Hello ,

I've spent all this last week gathering books, podcast, websites, etc to help you SAVE money when it's time to edit and ultimately make you a better writer. Because guess what? The BETTER you are at the CRAFT of writing, the less you need to rely on an editor (especially a developmental editor, which is the most expensive.)

Why? Because I don't want any writer to spend more money than they have to. Because being an Indie writer is hard enough and expensive enough! And because all the things I've gathered will make us all better writers, which is definitely something we can get on board with!

A young writer wrote to me a few months back and asked how she could quickly fix the paragraph formatting of her book. She had contacted an editor who said they wouldn't take on the project unless she added paragraph indents. I saw the manuscript. There were NO paragraph breaks. At all. Not to mention indents. This wasn't a formatting issue. This was a grammar issue.

She was lucky the editor said no, because they could have easily said yes and then CHARGED her crazy prices to add in all the grammar. Why? Because it would be an extremely TEDIOUS job to do it.

Although I know you all aren't like this young author, I figured we would start with the basics: GRAMMAR. I was smart enough to pick up the top book I have below for you in my twenties, a breakthrough moment in my arrogance of thinking I know everything I needed to know. LOL.

If you struggle with grammar or it has been a while since you've brushed up on it, you might think about checking out the resources below. Having as good a grammar as possible from the beginning will save you TIME, BACK PAIN (from hunching over to find those pesky commas) and MONEY. The less your editor needs to add in commas and break up paragraphs and change Em dashes, the less they will charge you.

So let's get into the grammar tools for the day:

First up are books

Bird-by-Bird is a great book. That's the first grammar book I read and I have two copies of it! 

The English Grammar Workbook I don't know, but I thought it looked interesting.

Grammar For Fiction Writers has tons of good reviews on Amazon. 

Say What? was recommended to me by another author, but I have not yet bought it.

Complete English Grammar Rules for the heavy studier in this group.

Write and Edit the Damn Book just looked super cute!

Now let's look at websites:

ProWriting Aid is a great site. When you sign up for a free account you can sign up for their newsletter which sends information about grammar weekly. Learning from the things they flag on your writing helps as well.

Grammarly is much the same as ProWriting Aid. Some people like it better than, some people like it less.

Writer's Digest is a great site with LOTS of blog posts on writing and grammar. Check them out!

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I know this email was heavier than usual, but I hope it was valuable! Next week we will talk about getting better at our craft and it will be just as full of links and references for you!

Until next week