by Jamie Chavez | May 14, 2016 | Your Editor Says …
A comma splice is only a little error, easily fixed. If you gave me a manuscript full of run-on sentences caused by them, it would be an easy edit. But—the “world’s top* grammarian,” this short article from Business Insider tells us, “fears that this punctuation error...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 7, 2016 | Authors & Other Writers, Books You Might Like
During a recent visit to the Florida island where our parents live, my brother and I had dinner with them at a fancy restaurant. As we bent our heads over our menus—all of us, that is, except my father, who can’t see—I realized that our identically rapt expressions...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 29, 2016 | The Book Biz
We have a problem in the book industry. No, I’m not talking about the growth of Amazon. I’m not talking about the myriad folks who claim to be award-winning and best-selling, even when they are not. Nor am I talking about the virtual explosion of self-published crap....
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 21, 2016 | Your Editor Says …
Not long ago a friend in the book biz referred a writer to me. She’d written a YA novel, this writer; when she emailed me, I told her I really enjoy YA, but that I require a synopsis and sample chapters before I decide to put a project on my production schedule. This...
by Jamie Chavez | Feb 18, 2016 | Your Editor Says …
You will continually be taking chances. There will be readers who want you to kill that ape with the oboe, get the diamonds out of the roast beef, cut ‘myrmecoid’ and ‘sharded.’ (“Don’t say ‘myrmecoid,’ say what it means: ‘antlike.’” I’m not interested in...
