tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87340256043348108772024-03-08T04:24:44.787-08:00Frank Young - Writer and EditorJim Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10360318812626909513noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8734025604334810877.post-41392234906632458722021-04-02T12:39:00.000-07:002011-04-03T15:22:05.744-07:00What makes a good writer?Whether it's business writing, journalism, criticism, children's books, blogging, advertising copy, fiction or non-fiction, good writing seems effortless. It's easy to read and understand. It presents complex ideas in clear, straightforward tones.<br />
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In my three decades of writing and editing work, I've done all of the above--and more. I've written millions of published words. Each word I've written has taught me something. In all of them, I've aspired to create good writing.<br />
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The chief goal of good writing is to communicate. If it succeeds, it informs and enriches the reader's mind. It can enlighten, inspire, amuse, provoke and move the reader. Good writing brings the unknown into sharp focus, and embellishes the well-known with authority and clarity. It takes thought, instinct, wisdom, training and the ability to absorb, digest and express information. <br />
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We've all struggled with bad writing. We encounter it daily--in assembly instructions, in technical manuals, and in magazines, newspapers, blogs and documents. . .<a name='more'></a> We struggle through its clumsy sentences. We read and re-read its lines, in the hope of making sense of its words.<br />
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Bad writing makes us feel stupid. It frustrates, obfuscates, and leaves us reeling in its reckless wake. We want to learn--and to learn, we must be able to understand.<br />
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Good writing rewards us. It gives us knowledge, and it makes us feel good about ourselves. Good writing heightens our senses, lightens our mood, and leaves us eager to know more. Good writing invites us to grow as people.<br />
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Clarity and concision, perception and analysis, insight and empathy--these qualities make a good writer. <br />
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A good writer's job is never done. Each day brings new challenges, experiences, and offers a chance to think, learn and grow. It gives gifts to the writer and to their readers. Good writing brings out the best in us all.Jim Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10360318812626909513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8734025604334810877.post-59410762495054839262015-05-16T15:22:00.005-07:002015-05-16T15:22:55.368-07:00The Fine Art of Procrastination (And How To Live With It)Writing is like starting the engine of a car. Sometimes, without trying, it just fires up, and you find yourself putting words together easily. Just as often, it can be like a cold car on a snowy morning. You sit down, try to get your thoughts in order, try to get into focus...<br />
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and nothing happens.<br />
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You stare at your fingers, as they sit on the keyboard. You might look out the window, take a sip of coffee, check your e-mail. <br />
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Radio silence.<br />
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You force out a couple of paragraphs. As you write, you notice how hard it is, and how slow it's going. Even as you type, you're not happy with the results.<br />
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Unless you HAVE to write to meet a deadline, don't torment yourself. Save the file and step away from the computer. You aren't ready to put down words.<br />
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A great deal of my writing work happens away from the keyboard. Ideas gestate, wax and wane, and (if I'm so blessed) mature into eloquence while I do what, to most of world, seems like "goofing off."<br />
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Beneath what seems to be lethargy is a silent engine. It runs key points and turns of phrase, shuffles the order of ideas, and develops a strong thesis that will result in rapid, clean writing when all is ready.<br />
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All creative minds need these periods of reflection. Writing, painting, drawing, composing music--they're all inverted behaviors. Unless one's ego is super-sized, the thought of anyone, aside from a trusted collaborator, present when work is birthed is unbearable.<br /><br />I learned to write as a staffer for several newspapers and magazines in the 1980s. Some pieces I wrote at home, in ideal seclusion. I had to learn to write quickly amidst chaos. Journalism is rarely polished prose. A writer learns, through trial and error, shortcuts and techniques to cope with the pressure of a ticking clock.<br />
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I've had the experience of seeing a play at 8:00 PM, returning to the newsroom at 10:30, and writing 15-20 inches of copy while the pressman waited for me. Every other element of that newspaper was put to bed. My review of a local theater production was not great news, and would be buried in the paper's Arts or Living section. But it was budgeted, and it had to be written.<br /><br />Under these circumstances, a writer can be forgiven for a clumsy sentence or hasty thoughts. I have never enjoyed writing in this mode. My best work is the result of a lot of thinking, living silently with ideas, and being ready to write as they coalesce.<br />
