clairecherryedits

Is it every day or everyday?

❓ Do you often use the word ‘commonplace’ or one of its synonyms? From time to time, I’m sure. You sometimes need to say that things are usual or ordinary. But my gut feeling is that you use the phrase ‘every day’ more regularly. ✅ I brush my teeth every day. ✅ I check myContinue reading “Is it every day or everyday?”

The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden: An excellent reminder that motivation comes once you start doing something, not before.

I think about this book often. I finished it a year ago, my phone reminds me. And the messages in the book have definitely stayed with me. Lines like this are brilliant: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗮 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸Continue reading “The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden: An excellent reminder that motivation comes once you start doing something, not before.”

Wide for the Win? We’ll definitely look into that. Amazon keyword woes have given me a touch of the Mrs Cratchitts.

EDITED TO ADD: Whoop! It’s fixed 🎉. But we still don’t know what the actual problem was. What they keyword was that caused this glitch— 🤷‍♀️ So it’s still been a valuable lesson. Thanks for reading my stressy post. I love it how my mind immediately turned to a Dickens passage when we were goingContinue reading “Wide for the Win? We’ll definitely look into that. Amazon keyword woes have given me a touch of the Mrs Cratchitts.”

Is it phase or faze?

It didn’t phase me. ❌It didn’t faze me. ✔️ F-A-Z-E is the spelling you want. Isn’t it interesting how we always use it in the negative. People always say they weren’t fazed. They rarely say they were. We seem to prefer discombobulated for this scenario. Maybe because it’s such a silly word. It takes theContinue reading “Is it phase or faze?”

Some musings on names, pronunciation and Mastodon.

I’m Claire. With an ‘I’ and an ‘E’. And I’m ‘Cronshaw’, like the fruit…?!? 🤔🤔 I should explain. In 2009, after almost three decades of being a Cherry 🍒, I got married. I chose to take my husband’s name, just because I wanted to. 😍 Anyway, I was so much in the habit of usingContinue reading “Some musings on names, pronunciation and Mastodon.”

New service: manuscript assessments.

Early last month, I wrote a post about signing a contract with a client to do my first manuscript assessment. Anyway, it went well! I’m really pleased with this testimonial. Honestly, even though it was my first one, I didn’t find it a difficult task. It took me a while, yes, as I was overthinkingContinue reading “New service: manuscript assessments.”

Write it once. Sell it forever. Books are assets. Start creating yours today.

👋 Hey, you. Creative person in your 30s. You know you’ve been thinking about writing a book… But, you’re in your 30s… You’d better get serious now. And throwing yourself into a made-up world of moonlit romances does not seem all that serious. And that family member keeps asking if you’ve started saving for yourContinue reading “Write it once. Sell it forever. Books are assets. Start creating yours today.”

Mistakes Were Made. Use this zombie hack to identify the passive voice.

Do you know this zombie hack? 🧟‍♂️🔪🧟‍♀️🔪🧟🔪 I don’t know when tips became hacks… Or whether this one should be a trick. Let’s go with zombie hack. That sounds seasonal… 🎃 Speaking of seasonal, Britain has a new Prime Minister. Wow, that jibe veers into political commentary. That’s not like me at all. So I’llContinue reading “Mistakes Were Made. Use this zombie hack to identify the passive voice.”

If a book doesn’t have a pacy plot, can it still be good?

What books live in your mind library and why? I’ve just finished Things Fall Apart. Wow. I don’t have a detailed review to share with you as it’s one that’ll take a while to process. What I can say about it is that I reckon it’ll live in my mind library on the same shelvesContinue reading “If a book doesn’t have a pacy plot, can it still be good?”

What’s the best book to read if you want to write a novel?

This is a wonderful book. I love the examples given. The texts she chooses to exemplify structural elements span a wide range of genres. And she happens to have chosen loads I’ve read too so that made it extra engaging. I tried for a while to plot out my own ideas against the structure given.Continue reading “What’s the best book to read if you want to write a novel?”