Welcome to Litsy!

Such an interesting world, that of books and those who put the words on the page, those that nudge the words into book, & those who get the books in readers‘ hands. I‘ve oversimplified things, of course, but it is undoubtedly a team that makes it happen. Lerner writes as an editor, an opinionated often judgmental one at that, offering advice to writers while simultaneously dishing dirt on the publishing world. Mostly entertaining & always snarky.

Overall I found her compassionate care for authors very charming, and her frank advice about the world of editing and publishing helpful. I did not care for the romantic view she seemed to take of mental illness, or the flippancy with which she appeared to dismiss medication. But the majority of the book actually related to writing and publishing was helpful.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I read it slowly to savour. If you are interested in books and a role somewhere in the publishing industry, then this book is for you! Some advice to authors, a window into being an editor or an agent, snapshots of well known and lesser known authors and their travails through the publishing process. A little something for everyone and brandishes humour to ward off the reality that publishing is a tough business.

I took the tree down today and made soup from scratch. Not stepping out of the house today as it is -23 out there. Staying cozy with my soup and a good book

Woo Hoo! My Amazon order for my required reading for the Substantive Editing course in January arrived today - I'm really looking forward to digging in to these 😊

Editorial euphemisms - oh my. The Forest for the Trees tells it like it is.

This seems to be written with an editorial as much as a writerly audience in mind but anything that fosters mutual understanding between writers and editors can only be a good thing. I found her descriptions/advice for different writerly personalities helpful: not as a means of pigeon-holeing myself but for recognising some of my problematic characteristics and behaviours as par for the course. I found this steadying but also liberating.

I'm glad she said this. I'm just constitutionally better suited to wrestling my demons than to following my bliss. Of course, I'd rather not *have* to... on the other hand it occurs to me to wonder if sometimes what looks like a demon is an angel disguised.

"But if you can't give it up, if hearing how impossible the odds are only makes you dig in deeper, it doesn't really matter if you've got natural talent. Your job is to marshal the talent you do have and find people who believe in your vision. What's important, finally, is that you create, and that those creations define for you what matters most, that which cannot be extinguished even in the face of silence, solitude, and rejection." #amwriting

Stalk your demons.

I don't entirely approve of the male pronoun, but I read these few sentences and just had to buy the book.