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When a writer is in this groove, he or she is not writing so much as channeling. It is a joy to have ideas and phrases flow with authority and calm. One has the sensation that the writing is done by some unseen presence. In truth, this writer has done the hard work. They have thought their topic out thoroughly.<br />
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In this example, procrastination--waiting to write until it's TIME to write--is a powerful, positive tool for the author.<br />
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There are those times when a writer simply doesn't want to write. He or she may feel indolent, unfocused or fatigued. It is a challenge to summon clarity and concision in this state of mind. Again, unless you MUST write, step back. Take a walk. Go to the gym. Take a quick nap. Talk to a friend. Buy groceries. Get distance from the vicious circle of a foggy or unwilling mind. Come back when you're ready to roll.<br />
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Seasoned writers develop a bridge between procrastination and productivity. It's vital to develop a discipline towards writing. Every type of writing has a different discipline. Journalism is governed by the five Ws, and by the necessity to make clear what has happened.<br /><br />Fiction asks the writer to know their characters, settings, emotions and themes, and to be sure enough of them all to make words, sentences and paragraphs that are worth reading--and writing.<br /><br />Non-fiction asks us to synthesize both disciplines. A non-fiction piece longer than a typical news story must convey the facts, and explain why this information matters. It typically requires more research, thinking and organization than a news report. The writer still delivers those five Ws, but he or she has the breathing room to elaborate, and to draw deeper connections and more fruitful conclusions.<br />
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Some writers use warm-up exercises to get their engine running. I lack the patience to do such exercises, but if they work for you, use them.<br /><br />I often warm up by copy-editing the previous day's work, or piecing together preliminary ideas for a future project. I can trick myself--before I realize it, I'm in the groove. What might have been a muddle of misery, had I started cold, has become smooth, productive writing.<br />
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The copy isn't perfect, but it contains the essence of the information. Editing and revision will polish the prose, but the ideas are rock-solid.<br /><br />Don't punish yourself by starting cold. Warm up to the work, and you'll be in that sweet spot where the words flow and ideas coalesce. Writing does not have to a chore--it can be a joy.Frank M. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673579882180372546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8734025604334810877.post-29092619243854237952011-04-06T09:31:00.000-07:002011-04-06T09:31:03.007-07:00Five Tips To Instantly Improve Your WritingI read a great deal every day--both for business and pleasure. It's often hard for me to suppress the Internal Copy-Editor as I read. I encounter sentences and phrases that could be better. Sometimes it's one small thing that makes the difference between great writing and "meh" writing.<br />
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Here are my Top Five Tips for keeping the "meh" out of your prose.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">1) Avoid the passive tense.</span></i></b> This is the most common problem I see. The passive tense has no authority. It also uses more words, and thus clouds up writing. There's no reason to write "He was walking down the street," or "They were drinking Diet Pepsi," unless the sentence concludes "when the meteor fell on them."<br />
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Unless the passive verb is there to establish a temporal space--like the lead-in to a joke's punchline--use the past tense. <i>He walked down the street</i> and <i>They drank Diet Pepsi</i> are crisp, instantly clear statements. Your writing has more authority, and your readers will listen to you.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">2) One thought per sentence, please.</span></i></b> In our enthusiasm to express ourselves, we often race headlong into our words. Sometimes we have a great deal to say. We want our thoughts and findings out in the world.<br />
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In this headlong rush, writers may pack several concepts into one sentence or paragraph. This creates the prose equivalent of a mudslide. The concepts moosh together, lose their impact, and daze the reader.<br />
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Rather than say: <i>Congressman Thomas proposed a sweeping new healthcare regulation, while Congressman Simpson fought for changes in a military funding rider..</i>.<br />
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Consider that these are two equally important points. They rate a sentence alone.<br />
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<i>Congressman Thomas proposed a sweeping new healthcare regulation. His colleague, Congressman Simpson, fought for changes in a military funding rider.</i><br />
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It took a few more words, but these two important statements now stand on their own. Readers need that pause between thoughts. It's especially important in journalism, technical writing, and other reportage.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">3) Avoid clichéd adjectives.</span></i></b> Writers, like musicians, have pet phrases that return in their work. Just as a jazz trumpeter, or rock guitarist, may use similar passages in their solos, writers can overuse adjectives.<br />
