The Secret to Success in Three Not-So-Easy Steps

Club Ed started out as a place to take editing classes, but over time it has morphed into a community. To support that community, I’ve launched a membership program for anyone interested in developmental editing and book coaching, whether for fiction or nonfiction. Through April 30, 2023, enjoy a special introductory price ($12/month or $100/year)….

This is the season when a lot of people, including me, spend a fair amount of time thinking about our goals for the new year. Over the years, I’ve used various frameworks for thinking about what I want to do, what I want my business to do, and what I want my life to look…

Recently a newsletter subscriber emailed me and said, “I would have taken this class, except you made a mistake in the course description.” I sent a polite email in response and immediately unsubscribed her from my email list. It sounds like I can’t take criticism, doesn’t it? But that’s not the reason I unsubscribed her….

When you’re editing fiction, you’ll find that many developmental problems are interrelated: An insufficient conflict can be connected with unclear character motivation (or lack of motivation) to do something or achieve something (a goal). If the protagonist doesn’t have a goal, they can’t really come into conflict with another character who has a different goal….

In my teaching I focus a lot on character, plot, and setting. These are the tools with which authors build stories. But there’s another we shouldn’t overlook: theme. Readers read stories not merely to find out what happens but to understand what it means. I often talk about the importance of plot events having causality—they…

One of the challenges older workers face when shifting into a second act career is time pressure. People in their forties, fifties, and sixties can have children or grandchildren at home, parents or other loved ones who need help, a regular full-time job, and multiple obligations, including doing the laundry at least now and then….