After many months of writing, receiving feedback, editing (and repeat), you are confident in the quality of your work and ready to publish, right? Well, let’s not forget the important last step of the final proofread. You’ve come this far. Honor your hard work by not skipping this step, and use these tips to breeze through the process.
A good writing community can make all the difference to you as a writer. Discover the four kinds of people you should look for in that community to challenge, inspire, and bring some healthy competition to your writing life.
Standards for writing titles, such as capitalization and italicization, make it easier for the reader to understand what the writer is communicating. Yet with the rise of easily published, unproofed text and social media that doesn’t allow for italics, a writer can miss a lot of these standards—or simply not know them. Check out the latest installment in our “Unpacking CMOS” series to find out what our favorite style guide recommends for dealing with titles of works.
Writing, like any other art, is only as good as your knowledge of the craft. You can’t be a good writer if you don’t read. So, what books are on the writer’s bookshelf?
The sun is shining, the air is warm, and the Scribe team has no shortage of recommendations to fill out your summer reading list. Here are our top eight books to take on your vacation.
As writers, the most important thing we can do for ourselves is to create space for writing. You have to tackle the metaphysical (when do you actually sit down to write), the physical (where do you actually sit down to write), and the mental (how do you you sit down and have a successful writing session).
CMOS 5.250, “Good usage versus common usage,” is one of the lengthiest sections in CMOS’s seventeenth edition. It illuminates tricky words and phrases that are commonly used incorrectly in American writing. Learning the proper style for these terms will ensure you don’t confuse your readers and embarrass yourself with erroneous word choice.
When you imagine a writer, I can almost guarantee you picture something like Johnny Depp in Secret Window: shaggy hair, unkempt beard, reading glasses, and, of course, pajamas with a terry cloth robe thrown over to complete the look. It’s a classic ensemble. But just how many writers actually don this lackadaisical uniform?
Poets use specific skills to enhance the way their words look, sound, and feel. Let’s look at four lessons from poetry that can strengthen your writing, whether you’re a novelist, blogger, or a technical writer.
One of the largest advantages to self-publishing is the ability to maintain creative control over your own work. Traditional publishing houses have specific requirements for manuscripts, some of which may compromise the author’s original vision of the work. Self-publishing ensures that you, as the author, have the final say on how your work is presented.