Writing and Editing
Episodes
90. Clarity and Style in Academic and Creative Writing
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBecca Babcock teaches creative and academic writing at Dalhousie University, as well as English and Canadian Studies. She has also publi...
89. 15 Details Your Proofreader Will Notice but You Won’t
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne provides examples of minute, exquisite details that a professional proofreader is likely to notice, and makes a plea that you have...
88. Differences between Academic Writing and Fiction Writing for a New Novelist
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Nancy K. Napier, who is Distinguished Professor Emerita at Boise State University. She has published widely ...
87. Philosophy, Comedy, and the World’s Problems
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is John Gibbs, who’s a retired lecturer in cultural studies and US politics, as well as a podcaster on philos...
86. Monetizing, Branding, and Videorecording Your Podcast
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode is a continuation of the conversation I had in the previous episode with Lindsay McMahon. Lindsay is co-host of the wildly ...
85. Increasing Downloads and Monetizing Your Podcast
12 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest for this episode is Lindsay McMahon, who is co-host of the wildly popular All Ears English. It’s an English as a Second Langu...
84. The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about his participation in the contest, especially as part of a group of friends including Mel and Martin, who also provide ...
83. Friendliness and Meaning in Life
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Hillary Webb. She has a background touching on very diverse aspects of life and living. Her bachelor’s deg...
82. 10 Things That Will Make Your Novel Better
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne presents a 10-item admittedly non-comprehensive list.
81. God, Love, Sex, and Atheism
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Miracle Sims. She’s a busy and creative person, but our discussion focused on religion generally, and on h...
80. Memoir, Storytelling, and Engaging the Audience
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest for this episode is Mark W. Travis, a film and video director, and author of the #1 bestselling book Directing Feature Films as...
79. Donnie Boivin on going from f*cked to focused
24 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest for this episode is Donnie Boivin. After serving in the Marine Corps, he he eventually landed his first sales job and has spent...
78. making and teaching film with Jesse Filipko
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Jesse Filipko. He’s been teaching young people filmmaking for 15 years, and has produced podcasts for over...
77. Shanti Hershenson: Teen Sci-fi Novelist
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textShanti Hershenson’s first two novellas were published when she was in the sixth grade, although she had been writing even before then....
76. Mark A. Herschberg on the workplace and your career
17 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest for this episode is Mark A. Herschberg. Mark is the author of an excellent book called The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for...
#75 – illustration and design with Wendy Fedan
15 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest for this episode is Wendy Fedan. Wendy is an award-winning full-time freelance illustrator/designer, and last year she launched...
#74 – Jennifer Westbrook: copywriting and strategic web design
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Jennifer Westbrook. She describes her passion as “helping women entrepreneurs earn a full-time income doin...
#73 – Erin Ollila: copywriting, SEO, and conversion
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode is Erin Ollila. She calls herself a “Conversion copywriter. Copywriting coach. Word slinger. Wing woman.” S...
#72 – book coaching, 3
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDr. Heather Davis is a storyteller, certified book coach, copy editor, and an author platform expert. She has a B.S. in biology from Sal...
#71 – book coaching, 2
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAs a professional writer since the age of 20, ROmana supports people who want to get started with their own writing. She offers differen...
#70 – book coaching, 1
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMarjorie Turner Hollman has completed four Easy Walking guide books, and the backstory is essentially her memoir of learning to find joy...
#69: running and teaching creative writing
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNita Sweeney is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running...
#68: censorship and woke cancellation, case 2
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses the case of standup comedian Andrew Schulz. He bought his standup special back from Amazon for $1 million (his life&apos...
#67: censorship and woke cancellation, case 1
09 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPete Zaborszky is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded a privacy advocate organization, and now is the CEO and founder of Retalk...
#66: what is “comprehensive editing”?
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHannah Lyon is a professional editor who has assisted dozens of authors in both fiction and nonfiction, working with them to achieve suc...
#65: helping writers with procrastination
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDeb Courtney hosts the popular Write Drunk, Edit Sober Improv Writing sessions online and in-person in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The...
#64: literary fiction and genre fiction
03 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBased partly on his interviews of many writers over the past month or so on the podcast, Wayne offers his opinions and thoughts about li...
#63: author interview – Dave Milbrandt, novels and screenwriting
02 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDave Milbrandt is the author of Fool's Luck and the Jim Mitchell series of novels (Chasing Deception, Undue Pressure, and Running)....
