My humps, my lovely lady humps. Check it out.

OK, so that headline is a BIT of a stretch. But as long as you're tapping along the beat I've had stuck in my head for an hour, we're starting off in the same place.

I've hit a writing hump, and I'm not sure what to do about it: When is it really time to let go of a chapter and move on?

I'm working on a new book, which is totally exciting seeing as how I've finished three and still find myself with more stories to tell. (Isn't that always a big fear – thinking that you might not have any more stories left in you? ... Well, it is for me.) Anyway, I spent weeks outlining the first few chapters, detailing the characters and the multiple plots, and drawing out my clues, romances and philosophies.

And, I'm happy to say that it's paid off. It's about an awesome female anthropologist, Alana Wendall, who can see ghosts, told from the 3rd perspectives of the her, the ghosts and the ghosts when they were human. It's roughly based on a story I was told when I was a child about how my great-great-grandmother came over to the US from Austria when she was a young woman. And, it's SO FUN in the creepy, mysterious way! This particular story, my fourth full-length and third adult-ish novel (because I can see my 114/15-year-old self reading them happily) is two chapters in and shaping up REALLY nicely.

...Except that I'm becoming my own worst enemy. Now that I know what's coming (based on all my studious pre-work work), I've found myself content for the past 2 WEEKS going over ... and over ... and over that second chapter until I pretty much can't tell what I love about it and what I hate about it anymore.

The struggles of being an editor trying to be a writer hasn't always been this difficult. In fact, I ROCK at my revisions. Normally, I write a long passage in a short burst, spend a few days fixing it, then move on and repeat the process. I have gotten stuck like this before – a damaged DVD stuck in pause while I relive the same set of scenes until my eyes blur up and I shut the document in frustration – but this time I'm really struggling to move on.

The beginning is so often the hardest part of the story to write. So many choices are open to us in those first few chapters. Should I introduce this character now, or later? Maybe a hint will do? Should I reveal the romantic inclinations or let it burst on the scene in a few chapters? How much it too much with teasing dialogue before the reader slams the book shut with an exasperated 'OK, sheesh! I get the point!'

There's so much story to tell at the beginning that we often dump it all out there as quickly as we can, figuring we'll sort it all out later on. No, the reader has to know the background. They need to know how much thought I've put into this. Right?

The only solace I'm taking is that every pass through makes this chapter stronger and more defined. But, is this foundation more important that moving forward? Perhaps the strength of the base will lead to stronger chapters later on?

The last issue: I'm not even done writing the chapter yet. GRRR.

I think it's time to forego Fergie and her toe-tapping beats, and set aside some quiet time for myself. Does anyone have any tips on how to move past my humps?

Does anyone have any tips for me?

PS-- Searching for 'my humps' on Bing for a good image = a bad idea.

Your Weekly Editing Tips

The cat's outta the bag. It's only in this writing lark that I moonlight, occasionally query and lose myself in my own worlds.

In the real world, I'm an editor. Not a book editor – a copy, line-by-line, find-your-voice-and-work-it editor who's passion it is to make other people look fabulous. Professionally, I have years of experience working in print and online media for newspapers, magazines, web sites – even elevators. I've (for real) been dubbed the tsarina of style and the queen of commas.

I won't compliment-sandwich you because I know that you need to hear the bad before you can really appreciate the good. This can make me a real pain-in-the-ass to write for, but at least I tell you what's wrong in a helpful way (if not tone) – give an agent/publisher a dirty manuscript and they just won't write you back at all.

...But I'm not that annoying kind of editor who sits back with a red pen (though I do unabashedly use a red pen) and dictates how things should and shouldn't be based on a set of arbitrary rules. I'm the kind who revels in letting the writer find his/her own voice. I love getting into the prose and writing suggestions with 'Is this what you meant to say?' and smiley faces. I love teaching people how to be better within the parameters of their own talent.

I've re-found this purpose recently with Deana's GUTGAA Blogfest (see side panel). Amist worry that I'd run out of constructive things to say with 30+ participating authors with their own ideas – or worse, making enemies with my honest critiques – I found bliss. And redundancy. And some very vibrant writing by very talented authors who simply need to find a willing, dust-free bookshelf.

Thus, I came up with a few tips that I seemed to write on every critique. Enjoy :)

– Adverbs aren't always terrible. I love a well-placed adverb. Constantly trying to replace them is just not a great use of your time. But, if you think you have TOO MANY, I found a blog recently that had a great idea on how to erase them while also making your writing more full: Angie's Adverb Charades. I’m totally going to use this trick myself.

– Be consistent. Want to use a series comma? Fine by me (even though it hurts my head), just make sure you always do it. If you're going to spell something oddly, then the least you can do is *always* spell it that way. You can make your MC totally annoying, and it'll always be OK as long as you do it consistently.

– Know grammar rules. Try to learn a new one every week. Here are a few just to break it down:

     -Capitalize the first letter of every sentence, the proper name of someone and, only when referring to them in dialogue, Mom and Dad. Otherwise, 'my mom and dad' stays lowercased.
     -Repeat after me: COMMAS ARE NOT PAUSES. Do not inject them into sentences because you need a mental pause.
     -Never EVER separate the subject and the verb of a sentence by a comma. You can, though, separate them with non-essential clauses, which are always set off by commas: 'Jack, who never liked fishing, dreaded the annual trip with his dad.
     -Put a comma before the word ‘but.’ Always. Just do it.
     -Finally, properly used commas are like good editors: When you use them, you won’t even notice they’re there. That’s the way they should be – unobtrusive yet completely fulfilling their roles as punctuation marks.

– Make sure your lists are concise, necessary and properly formed. One of the biggest issues I see with writers is that they don't understand the rules of lists. You can only group 'like' things: nouns go with nouns; verbs go with verbs.
     Example: For breakfast, I ate eggs, ham, and toasted a bagel. WRONG-O.
You should be able to take each individual item and refer it back to the start of the sentence: I ate eggs. I ate ham. I ate toasted a bagel. See how that doesn't work? When you're writing a list – even one with only two items – make sure everything matches up.

– Be concise. If you can say something in fewer words, you should.

– Show off your talent with your writing, not your words. I very recently gave this advice to someone. Writers often get caught up in the romance of writing. We all know it’s very exciting, but you don’t have to use huge, flowery words and descriptions to explain something that, in its essence, is simple. I call this ‘literary writing’ – and it’s a NO NO. You should be trying to impress us with the quality of the story, not the words you use to tell it.

Hopefully this was helpful  :) I think I might make this a weekly thing, where I share some of my previous week's finds with you all! Please feel free to add your own, offer up ideas I may have missed or even ask me a question. I really, REALLY love helping. If you'd rather, you can email me straight at amplante@gmail.com and I'll answer it offline.