Editing Services Offer
Okay all you writers out there, I know you need editing work done — and if you’re like me, you probably don’t want to admit it 
That’s all good; I still want to help you out though. So, here’s what I want you to do: send me ten pages of your latest work, and I’ll give you a full copy edit and critique/developmental edit on those ten pages for free. I’ll go over it, make my edits and notes, and send it back to you. If you like it, then great — maybe we can work together further. If not, then what did you lose? (And you don’t have to fret over getting exactly ten pages — I won’t be terribly picky about it, just be reasonable on it.)
So, you can head on over to the Editing page and fill out that form, or just head to the Contact page and send me an email directly. (Either one works fine; with email you’ll be able to send the attachment, but the editing page will have some details that I’d like to get from you too.) If you email it straight away, I’d prefer it in either Word doc/docx format, plain text, or RTF. If you can’t do that, we’ll figure something out — no worries.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get your pages over here!
–Matt
Breaking the Rules Part II: Know When to Hold ‘Em
Okay, yesterday’s post was kinda crappy, I’ll admit that. The joys of trying to squeeze a bunch of ideas into an hour long break. I can’t promise this one will be worlds better, but I’m gonna try at least – hopefully you’ll understand a little if it’s not.
Anyways…
Generally speaking rules are a good idea. They were most often created by people who spent a lot of time and energy into thinking about them. Strunk and White weren’t idiots, no matter what you may think during English class.
There’s a reason for most every rule in the books, and most often it’s that the rule will lead your work to something others can follow. Its a guideline that’ll help you get your point across to your audience in the most effective manner.
That said, the old adage still applies. Rules really were made to be broken. Eight times out of ten you’ll want to avoid the passive voice. One of those that remains, the passive voice sounds better; the other time it’ll be the more appropriate way to handle your sentence.
One of the best places to break the rules is in dialogue, because really, who talks like a text book? And I’m talking about “standard” English (well, standard American English at least) – that’s saying absolutely nothing about regional dialects. Listen to your friends and family throughout the day. How many of them sound like their speech was based on “The Elements of Style”? (If the answer is greater than zero, you really should sit down and talk to them. They’ve got issues.)
Aside from dialogue, where else is a good place to break the rules? I can’t answer that for you. It all depends on what sounds good to your own ears, and the type of project you’re working on. An academic research paper for a class? Stick to the rules. An informal article about your home town? You could probably get away with it to some degree.
The important thing is that you write what you feel like writing, the way you feel it should sound. Then go back over it and see what works and what doesn’t. If something reads strangely, then go back to the rules. If it works, then why bother?
Of course, the key is knowing the rules. Take them all in, play with them, see why they work and what happens if you break them. When you break them on accident, you’ll be lucky if it works (and most often it won’t). When you break them intentionally, you’re creating your own voice, your own identity.
And, in the end, that’s the whole point of art.
Catch you on the flip side.
–Matt
Editing Services Up
A quick post before I start to move towards the land of slumber. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’d like to direct your attention up to the menu bar, where you’ll see a new section for Editing Services. This page contains a pretty basic introduction to what I offer, and it has a form you can fill out if you’d like further information or a quote.
Right now, I’m looking to build a portfolio, so I’m offering the services at a huge discount — even free for small projects. If you’re looking to get some editing work done on one of your projects, go check it out and drop me a line. You won’t be disappointed
Alright, off to finish up the laundry and get on to bed. Catch you on the flip side.
–Matt
Freelance Editing and Writing Services
I’m now offering my services as a freelance writer and editor. Before long I’ll get more details up, but in the meantime contact me on Twitter (@MCoryAuthor). Right now, I’m working on building a portfolio, so I’m willing to work for either free or really low cost (depending on the size of the project).
To my credit, I do have one novel coming out in November (Like Glass) and several short stories available here on the site – just go to the Writing section. (FYI, the shorts were mostly seat of the pants with little editing, and geared as quick stories for this site. They probably have typos and whatnot since I have yet to go back over them.)
