This Is Not A Writing Manual

Real-world writing advice, minus all the lectures. You're an aspiring writer. Maybe you've just discovered your love of words and dream of being a novelist someday. Maybe you've been filling notebooks with science-fiction stories since middle school. Maybe you're contemplating a liberal arts degree, but you don't know what the heck you're going to do with it. The last thing you need is another preachy writing manual telling you how you should write. This book isn't a writing manual. It is a series of candid and irreverent essays on the writing life, from a writer who's lived it. Kerri Majors shares stories from her own life that offer insights on the realities all writers face: developing a writing voice, finding a real job (and yes, you do need to find one), taking criticism, getting published, and dealing with rejection. Don't have enough time to write? Learn how to plan your days to fit it all in. Not sure how your guilty pleasures and bad habits translate into literature? Kerri explains how soap operas and eavesdropping can actually help your writing. Need a reader for your first novel? Find a writing buddy or a writing group that will support you. Nervous about submitting your first piece? Learn from Kerri's own roller coaster journey to find an agent and get published. This Is Not a Writing Manual is the writing memoir for young writers who want to use their talents in the real world. ATTENTION TEACHERS! The Teacher's Edition for This Is Not a Writing Manual is now available! This FREE supplemental PDF includes a series of lesson plans and writing class essentials that will improve the writing of students in middle and high school--and beyond. To access, e-mail us at [email protected] to receive your free download, or visit Kerri Majors's website.

In this brilliantly conceived and executed book, they erase forever the guilt and self criticism of non-doing that has plagued western civilization. If you have ever aspired to write a book, or if you are identified with doing rather than being, this book will change your life. Prepare for a great adventure!

The info-packed, truth-telling guide expectant and new mothers have been screaming into their pillows for. So you're making a person...and no one will stop telling you what to do about it. Your friends, your neighbors, your Uber driver--everyone is giving you unsolicited advice, to which Beth and Jackie say: F*ck advice! There's no "right" way to be pregnant or a new mom, only stretchy pants to be worn and choices to be made. This illustrated guide asks and answers all the essential questions that pop up from the first trimester to the fourth, such as: Should I have an unmedicated or drugged-out birth? (Up to you!) Will I have time to pee as a new mom? (Maybe!) How do I avoid hating my partner? (That's a little more complicated.) Funny, feminist, and, above all, pro-mom, this book is an actually useful baby shower gift.

If you want to write a book that's going to sell to both publishers and readers, you need to know how to produce a marketable work and help it become successful. It starts the moment you have an idea. That's when you begin thinking about the first elements of the business plan that will make your project the best it can be. The reality is that you don't want to spend time and energy writing a book that will never get read. The way to avoid that is to create a business plan for your book, and evaluate it (and yourself) through the same lens that an agent or acquisitions editor would. The Author Training Manual will show you how to get more creative and start looking at your work with those high standards in mind. Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, or intend to publish traditionally or self-publish, author Nina Amir will teach you how to conduct an effective competitive analysis for your work and do a better job at delivering the goods to readers than similar books that are already on the shelf. Packed with step-by-step instructions, idea evaluations, sample business plans, editor and agent commentaries, and much more, The Author Training Manual provides the information you need to transform from aspiring writer to career author.

A little more than seventy-five years ago, Kate L. Turabian drafted a set of guidelines to help students understand how to write, cite, and formally submit research writing. Seven editions and more than nine million copies later, the name Turabian has become synonymous with best practices in research writing and style. Her Manual for Writers continues to be the gold standard for generations of college and graduate students in virtually all academic disciplines. Now in its eighth edition, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations has been fully revised to meet the needs of today’s writers and researchers. The Manual retains its familiar three-part structure, beginning with an overview of the steps in the research and writing process, including formulating questions, reading critically, building arguments, and revising drafts. Part II provides an overview of citation practices with detailed information on the two main scholarly citation styles (notes-bibliography and author-date), an array of source types with contemporary examples, and detailed guidance on citing online resources. The final section treats all matters of editorial style, with advice on punctuation, capitalization, spelling, abbreviations, table formatting, and the use of quotations. Style and citation recommendations have been revised throughout to reflect the sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. With an appendix on paper format and submission that has been vetted by dissertation officials from across the country and a bibliography with the most up-to-date listing of critical resources available, A Manual for Writers remains the essential resource for students and their teachers.

Searchable electronic version of print product with fully hyperlinked cross-references.

The author of How to Prepare Your Manuscript for a Publisher now presents more essential advice for fiction and nonfiction writers. This invaluable reference offers easy access to stratagems and tried-and-true literary shortcuts that help writers save time, improve style, and avoid common pitfalls.