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From the Reading Chair

Developmental editor Laurel Cohn shares insights, tips and advice on writing and editing your work, and discusses how to navigate the sometimes tricky terrain of the development phase, in order to reach your publishing goals

Pull up a seat and settle in

Over the last three decades and more I’ve worked with hundreds of writers, many of whom have gone on to be successfully published. Not one of them has ever said, ‘Oh, that was easier than I thought it would be!’

I don’t say this to put you off, but to be real with you about the challenges and the joys that are part of what it means to be a writer.

From the Reading Chair offers my perspective on some of the issues I see writers wrestle with both on the page, and off the page.

Laurel

All Articles

Trimming and tightening text is a little like pruning in the garden to increase the quality of flowering and fruiting, to remove deadwood, and to improve the overall structure and shape.
Does advice to trim and tighten your writing mean shorter sentence lengths?
The books we tend to find most satisfying are the ones that evoke readers' trust by allowing them imaginative space to enter the story.
Narrative momentum is that urge that makes you want to keep turning the pages.
To be a successful self-publisher you have to be a 'Jack of all trades'.
How can we improve our writing by thinking about the reader's experience?
It takes a deep commitment to write a memoir manuscript for publication. Are you prepared to take the plunge?

Resources for Writers

Links to organisations for writers
Discover more about the craft of writing and the writing life with these recommended books and podcasts.

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