#62: author interview – Molly O’Connor, novel (general fiction)
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMolly O'Connor describes herself as truly a country gal. She lives in a large, century-old, farmhouse, teeming with four active gra...
#61: author interview – Kirsten Weiss, cozy steampunk mystery
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKirsten Weiss writes mysteries for people who want to escape but with real, complex, and flawed but likable characters. If there’s mag...
#60: author interview – Nancy O’Brien, political satire
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNancy O’Brien was raised in small-town southern Ontario and ventured to Ottawa in her early twenties with dreams of making a differenc...
#59: StoryBilder – helping new writers write their novels
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTanya Gough is the founder of StoryBilder, a creative writing platform for new and aspiring writers. It’s built to foster creativity n...
#58: design, creativity, and the three g’s
25 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRobin Landa holds the title of Distinguished Professor in the Michael Graves College of Kean University in Union, New Jersey. She’s al...
#57: how audiobooks are voiced and produced
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSheri Saginor is an audiobook narrator and producer based in Boston. She has over 20 years experience as a speaker, writer, and performe...
#56: editing subversively
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCarol Saller describes herself succinctly as “helping writers and editors on behalf of the reader.” She has written six books for yo...
#55: write about your past fast (life-writing, episode iv)
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLauren Hunter is a writer and consultant, with a career spanning more than two decades in public relations, content marketing, freelance...
#54: writing biography (life-writing, episode iii)
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest today is Rachael Hanel. She’s a writer and also an associate professor of Mass Communication at Minnesota State University, M...
#53: the how and why of memoirs (life-writing, episode ii)
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy guest on this episode of Editing Writing is Donna Mazzitelli. She is a writing coach who helps writers particularly with memoirs. Don...
#52: coaching a memoir writer (life-writing, episode i)
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBarbara Boyd says on her website that a book coach is a combination of “an editor, a project manager, a mentor, and an honest BFF … ...
#51: writing, rewriting, but not being published
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJody Sperling is a fiction writer, and one of the few who at one time has had a literary agent to represent his book to publishers. But ...
#50: does your self-published book have the parts in the right order?
04 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne provides details about how the various parts of a self-published book should generally be organized, drawing on information in thr...
#49: a funny thing happened on the way to the podcast
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview I did with Meryl Klemow. She’s a standup comedian, performing mostly around C...
#48: sex, dystopia, and satire
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview I did with Lindsay Lees. Lindsay is originally from Los Angeles, but grew up ...
#47: writing movies and writing fiction
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview I did with Ali Khamseh. He describes himself on a website as "a bearded ne...
#46: writing concisely and clearly
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview I did with Erin Lebacqz. Erin has been teaching writing for over 25 years. Her ...
#45: book coaching
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode consists of an interview I did with Katie Wall. She is an editor and certified book coach who works with authors to improve...
#44: writing fiction about grief (part 2)
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne continues with the example of an excerpt from his own published novel, Will's Dead Wife, to illustrate some aspects of lite...
#43: writing fiction about grief (part 1)
15 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne uses the example of his own published novel, Will's Dead Wife, to illustrate some aspects of literary fiction.
#42: why you can write even though you think you can’t
13 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode consists of an interview I did of Mike Ulmer, who’s a writer based in Hamilton, Ontario. He often writes for a business r...
#41: the musky stench of Twitter
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about his messy relationship with Twitter, including about a half dozen break-ups, and one just last week.
#40: book indexing
07 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode consists of an interview I did of Mike Oppenheim, whose day job is compiling back-of-the-book indexes. I was interested in ...
#39: don't edit that
01 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses the importance of an editor not editing a writer's ideas, but rather the writer's expression of those ideas. H...
#38: the heartbreak of small-press publishing
23 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing is an interview I did with my good friend Oscar Martens, who has published two collections of short lite...
#37: marketing your book good enough
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing is an interview I did with Emily Enger. She runs a marketing service for writers of all kinds—though p...
#36: writing funny: an interview with a standup comedian
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe comedian who’s my guest today is actually someone I’ve known personally for the past 5 or 6 years. Matt Balaker. He and I co-wro...
#35: the importance of detail in writing
16 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about two aspects of detail in writing: le mot juste and the telling detail. All inspired by another podcaster oversharing a...
#34: how do I start writing?
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview I did with Ashley Kalagian Blunt. Ashley is a writer with three books to her cr...
#33: telling lies
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the lies in our culture, but the truth among pornographers and standup comedians.