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<u><b>Two to avoid:</b></u> amazing and hilarious. "Amazing" should be used with extreme care. Modern writing runs rampant with amazing this, amazing that. Not everything can be amazing. Consult your thesaurus. If you don't have a hard copy, go to <a href="http://thesaurus.com/">http://thesaurus.com/</a> and look for alternatives.<br />
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Here, free of charge, are seven alternatives to "amazing:"<br />
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<b>fascinating, marvelous, stunning, incredible, wonderful, remarkable, surprising</b><br />
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As for "hilarious..." This word connotes an extreme state of amusement. It's that roll-on-the-floor, wipe-away-tears, need-new-trousers kind of funny. Not everything is hilarous--and thank goodness for that! We'd be incapacitated in such a world.<br />
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You have options--millions of options--as a writer. Words are a gift. Use them and savor them. Brighten your reader's world with variety. Don't be afraid to make them look up a word. That's why dictionaries exist.<br />
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<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">4) Shorten your sentences.</span></b></i> This is not an adjunct of Tip #2. This is the most common action I perform as an editor. I admire Jack Kerouac's rolling, kinetic paragraphs in <i>On The Road</i> and other novels. There is rarely call for such expansive sentences in everyday prose.<br />
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Always keep your reader in mind. That person has to absorb what you write. They may not have much time to do so. Break it up. Shorter sentences are easier to digest. We have breathing room to take in the words. As a result, we understand what's said.<br />
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Before you release your writing into the world, go over it. Look for meandering sentences. Rewrite them, or turn them into two--or three--sentences. You'll succeed as a writer. You will communicate to your reader.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">5) Be yourself.</span></i></b> I realize this isn't always possible. It's hard to put a personal spin on complex technical writing. Even more serious writing has room for a touch of the writer's personality. It's a gift to the reader, and it renders your writing more readable.<br />
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Corporate writing tends to depersonalize its words--and cloud them in obtuse lingo. It has no soul. Thus, it is among the hardest-to-read prose in the world. Any hint of humanity--be it ever so subtle--is a godsend and gift.<br />
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Whenever you're able, try to write with warmth and a personable quality. Aim for clear, smooth sentences that aren't robotic. Challenge yourself to find a way to do this in all your writing. It gives your reader a sense of connection. This connection is the heart and soul of communication. This is why we write--and read.<br />
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I hope these tips help you write with more ease and pleasure.Frank M. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673579882180372546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8734025604334810877.post-85562181324232826042011-04-04T16:16:00.000-07:002011-04-04T18:02:07.759-07:00What Editing Is--And What It Isn'tThe silent partner of every remarkable writer is an editor. Though writers--myself among them-- complain about, curse, and butt heads with editors, the truth is that we need them.<br />
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As a writer <i>and</i> editor, I've walked both sides of this street. I've had my writing substantially improved--and horribly butchered--by editors. As an editor, I've occasionally offended or annoyed the writers whose work I sought to clarify and improve. I've also had writers thank me for the subtle reinforcements and revisions I've given their work.<br />
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Editing can be a thankless job. It's almost always anonymous. The best editing never calls attention to itself, and is thus invisible to the reader. It can be so subtle that the writer himself doesn't notice the changes. With a non-professional writer, editing can feel more like root canal surgery. The editor pulls awkward phrases, compound sentences and wrongly-used words out of the original text. He tries to bridge the gaping holes with clearer, more readable text.<br />
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The endgame is to make the writer's work shine--and to make the reader's work a breeze. Well-edited text is a joy to read. Our eyes skate across its words and sentences with minimal effort. Better yet, we retain what's said. It affects us, informs us and brings us knowledge, thought, laughter, empathy or righteous anger.<br />
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Every editor has his or her set of "tics." The pursuance of these pet peeves--and the editor's solutions--becomes the invisible signature of their work. As more writing comes from un-professional sources, these bugaboos can distract we editors from the core of our work.<br />
