When writing your book, stop writing these phrases, “I feel; I believe; In my opinion; To me; etc.”
It just sounds too wishy-washy. You need to instill confidence in your reader. If you’re writing a book on your non-fiction topic, you are the expert. So, when you’re self-editing your book, get rid of these phrases. If you don’t catch yourself doing it, then do a “find” command for these phrases in your Word document.
You are the expert. Before you can write a good book, you have to believe it. Then you have to write so your readers believe it too.
Dave Lieber, unknown to me before last Thursday, is someone who left a big impression on me. A columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dave Lieber is a fantastic storyteller. His presentation alternately made me laugh and moved me to tears. He demonstrated, by showing, not telling, how to use “your story” in marketing your product or service.
We spoke briefly at the conference, he asked me what I did, and gave me some great, unsolicited advice for marketing a service I provide. He’s obviously got great business sense and knows a great deal about many topics. (I guess you’d have to as a columnist!) I started reading his book, The Dog of My Nightmares. It’s a collection of his newspaper columns that are insightful and entertaining. Look for a full review when I’m finished reading.
Head over to his website to check out at least the introductory video. I usually don’t like video on websites because it takes (gasp) a few seconds to load. But his is worth the wait. Don’t forget to pick up a copy of his book while you’re there. It’s easily read in short bursts because each story is only a few pages long.
Thanks Dave, for your presentation and your advice.
Where to begin?
From last Thursday through yesterday, I attended the Infinity Publishing’s Express Yourself conference in Valley Forge, PA. I spoke at Writer’s Day on Thursday on how to self-edit and how to hire and use a professional editor. I had a PowerPoint and Klickerz interactive presentation planned, but as luck would have it, the projector was giving us fits and I had to change midstream. Mental note: Always have a plan B and don’t be too dependant on technology! I think it went okay though.
On Friday, I participated in an editing panel along with Beth Mansbridge, Melanie Rigney, LinDee Rochelle, Caryn Search and Emily Lawless. What was interesting was that we had a variety of different specialties amongst us, sometimes had different definitions of the varieties of editing, and all had different pricing structures.
And of course, we had some great presentations from presenters I will profile over the next week or so. I also have some pictures but with my new camera and picture software, I’m having issues trying to get them from the photo software to regular picture files and then online. So stay tuned until I talk to my photo tech support (Ed).
It’s always great to reconnect with colleagues and friends. And my thanks goes out to Infinity Publishing for allowing me to be a part of this great event.