Be Your Own Freelance Editor

Live attendance is not required: enrollees can watch the recording at any time after the workshop!

You’ve written and rewritten your manuscript, yet it still doesn’t seem… like a published book. It’s possibly even “error-free” in terms of grammar and punctuation, but when you compare the writing, pace, and “feel” of it to your favorite books, you can tell that it’s just not there yet.

It’s not just you. No matter how creative and intelligent writers are, they often can’t tell why their writing isn’t as tight and clear as it should be, even though they know that it isn’t at the level it needs to be.

As a freelance editor, Tanya Egan Gibson has found that writers often share a group of habits that hold their writing back. But these habits can be easily corrected! So how to get “there”—and quickly?

In this two-hour workshop, we’ll address:

• What kinds of writing habits trip up many people (and perhaps you).

• How to “write tight,” decreasing wordiness and repetition, while simultaneously being clear.

• How to keep writing from calling attention to itself. (Hey, I’m writing! Aren’t my words cool?) and how to spot when you are writing “on the nose.”

• How to balance scene and summary.

• How to integrate backstory, background, and factual information/research in ways that seem organic and transparent.

• How to make your sentences and paragraphs flow.

• How to use self-editing at the “line” level to alert you to “bigger picture” (developmental) problems in your manuscript.

This hands-on session will include:

• Writing prompts from which participants will produce short responses as examples of tight, transparent, specific writing.

• Examples of unedited passages with exercises that allow participants to make them into pieces that are tight, clear, and specific.

Not only will you learn to look at your own manuscript with an editor’s eyes, but you’ll also find that this process is actually fun! By the end of this session, you’ll understand how to chip away at your manuscript to find the diamond at its center.

Zoom schedule

Everyone enrolled in this webinar will receive a copy of the recording afterwards, so you can review it later in case you missed it.

• Saturday April 20, 2024 1:00pm US Central time — 2 hours

How this workshop works

This workshop is a live Zoom webinar. Sign in from anywhere in the world and participate live as the instructor conducts the workshop, with time for Q&A at the end.

Questions about this class?

We’re happy to answer any questions you might have!

• Contact us and a real person will get back to you ASAP.

About Tanya Egan Gibson

Tanya Egan Gibson is a freelance editor, writing coach, and the author of the novel How to Buy a Love of Reading. Her short fiction for adults and young adults has been published in Carve and Cicada and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has written for magazines such as The Writer, Parents, and Writer’s Digest, including an article, “10 Things Your Editor Might Not Tell You—But Should,” which has been reprinted over the years in several special issues. She has been a professional freelance editor for over ten years.

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