#32: writing and editing porn
10 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Editing Writing consists of an interview and chat I had with Robert Rosen on April 10. He was in New York City and I was...
#31: the language of COVID
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses some of the new words and uses of words that have come into English in the last couple of years since COVID began, and a...
#30: from the personal micro story to an historical novel
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode consists of an interview I did via Zoom with Lauca (she is in Germany and I am in Canada). I had come across her website an...
#29: tone
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the importance of tone, and consistency of tone, in writing. He defines the term, provides some examples to illustrate...
#28: the five possible fates of any word in the English language
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about dictionaries and words, specifically the Oxford English Dictionary, and the five possible things that happen to any wo...
#27: writing comedy and getting slapped in the face for it
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne makes some comments about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the Academy Awards ceremony, and extrapolates to talk about art in...
#26: “can we stop writing short stories, please?”
26 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, Wayne interviews young fantasy writer Sarah Humpherys, who had her first novel published when she was just 16 years old...
#25: the uses and abuses of euphemism
25 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the use of euphemism not only in our everyday personal lives, but also in society in general as well as in contexts su...
#24: the book was way better than the movie
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses in general how it's inappropriate to make comparisons between versions of the same work done in two different art f...
#23: the most common errors that an editor sees in your writing
20 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne provides a list of 11 things that, as an editor, he commonly sees in the writing by his clients. How many do you know?
#22: three ways to improve your writing
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about blocks, sentences, and transitions.
#21: I receive an email from NATO and the EU
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne receives an assignment from NATO and the EU to write a communiqué tomorrow about the war in Ukraine.
#20: writing and lying
11 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about lying in in writing, in film, and in real life.
#19: some reference works a writer should have
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAs they say, it's like it says on the tin: Wayne discusses and gives some examples of some of the basic reference works (dictionari...
#18: the different ways to write sex scenes
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne uses examples from fiction and from film to talk about the 4 (or 5) different ways in which sex scenes are done:ClinicalEuphemisti...
17. Writing Poetry and Writing Non-fiction
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne interviews and chats with his friend Mel Simoneau, who's written and published both poetry and non-fiction, about the similar...
16. Writing War
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne analyzes the writing in the speech that Vladimir Putin gave on Russian television before the invasion of Ukraine. There are simila...
15. The Importance of Consistency in Editing
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses why and how editors keep all aspects of their clients' work consistent. One of the main tools in this effort is the...
14. "Accurately rendered"—An Opinion about Great Fiction
20 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about his valuing the style and the how of fiction (and film), and along the way has some comments on non-fiction, editing, ...
13. Self-publishing Your Book
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the various things you need to do in order to self-publish your book, and also identifies a new player in the overall ...
12. Editing Controversial Subject Matter
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses his own practices and those of others in handling "hard material." He goes on to talk about freedom of express...
11. Mixed Metaphors: What’s Wrong with This Picture?
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses mixed metaphors and makes a case for why they should be categorically avoided in your writing. Along the way, he has som...
10. The Singular They: An Interview with Linguist Dr. Kirby Conrod
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne interviews Dr. Kirby Conrod, who is a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Washington. Dr. Conrod’s commentary, especial...
9. How to Pick an Editor
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne goes through his list of the most important things you should keep in mind when you are choosing an editor.
8. The Semi-colon: Punctuation’s Most Endangered Species
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the origin of the semi-colon and makes a case for why it may become extinct on its own, or perhaps should be eliminate...
7. Editing and Not Editing a Writer’s Style
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne talks about the care that an editor must take when working with the particular writing style of a client. All are different. Hear ...
6. An Editor’s Eye for Minute Details and for the Whole Structure
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses the two opposite poles of editing: attention to minutiae and attention to overall structure.
5. Things in Fiction Reviews That Are Irrelevant
21 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses reviews of fiction in the broad sense, focusing on things that reviewers ask that are irrelevant—and suggesting things...
4. Good Writing Means Leaving Things Out
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses the importance of a type of spareness in writing fiction, and cites a short story by Raymond Carver, novels by Vladimir ...
3. Changes in the Publishing Business
14 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses some changes that have happened in traditional publishing in the last decade or more, and speculates on how these change...
2. Four Examples of Good and Bad Writing
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne chooses examples from four works to illustrate good and bad writing: What Strange Paradise, the Giller Prize–winning novel by Om...
1. How an Editor Makes Your Writing Better
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne discusses the four types of editing and the "deliverables" that an editor owes to their client.