Posts By: tmcgann

Copy editing is essential – Part II

I had heard through the grape vine that copy editing was essential but I knew that my English skills were so good that I didn’t need no stinkin’ copy editor. Well maybe… After all those rewrites, I did recall some errors I had made but had not immediately corrected. I could do another rewrite (groan), or I could test my skills by sending my manuscript out to a copy editor, just to prove how good I really am. I researched copy editing and, invariably, the advice was always the same. Do not think you can copy edit yourself. Do not… Read more »

Copy editing is essential – Part I

Oh, you are so proud of your completed manuscript! You can’t help but sit back and admire all your hard work. Good for you. You deserve it. Enjoy the moment but, and you already know this, you are far from being done. You are somewhere in the middle of the process of becoming an author. You haven’t lost interest in your project have you? I hope not because the next step is editing and it gets yawn-boring. This also means you must send out your baby to have it carved up by a total stranger. Here is a brief summary… Read more »

Writing your manuscript

So you have determined that you are indeed a writer. You just cannot help but write. The next step is to decide what the the subject of your manuscript will be.  After all you are determined to become an author and being an author requires that you get published and get paid. That requires a finished manuscript. “What should I write about?” There is an oft-repeated axiom that states that you should write about what you know. Comments of that nature are a bit simplistic since it is impossible to write about what you do not know. The real answer… Read more »

So you want to be an author…

So you want to be an author, huh. So do a lot of us, including me. In that pursuit I am engaged in finding and completing the steps necessary to accomplish that end. It ain’t easy. Among the throngs of those who write the definition of who is an author and who is a writer is a hot topic. For purposes of this discussion let’s define an author as anyone who has gotten published and been paid. All the rest of us are just writers. The term “just writers” is not an attempt to diminish our time-won rapture. After all,… Read more »

Fifty Shades of Grey spanks the publishing world

  Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed have spanked the publishing world with their surprising record-breaking sales. The books were written by  E.L. James a British indie-author who got her start by posting an early version of this story on the internet as Twilight fan fiction. It was then picked up by the Australian publisher, The Writer’s Coffee Shop, who printed e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. The explosive success of this sexually explicit trilogy was primarily driven by female fans passing on their illicit find of “mommy porn” by word of mouth to female friends.  It… Read more »

An open apology to my wife concerning females in male locker rooms

Baby, please let me explain. It was just an article I wrote because of the episode with the Jets and the female reporter that was in the news.  I didn’t really mean it the way you took it.  You know how I get sometimes.  And, no, I don’t really want to interview Anna Kournikova while she’s showering.  I was just kidding.  Besides I don’t have the proper press pass. Me and the guys were down at Hooters having a few beers and watching the game when the subject came up about that hot attractive female reporter who wanted to interview… Read more »

Concerning female reporters in male locker rooms

Females reporters in a male locker-room? Are you kidding? Hello! Is anybody home? Yeah?  Well, there are many male reporters would like to interview Anna Kournikova while she’s showering too. Let’s get real here. The New York Jets got into some unwarranted trouble a while back when a female reporterette entered the Jets locker-room after practice to conduct an interview. She was whistled at and called a “bonita senorita.”  The media reported the story and the feminists got all in a twitter. You have fifty-some sweaty guys coming off the field with their testosterone all pumped up and in walks… Read more »

The Journey is the Destination

My two brothers (Brian and Greg) and I have enjoyed motorcycling, cumulatively, for over 100 years. When we can, we ride together. We currently ride cruising bikes capable of limited off-road use to enable us to go exploring. I ride a 1992 Kawasaki 750 Vulcan; Brian a 1992 Honda 750 Nighthawk; Greg a 2002 Suzuki 805 Intruder. We only dare travel 100 miles between refuelings so range is a serious on-going problem especially on our more remote trips. We have explored much of LI from NYC to Montauk Point (check out the dirt trails north of Montauk Hwy. near the… Read more »