More Common Mistakes

Snow is falling outside my window, flakes the size of silver dollars. These are some of the biggest flakes I've seen in a long time. Of course, it's been a long time since we've had snow like this. It snowed all day yesterday, then turned to sleet in the evening. Everything was a sheet of ice this morning. The poor dog couldn't get her footing on the back sidewalk. The weather sites said the snow was to let up by late morning. It's almost 1 pm, and the snow is coming down hard. (Since I started writing, the flakes have gotten smaller and the intensity has increased.) It would be a perfect day to sit by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate and the John Irving book I've been reading. But I have deadlines, so here I am in my office.

To wake up my brain, which is a little foggy from my cold, I thought I'd continue with the common mistakes I see in the books I edit.

Overuse of the thesaurus. While word variety is good, many people appear to open the thesaurus to find similar words. Except, those similar words are often the wrong word. The other day, I came upon a writer who used gaze or glanced to substitute for glare. Glare, gazed, and glanced are similar, but they don't convey the same meaning in a sentence. Nancy Reagan was famous for gazing at her husband when he spoke. Replace gazing with glaring . . .

Overuse of the word And. It appears many new writers are afraid of short sentences, so they combine sentences. Problem is, using "and" doesn't automatically make the sentences fit together. There is nothing wrong with short sentences.

Overuse of the word That. That is a lot like then. It is needed maybe 1/10th of the amount it is used. People think they need it (in fact, a lot of people would have written "people think that they need it"). Other overused words are just, very, and really. The more you let strong verbs and nouns show the scene, the less you need those filler words.

Confusion between That and Which. Of course, sometimes you need to use that. Or you need to use which. They are similar, but not the same. If a clause is vital to the meaning of the sentence, use that without a comma. But if the clause is not vital to the meaning of the sentence, use which with a comma.

Confusion between it's and its. I see this one a lot. Here's my trick: I mentally say "it is" and if that fits, then use it's. If it doesn't, use its. It's is it is. Its is possessive.

Using apostrophes. Okay, this is the fingernails on the chalkboard for me. If it is plural, you don't use an apostrophe. People get especially confused about names. So I repeat, if it is a plural, you don't use an apostrophe. If you are talking about a family with the last name Smith, you write it Smiths. If you are talking about a dog owned by the family Smith, you write the Smiths' dog. It's not just names, however. I seem to be coming across more people using the apostrophe in every case of a plural. Dogs becomes dog's. The apostrophe is used for contractions (combing two words into one) or to show possession. Not for plurals.

My Number 1 Writing Tip

You may know I do a fair share of editing, and a lot of this editing involves work by new writers. Most of the problems I come across can be solved with one handy tip, a tip I'm going to share with you.

Get a good style guide and learn to use it. (The corollary tip is read Strunk and White's Element of Style.)

I am regularly amazed at how little writers know about basic grammar and punctuation. My job is made 3 times as hard by people who either don't know to put a space after a period or comma or are too lazy to do so. (I think some people are just lazy and figure they've paid for an editor to clean up everything. Let me tell you now, we aren't that well paid.)

So, if you are considering having someone edit your book-length work before sending it off to a publisher or agent, buy a style guide, like the Chicago Manual or an AP style book. Heck, even a 10th grade grammar book will work.

Here are a few things that I come across regularly:

Writing dialogue. This seems to confuse people most. This is the American standard for dialogue: "I am happy," said John. "How happy are you?" asked Mary.
The punctuation goes inside the quote. There is no space between the quote marks and the words.

Using attributes in dialogue. Dialogue should do all the heavy lifting, showing the reader action, feelings, etc. The attribute is mostly there to let the reader know who is talking. Said and/or asked are almost always good enough. I just read a draft of a book that kept using "revved" or "rapped" for said. I find myself paying too much attention to the attributes rather than the sentence.

Commas. People like commas a little too much. Best advice on when to use them: write the sentence with no punctuation and read it out loud. See when you naturally pause or stop. That's where you put the punctuation. (Another book recommendation: Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. You'll see that where a comma is placed changes the meaning of the sentence.)

Paragraphs. Please indent. I beg you to indent. And that means more than one space.

The word "then." I cannot believe how over used this word is. When it is used, it is usually because the writer gets stuck and doesn't know how to make the story go to the next thought. That's because the writer thinks the reader needs to know every tiny step and event. No, they don't.

Hm, I could keep going . . . Next time will be more common mistakes I come across.

Busy, Busy

I love being busy with work. It's a luxury a lot of writers don't have. A lot of my writer friends tend to go in peaks and valleys. I have peaks and valleyes, too, but it doesn't seem like my peaks are too high, my valleys too low.

Why?

Because I am never to busy to market. I might be too busy to update my blog or write personal emails, but I am never too busy to take a half hour, or an hour, or ten minutes out of each day to send off a letter of introduction or a letter of interest for a job.

This is an uncertain business. You feel like you have a good regular client, but changes in editors, editorial scope, advertising, budgets can bring that relationship to an end. Or the magazine folds. Or you feel the need to stretch your wings. Bottom line is what was certain last month is not certain this month, so a good freelancer prepares for that.