I’ll work with you on getting your project perfect, and as a writer I completely understand that somethings may be “intentionally” wrong – I use a fair amount of improper grammar (and even spelling sometimes) in my own work.
If you’re interested or know someone who might be, hit me up either with a comment here or on Twitter (@MCoryAuthor). Hope to hear from you soon!
–Matt
Like Glass Editing – Round 1 Finished
Almost finished running through the first edits for Like Glass, and I’m stoked. Very few changes – not counting ‘translating’ from US to British English (most of which seemed to be replacing ‘z’ with ‘s’, as in ‘realizing’ to ‘realising’). Very exciting to get it back from a ‘real’ editor and not have to rewrite the whole book…
Now, if only the same could be said for Shattered. Don’t get me wrong – they gave me a lot of great feedback and ideas, but there’s a ton of work that needs to be done to it and not a lot of time to do it in. I think I’m up for vacation at work here in a couple of months; I’ll have to see whether or not it’d be a good idea to spend that on editing or save it in case the wife and I try to take a ‘real’ vacation of some kind.
Anyways, I need to get back to finishing up the edits. Catch you on the flip side.
–Matt
An Open Invitation
If I’ve learned nothing else from trying to publish my own books, I’ve learned just how damned tough it is. I mean, seriously, when I finished Like Glass, I thought it’d be simple: draw up a pretty cover, do a little formatting, submit it to the POD publisher and then kick back and watch people flock to my new work.
No, unfortunately I wasn’t on any mind-altering chemicals at the time, except my constant companions nicotine and caffeine.
So, here I sit, two years later with another book finished (Shattered, if you’ve never read any of the posts here), and this time I’m a little wiser. I’m wanting to do it “right”, and though I’m not 100% sure as to what exactly the “right” way is, I know it means I can’t do it on my own.
Side note: I was speaking with someone on Twitter last night, and they pointed out in a bit more detail something I already knew: agents and publishers don’t like self-published materials. Mainly because they don’t want something they aren’t getting first dibs on. That said, I’m still planning on spending my time and efforts in trying to self-publish Shattered. Why? Simple: my past experience has shown me that the odds of getting published are slim to none. So, the question is: do I spend several weeks in a vain search, or do I spend those several weeks prepping Shattered for publication on my own? The sooner I can get it ready, the sooner you can read it. Simple as that. And you – the person sitting there taking the time to read a random post on my blog – is the reason I’m writing in the first place, not to put money in some publisher’s pocket (maybe to put a little in mine, but let’s be honest: you and I both know this ain’t gonna break any records…)
Anyways, as the post title says, this is an open invitation. I’m looking for people to help out – we can discuss the financial aspects of it, though bear in mind I’m on a damned tight budget (otherwise I’d just go to any of the countless services on the web for this). There’s two main things I’m looking for: an editor and a cover designer. Someone to help with publicity would be nice as well, but I can take care of that to some degree.
The current plan is mainly to prep Shattered for publication, and possibly to re-release Like Glass as a hard-cover. I’m going to move from CreateSpace to Lulu. Lulu offers cover design and editorial analysis as a package for $300, so if all else fails I may just go with that. But if there’s someone out there who wants to build up a portfolio and get credit in the novel(s), I’d rather help someone out.
So, if you happen to know anyone looking for something to kill some time with, feel free to introduce me
Of course, at the same time, if you happen to know an agent or publisher you could introduce me to, trust me: I’ll go for it. I’m just not up to wasting my time searching any more.
Alright, in the meantime, need to get back to pretending to edit and create a cover on my own 
Catch you on the flip side.
–Matt
UPDATE 1/25/09: Thanks to this post, I was able to find an editor (thanks again Ashley!). I’m still looking for a graphics editor though, so if you happen to know someone looking to fill their portfolio, let me know. Thanks!
–Matt
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