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For example, one of my pet peeves is the incorrect usage of "it's." This is rampant in modern writing. I see it in newspapers, magazines, on billboards, TV screens and the Internet. <i>It's</i>, used any way except as an abbreviation of <i>it is</i>, can make me see red.<br />
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I invite you to take note of how many times you see the wrongly-used <i>it's</i> in an hour. You'll be surprised how common it is. I sometimes fear that <i>it's</i> is here to stay. It is in no danger of wearing out, er, it's welcome.<br />
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Though I feel I'm correct in my dislike of <i>it's</i>, I remind myself that this is not what editing is all about. The rules of grammar, syntax and spelling are all important. There is more to good editing than being a traffic cop. Some of editing is instinct; some is learned behavior, finely honed from experience.<br />
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When I edit another writer's work, my central concern is making him or her look good. I read the original draft several times. As I read, I try to ascertain what the writer says, and how well they say it. There is a voice in all writing. My job is to find it and make it sing.<br />
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It's no joy to extensively rewrite another author's work. At times, it's my only option.<br />
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Last year, I copy-edited several articles for a now-defunct magazine that covered the world of military simulation gaming. To put it politely, there wasn't one pro writer on the magazine's staff. The quality ranged from enthusiastic amateur to what I call the non-writer. It was among the hardest work I've ever done as an editor.<br />
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Non-writers are common in the world of communication, education and technology. These individuals are experts in a field of often arcane knowledge. I don't dispute the authority of their know-how. But it is one thing to be the master of a subject, and quite another to write well about it.<br />
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It takes 10 times the labor to make a non-writer's work readable. I feel like a literary landscaper. I uproot great mounds of tangled verbiage, prune overgrown sentences, and re-distribute them so they can be understood and digested.<br />
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Non-writing is often hard to comprehend. It doesn't scan well, and its poor technique often sabotages the writer's intentions. All I can do, ultimately, is to get a grasp on what the author wants to say, and try to say it more clearly for him.<br />
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The enthusiastic amateur (hereafter, e.a.) is a slightly better writer. They always have a sentence or two that surprises me. It's well-written, clearly organized, and intelligent. This class of writer tends to lean on cliches and pet phrases. They also typically over-use adjectives such as "amazing" and "hilarious."<br />
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(These are, indeed, the two most abused adjectives in the English language. Point to ponder: if <b>everything</b> is amazing and/or hilarious, then <b>nothing</b> is amazing and/or hilarious. Please consult your thesaurus for an array of useful options. Give these two tired words a deserved rest!)<br />
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The trick in editing the e.a. is to bring consistency to their work. Their manuscripts combine sharp sentences with meandering ones. Their points range from acute to obtuse. They'll impress and depress me in the same paragraph.<br />
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In all editing, the joy is in finding the golden mean--the sweet spot between under- and overstatement. When I can achieve this, and preserve the best of the author's individual voice, I have done my job. If not, the writer will notice--and not be happy with the outcome. He or she will, possibly, be the only person in the world to take note of this failure, but they will see it.<br />
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It's a painful feeling to see your words mistreated. It makes you, the author, want to confiscate every printed copy of the newspaper, magazine, newsletter or brochure and bury them.<br />
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I never want a writer to have this feeling. Nor do I want them to agonize over poor choices in words, syntax or structure. As an editor, I want the writer to take pride in their work, and to want the world to see the final product.<br />
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Nobody knows that I've contributed to the writer's success. As I mentioned earlier, even the writer may not be aware of what I've done. That's fine. If the writing communicates--if it compels a casual browser to take the time to read it--we've all done our work well.Frank M. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673579882180372546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8734025604334810877.post-36188412779898467812011-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:002011-04-04T14:24:47.554-07:00The road of writing--and where it's taken meWords and language compel me. They've had this effect on me as long as I can remember. I literally teethed on the alphabet. My grandmother, an elementary school teacher with a 40-year career, saw to that. She gave me a set of plastic sign letters when I was a year old. I carried them around, tasted them, looked at them, felt their contours.<br />
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By my third year of life, I had learned to read. Every word I read, each new word I learned, opened a door for me. It seems inevitable that I became a writer.<br />
