, Marcy works as a freelance editor. (Check out Marcy’s editing services here.) You can find her blogging about writing on Wednesdays/Thursdays and about the place where real life meets science fiction, fantasy, and myth on Mondays and Fridays Because Fantasy Is More Real Than You Think…
Thank you Marcy!
No, thank you Karen.
May I speak for all of us when I say, thank you Marcy for sharing this information! It was inspiring and you were a great help!
So what do you think? Have you used the services of an editor before? If so, how was your experience? Are you frustrated or feel like you need a little help with your writing? Perhaps your story is in the developmental stage and you feel that you need a little support or an extra pair of eyes. Whatever the case may be, please feel free to ask Marcy any questions you may have!
Thank you for stopping by and for all the blog love and amazing comments!
Karen
Versatile Blogger Award
Stylish Blogger Award
Kreativ Blogger Award
Liebster Blogging Award