I am lucky to have really great clients who supply steady work, but I know that can change in the blink of an eye. It's part of my job to be prepared for that change.

Shameless Plug

Many many moons ago, I wrote a quick article for Writing for Dollars called The Rule of 13. I'd heard that having 13 queries or submissions out at a time is a sure way to get an acceptance.

I know now there is no real magic number. Thirteen, however, is a better odds than six, not as good as 25. Thirteen, for most beginning writers, is manageable. The important thing is making sure your letters, your name, is in front of editors. The more you market, the greater the chance of getting a YES.

Anyway, I found out this week that our articles archived on WFD will now be drawing income depending on the readership. I was already paid when I printed the piece, so this is a nice little bonus.

An even nicer bonus, when I sent an email to the editor to update my bio info, he wrote back to tell me that he always liked that piece and recommended it frequently. It was a nice boost to an otherwise crappy day.

What is news?

As a writer, I'm technically a member of the media. I report on things that my editors think are important to their readers. But everyone I write for is writing for a specific audience. The things I report on is valuable news for them.

But what about the stuff that I see reported on CNN, Yahoo!, and other news sites?

Surely, I'm not the only person who looks at a "news" story and wonder why the whole world needs to know it. I'm not talking about sports stories (although there are some that are ridiculous) and celebrity stories. These folks, like it or not, are public figures, and just like technical publications have an audience, so do these entities.

No, I'm talking about stories like the one that is crossing the wires now, the administrator's wife who left a nasty voice mail. Or the mom who sold her (adult) son's car with the detailed ad about her being mean. Or any of a million stories like that.

Are these stories really news? Is the media doing a disservice by sensationalizing the foibles of ordinary people, as opposed to focusing on information that should matter? Or is the media doing its job by promoting slightly extreme but otherwise ordinary acts of ordinary people?

Honestly, as a writer, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable reporting that stuff. Which, I guess, is why I don't work for CNN, et. al.

Stumbling into a Niche

When I tell one particular friend of mine that I scored an interesting assignment, he always asks, "So what are you an expert on this time?" I used that story when I gave a talk to the local writers group about writing for trades. Someone at that talk raised a hand and asked, "I'm interested in writing for trades, but I'm not an expert on a particular subject. What do I do?"

I think one of the great misperceptions is that the writer needs to be an expert on a topic in order to write about it.

The reality is, while it is helpful to have some familiarity on the industry you want to write about, in the end, your skill as a writer is most important. A good, engaged writer will learn and develop a handy working knowledge, but will never upstage the real experts. If you can show you can handle a topic deftly, editors will hire you.

When I first started freelancing, I looked at the subjects that interested me most, the things that were part of my every day life: parenting, fitness, marriage, women's issues, sports. Parenting and women's magazines are among the most difficult to break into because the competition is fierce. Now, I have published in smaller markets in those topics, but I haven't broken into any of the major ones yet.

Someone suggested I try the construction magazines because I worked with construction people in one of my jobs. I never lifted a hammer, but I did learn to make conversation with people in the industry. I mentioned that job in the letters I sent out, and it landed me assignments. I tried the same thing with engineering. Heck, I live with an engineer. I know lots of engineers as friends. So I targeted engineering publications.

Engineering took me in the direction writing on technology. Construction steered me toward sustainable living. Now I've moved toward science writing.

If you knew me well, you'd think these are the least likely of topics that would be my writing niche. But I found that writing topics that go against my personality make me a better writer and reporter. When I write on a topic I'm passionate about, I struggle to avoid throwing my opinions into the piece.

Writing what you know can be good. Taking advantage of your life experiences can lead to a rewarding career.

Where I Find Potential Jobs

One question I get asked a lot is where I find the magazines I write for.

The answer: Everywhere!

I scope out the job boards like most every other writer. The job boards can be a crap shoot though. While I've managed to pick up a couple very good clients and steady assignments from those postings, there have been more than my fair share of postings that sounded good in the ad only to be less than good when the offer came. Or I'd be one of thousands to respond.

So where else do I find publication leads?

* Your own magazine subscriptions. Not every magazine I read is open to freelancers, but because I read these magazines weekly or monthly, I'm familiar with them. I know the content, style, audience. When I have an actual idea to query, I look to my private magazine rack for ideas.

* Wander around the library or book store. My local library allows anyone with a library card to read magazines on-line, so I can do solid research without ever leaving my desk chair.

* Google. I write for trades more than consumer, so I will Google the type of trade publication I'm interested in and see what comes up. I discovered one of my best clients when I was researching a query. I took a few minutes, pitched the editor with a letter of introduction, and boom, had an assignment the next day.

* In the News. Whenever I interview someone, I check out that person's company website. Smaller companies especially like to post articles in which they've been featured. Chances are these magazines are similar to publications you already work with. I check them out any publication that is new to me.

* Network. I'll give my writing friends leads to publications, and they do the same for me. I've gotten a few jobs that way. I don't hesitate to tell people that I'm a freelance writer, either. A few jobs have been tossed my way simply because I made sure someone knew this was what I did for a living.

The job boards are really a great place to start, but there are lots of ways to build on that beginning.