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My first published article appeared in the fall of 1980 in an independent weekday newspaper, The Florida <i>Flambeau</i>. The <i>Flambeau</i> was my journalism school. I learned through trial and error while I earned a paycheck. I was allowed to make mistakes, and to understand when--and how--I'd made them.<br />
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My teacher was the printed newspaper. Nothing taught me more than taking a critical look at my published articles every day. I also learned from my colleagues, and from those who edited my earliest work. My sternest taskmaster was ink and newsprint.<br />
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I wrote thousands of articles for the <i>Flambeau</i>, and remained a part of its world for 11 years. During that time, I served for a while as the paper's arts and features editor. I learned what an editor did, and why it mattered. It offered me the opportunity to make the writing of my colleagues stronger and more effective.<br />
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Being an editor also helped me grow as a writer. The experience led to a stint as assistant arts and features editor on the Savannah, Georgia <i>News-Press</i>. The <i>News-Press</i> was substantially larger, and its atmosphere was more formal than the Flambeau.<br />
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I learned more about the nuts and bolts of editing at the <i>News-Press</i>. After a year there, I felt ready to tackle a more challenging project. It soon appeared. I was invited to co-create and edit a weekly arts and features magazine in northern Florida.<br />
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<i>Capital City </i>had a short life--half a year--but it gave me a sense of authority as an editor. The workload was staggering. Each week I and my staff had to develop a new issue from scratch. We were blessed with a solid core of freelance writers. Every word that saw print passed through my eyes and hands.<br />
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The early demise of <i>Capital City</i>--due to financial concerns--left me at a crossroads. I still loved writing, but felt that I could do more effective work as an editor. I had experience editing writers of varying skill levels--from outright amateurs to pros far more seasoned than myself. Regardless of the writer's ability, my job as editor was the same: to preserve the best of their work and to make every word shine.<br />
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I returned to full-time journalism at the end of the 1980s. Occasional editing jobs (mostly one-shot projects) came my way. In this period, I matured as a writer. I became more conscious of what my words said--and why. I wanted to write with wisdom and warmth; I strove to make every word count.<br />
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I began to sell freelance articles to other magazines and newspapers in the early 1990s. In addition to reporting, I was also adept at arts and features writing. By the start of the 1990s, I had hundreds of published pieces on music, movies, art, authors, and comics.<br />
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One freelance job led to a life-changing gig. My freelance reviews and news pieces for a Seattle-based, internationally distributed monthly magazine, <i>The Comics Journal</i>, led to a job offer in 1990. I accepted it, and relocated to Seattle, Washington in the summer of 1991. I became the managing editor of <i>The Comics Journal</i> for one year.<br />
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The magazine, dense with text and images, required more of me than any previous work experience. I conducted and transcribed lengthy interviews, assigned articles, co-ordinated interviews with comics creators, edited reams of copy, wrote countless captions, and worked with designers and art directors on the magazine's look and feel.<br />
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I did very little writing. While I appreciably honed my skills as an editor, I felt the writer inside of me yearning to return. I left <i>The Comics Journal</i> and pursued a career as a freelance writer in the 1990s. At this time, I wrote a couple of novels and pursued other creative writing projects.<br />
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Since that time, I've had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, both professional and personal. I've returned to editorial work, ghost-written books, written liner notes for music CDs, written and contributed other material to corporate PowerPoint presentations, and collaborated with a number of talented artists and writers.<br />
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Since 2000, I have written two full-length graphic novels, in collaboration with artist David Lasky, collaborated with legendary underground cartoonist Justin Green (for Tower Records' <i>Pulse!</i> magazine), conducted published interviews with various musical legends, including guitarist Les Paul, written gags for Topps Chewing Gum trading cards, authored several non-fiction children's books, and edited a book-length biography of musical pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey.<br />
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As well, I continue to write freelance articles and reviews, on topics from science and business to music and comics, for everyone from ehow.com to Ace Records in the UK. After three decades of non-stop writing, I continue to learn and grow. My love of words--of communication--remains strong.Frank M. Younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673579882180372546noreply@blogger.com