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Books by ACES 2018 Presenters

6 Books by ACES 2018 Presenters to Add to Your To-Read List

As an editor, writer, and book lover, I’m always looking for excuses to buy and read new books. I’ll be attending the ACES 2018 editing conference in Chicago this year, so I decided to find out whether any of the people presenting sessions had recently published books. Surprise surprise, they have! Some books are related directly to the presenters’ ACES sessions, and some aren’t. Here are six books by ACES 2018 presenters to add to your to-read list before attending their sessions in April:Read More »6 Books by ACES 2018 Presenters to Add to Your To-Read List

such small hands by andrés barba

Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba

Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba is a haunting novel about a little girl, Marina, who is sent to an orphanage after her parents die in a car crash that she survived. The other girls at the orphanage, however, aren’t so welcoming. They want to love her, but cannot; Marina wants to be accepted by them, but isn’t. Barba explores the inability to communicate and the heightened reality of childhood as his characters cannot break out of their fated roles and barrel on toward inevitable tragedy. It’s a short book at 97 pages, but the prose, mood, and intense characterization gripped me long after I put it down.Read More »Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba

reflections on copy editing

Reflections on Copy Editing My First Full-Length Book Manuscript

In January, I copy edited my first full book manuscript. Naturally, it was an exciting moment for me as an editor. I had prepared for the edit for a few months, but I didn’t know quite what to expect when I sat down to copy edit 46,000 words within one week for the first time. I learned a few things that will make my next book project easier to tackle.

Here’s what I learned (and some things I wish I did) while copy editing my first book manuscript:Read More »Reflections on Copy Editing My First Full-Length Book Manuscript

un lun dun

To Read or Not to Read: Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

S. Jae-Jones, a host of one of my favorite podcasts, Pub Crawl Podcast, recommended the children’s book Un Lun Dun by China Miéville for readers who love Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth. I do love both of those books. I’ve reread Alice in Wonderland multiple times, and I strongly considered doing a book report on The Phantom Tollbooth in fourth grade but couldn’t figure out how to obtain the refrigerator box I felt was necessary to pull it off. So, I decided to take a look at Un Lun Dun and decide: To read or not to read?Read More »To Read or Not to Read: Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

read lit mags

I’m Actually Going to Read Lit Mags This Month

I have a confession to make: Since November, I’ve been regularly submitting the few pieces of my writing that are polished enough to send into the world to lit mags. But rarely, so rarely, have I actually…read…lit mags.

It’s terrible. Around 75 percent of lit mag submission guidelines suggest that writers read the magazine to get an idea of what the editors like. This makes sense. But I haven’t done it.

I have no excuses, really. I like reading, I intend to support lit mags, and I want to find the best places for my writing.

So I’ve decided that in February, it’s time to actually read lit mags.Read More »I’m Actually Going to Read Lit Mags This Month

19 Books I Just Had to Buy in the United kingdom

19 Books I Just Had to Buy in the United Kingdom

Bookstores are my weakness, and quite unfortunately, I was recently subjected to several tempting multi-level, well-stocked London bookstores. Reader, it was terrible. As I threw more and more books into my arms (and eventually into shopping baskets), I tried to think of some constraints to narrow down which books I would allow myself to buy. I decided upon a few rules to guide my British book buying:

  1. I could buy books that weren’t available in the United States yet.
  2. I could buy books that had sucky U.S. editions but fabulous U.K. editions.
  3. I could buy books that were significantly cheaper in the United Kingdom than the American Amazon prices.
  4. I was required to buy the complete volumes of Roald Dahl’s short stories, because gah.

Read More »19 Books I Just Had to Buy in the United Kingdom

bookstagram collections

8 Bookstagram Collections Readers Should Have on Instagram

If you’re a social media savvy reader, there’s a good chance you’ve discovered the world of #bookstagram, a community of book lovers on Instagram. Bookstagram is a bit overwhelming; there are so many readers with such diverse tastes and aesthetics that it’s hard to keep track of your favorite reviewers, book recommendations, and more. Enter Instagram’s private collections feature.my bookstagram collections

Not only can you save photos on Instagram, but you can also sort your saved photos into collections. This is useful for readers because it reminds you why you saved yet another photo of a book: Did you want to read that book? Did you like the composition of the photo itself? Or did you want to read more of that bookstagrammer’s reading recommendations? Here are some collections that readers should make and utilize on bookstagram:Read More »8 Bookstagram Collections Readers Should Have on Instagram

editors can't be perfectionists

Editors Can’t Be Perfectionists

I just finished copy editing my first full book manuscript. After I had read through the entire thing, I was searching for “their” to check agreement, and I came across a sentence that was missing a word.

I stared at my computer in horror and blathered incoherent noises for a minute.

Later, as I was doing a final scroll-through of the Word document, I spotted an “every” that should have been “ever.” Oh no! I fixed it, obviously, but the negative thoughts rushed into my head: The manuscript is probably riddled with errors—egregious, noticeable errors—and I will be found out and never trusted with a book manuscript again. I’ll be stuck editing blogs until I go blind.

But then I remembered a very important lesson that I’ve had to teach my perfectionist self: Editors can’t be perfectionists.Read More »Editors Can’t Be Perfectionists

books i didn't finish

10 Books I Didn’t Finish Last Year

Almost everyone says the same thing about books you don’t finish: Just move on. Read something better, read something that’s more engaging. But for some reason, I stubbornly want to finish books that I’ve started.

If I start a book, I want to finish it so I can either write a review of what I didn’t like or be pleasantly surprised when the book improves as I read. And if I’ve gone to the trouble of buying a book and spent time reading it, it seems like a waste of time and money to abandon it.

Despite good intentions, I abandoned several books in 2017. Here are 10 books I didn’t finish last year:Read More »10 Books I Didn’t Finish Last Year

the end we start from

To Read or Not to Read: The End We Start From

I first came across The End We Start From on a LitHub list of new releases in November. The initial description checked a lot of boxes for me: literary fiction, lots of overarching metaphors, beautiful prose. It sounded promising (and the cover looked gorgeous). When I saw it on the shelf in Barnes & Noble, I had to pick it up and decide for myself: To read or not to read?Read More »To Read or Not to Read: The End We Start From