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What Exactly Do We Do in the Editing 101 Class?

I’m glad I’ve got enough students for the Editing 101 online class that starts tonight, but I’d love a couple more. Mention reading this when you mail me about the class and I’ll give you a special deal. 😉

So what do we do and who is the class aimed at?

The class is aimed both at writers who want to learn to edit their work better as well as editors who want to hone their skills and learn about it as a career path.

Here’s what the three two-hour sessions cover. They’re spaced two weeks apart.

  1. Developmental edit. I describe my revision process and how people can adapt it to their own. We look at examples of developmental edits, work through a checklist of items to look for, and talk about developing your own theory and process of editing.
  2. Line and copyediting. I look at things on the sentence and paragraph level and supply a number of examples as well as working through an in-class exercise. Again, I try to provide a checklist that you can take away and use in your writing and editing.
  3. Editors. I talk about working as an editor, and what resources are available to people who are looking for such work, as well as where people looking for slush-reading positions can find them. I also discuss the writer-editor relationship in a way that should clarify it for both sides of the equation and provide tips on making that process work more smoothly. A class exercise is designed to help you figure out story order for collections, chapbooks, anthologies, and magazine issues.

Got questions? I’d be happy to answer them.

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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Holiday Shopping without Supply Chain Hassles

Holiday Shopping without Supply Chain Issues from the Rambo Academy for Wayward WritersIf you’re holiday shopping this year, you may have noticed there are problems getting stuff due to a combination of supply chain issues and here in the US, our beleaguered postal system.

Part of my solution is that I’m making a lot of my gifts this year, including my favorite gingerbread caramels, flavored marshmallows, and a family staple, chocolate spritz cookies. I’ve even invested in an old model metal cookie-gun for the last of those after going through several plastic ones. It’s always fun to take it down from the shelf.

Other people are getting presents like plants I’ve started for them, rocks I tumbled, and of course – plenty of books! The nice thing about the latter is that I can do it electronically, and Patreon supporters will get a special story on Christmas as a result!

If you’re shopping for a writer and were wondering what the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers offers, here’s some options I’ve assembled. I’m happy to offer gift certificates for any of the following:

  • A certificate for a live two-hour class. I am still putting together the January-March calendar, but it’s shaping up as an interesting slate. Cost is $79.
  • A certificate for a half-hour coaching session via Zoom. Happy to talk about overall career, a specific issue, or even an individual story. Cost is $50.
  • A certificate for a year’s access to the virtual campus: Discord server; Zoom events like co-working, writing games and story discussion club; and occasional free classes. Cost is $25.

Recipient will get an electronic certificate, and you can choose whether they get it right away or on the actual day of the holiday you’re celebrating.

To order, or if you have questions, mail me.

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Picture of a bookThe first session of this class went well! Nisi Shawl was a terrific guest speaker.

In talking about reviews, we talked about good reviews and what they do. Here’s the notes from that.

  • Provide a sense of the reviewer, their styles and biases.
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  • Provide a sense of the book’s context and comparable books.
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Other topics we touched on: how you get started doing book reviews, what limits to have regarding spoilers, how to write a negative review well, promoting yourself and your reviews, networking, how to evaluate reviews, and the best way(s) to get better at reviewing. I thought it went really well and had plenty of interesting conversation and questions.

The next Art of the Book Review online class will happen Sunday, March 30, 9:30-11:30 AM PST. Nisi will be appearing as a speaker for the class in this session as well.

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