Welcome to guest blogger Rita Lewis! I recently wrote about the types of support you might need while working on a book project. If you hire only one person to help you, my top recommendation is an editor—and Rita is my editor, so I am delighted to have her sharing her advice here. When she’s […]
Craft
What Writers Can Learn from Artists: Practice & Release
My friend Julie just started her final year of art school. Over the past three years she’s been blogging about her experience, and I’ve enjoyed watching her progress. After a recent touch-base, I started thinking about art—painting especially—and what lessons it can offer writers. I put my finger on two core principles: practice and release. […]
The Key Difference Between Speeches and Books (& How to Plan for It)
Many of Clear Sight’s clients are both speakers and authors—not surprising, considering what speaking and writing have in common. Both benefit from strong storytelling, precise language, good construction, and unexpected imagery. There is a creative synergy as well as business synergy. However, there is one key difference between writing a book and giving a speech: […]
Book Quality: Lessons from Judging Jane
I’m in the midst of judging the student essay contest for the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). When you read a lot of one thing at a time—essays, grant applications, poetry—you quickly start to see the differences. (Teachers know this!) I use a scoring rubric to test my impressions objectively, but the essays […]
Avoid Distractions: Focus Your Readers on Your Message
My last three blog posts all were triggered by my irritation with poor communication—whether words or formatting. My goal—my purpose—is to help people get their ideas onto the page in a way the audience will understand and embrace. After many years of corporate business writing (and a boss who knocked it into my head), one […]