Ask An Editor: Open to all!
Everyone can participate in this week's Ask An Editor thread, plus a chance to get 1 month free
FIRST let me say welcome to Ask An Editor, a twice-monthly thread for writers to get feedback on their current work! I’m so happy to open up this space to the public today, so everyone can experience some of the usually-paywalled magic that has subscribers yelling and squealing…
“Ahhhhh great advice! Thank you so much! 🙌🏼💛🙌🏼”
“Eeee! I'm so excited about your feedback, thank you!”
…gaining clarity…
“I needed this! So hard to ‘see’ my own writing, having your eyes (and insights) is beyond helpful.”
'“Oh my gosh thank you so much. I know what to do next.”
…and offering back some pretty sweet encouragement:
“You are a rock star!”
SECOND things are gonna go slightly differently than in the past, so let’s quickly lay the groundwork.
Here’s how to participate:
Head to the comments and share a bit of in-the-works writing. Share writing that makes you cringe at how unfinished it is, no judgments here. Could be a title, sentence, or paragraph. *Bonus point if you also ask for the type of feedback you want!
Pick 1-2 comments and offer advice. This is where things get a little different - I’m inviting you to join me in leaving feedback! We’re all here to share and support each other, so pick any writing from the thread that draws you in and reply with a tidbit of encouragement and advice for your fellow writer. *Bonus point for exercising radical kindness when you offer any edits today.
Stay tuned for my personal edits, selected from today’s comment section and published in an upcoming standalone post. I’ll still be popping into today’s thread to give some editorial advice here and there, but I’ll also be choosing an especially intriguing bit of writing, revealing my full edits, and including a key takeaway. (A great options for folks who don’t like participating but still want to get all the good, juicy writing advice from a longtime editor.)
*2 Bonus Points = 1 Month Free. Rack up TWO bonus points today (one bonus point for sharing a piece of writing plus the type of feedback you want, another bonus point for offering kind guidance to a fellow writer) and I’ll comp you a free month of The Editing Spectrum <3
Meet you in the comment section!
Hi all (and thanks for do this!). Here's the opening to my latest MS. Open to any and all feedback and would love brutal honesty :)
There’s a wolf on the loose, but I spend my days trying to catch mice. Some locals cook a chicken, arrosto, in an effort to placate him.
Him, her, I assume male. Women don’t roam the world alone, stalking, hunting, killing. Whole villages don’t fall prey to hysteria because they fear females.
I’ve caught three mice this week. Capture. Release. Capture. Release. It could be the same one, cunning, coming back to snack on the treats I leave out to lure them. But it doesn’t feel like that. It feels like I’m being invaded. My home, infested with rodents, a tide of vermin moving under floorboards, while the eyes of the wolf watch me every time I go into the forest.
The locals call him Biondo. He is only half wolf. Scientists had captured him, tested him, then released him. Like I do. They say he is part dog. That it’s a catastrophe for the eco-system. The locals fear him more than a purebred. His canine genetics make him unafraid of people. He wants to be close, wants belly rubs and sticks to fetch and a fire to sleep in front of. But the wolf-half is stronger. He’ll get close, closer, closer, then revert to type, and kill.
Thank you Amanda and other writers for your help. I am working in my clinic today so will drop in when I can to offer comments to others but if timing doesn't permit I promise to show up later!
I have a disaster happening over here🤣 I'm working on a series about how to create change in our life to gear up for the new year. This post talks about the two sides of us, our deepest, inner soulful self and the loud one (our unconscious mind) who takes over. I am using the word Loudypants for this because it gets the point across and is different, but perhaps it doesn't work? I shortened it to LP during the piece.
I am looking for help with the opening sentence but have included a little more for context:
It is our life’s work to move toward Wholeness. This can get tricky because it seems there are two parts of us – let’s call them Wholeness and Loudypants.
Loudypants changes their mind depending on the situation, is demanding and relentless. LP exhausts us.
Wholeness makes us feel great. This is the heart-centered part of us that never changes regardless of what’s happening. Because they are the soul of who we are they always lead us in the right direction once we learn to listen. Wholeness is based on quiet things like trust and surrender and is rarely something that has been modeled in our childhood. Wholeness yearns to grow because they know that’s how we feel fulfilled.