Heartwood Policies and faqs

General policies genres considered I am a fiction editor, so please do not send me nonfiction articles, manuscripts, or memoirs. Of the following genres, I work in middle grade, young adult, new adult, and adult. I am willing to consider select picture book or chapter book projects. Discounts FAQs Q: BUT JESS! Can’t I just […]

Heartwood Editing services

Developmental A developmental edit includes reading and assessing your materials in light of your goals, then suggesting methods, techniques, and possible changes to elevate your work to better match your vision. This level of edits is best for projects in their early drafts before undertaking revisions, or for projects that have been through multiple revisions […]

Deep Prose and Clear Voice

(pulled from a note to a CP) My main focus for vocal depth is finding places that need a boost to elevate the prose from (blocking and action) to “literature.” Not just facts, but poetry. The first layer is “What’s a cooler/more interesting way to X…?” Second layer is “What’s a way to tie this […]

5 Things To Do Before You Beta Your Book #AuthorToolboxBlogHop

I believe in the beta process the way toddlers believe in Bandaids. Betas make books better, and better books make happier readers who read more books. But what you get out of your beta, and where your story goes in revision, is up to you, not your readers.

Review: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus

If you get nothing else out of this review, go buy this book just to read this one page. If that doesn’t spike your curiosity, your Human may be malfunctioning. #sorrynotsorry

Four Ways to Write Through the Fog #AuthorToolboxBlogHop

When I get stuck on a writing project, it feels exactly like driving through fog—I can’t see far enough ahead to feel comfortable where I am, the clear road behind is as shrouded as the way forward, and there’s no telling when some swift insight will blow through so I can go back to “normal.”

Personal Lessons from #Pitchwars 2017 #AuthorToolboxBlogHop

Fair warning: Some of these lessons might be carryovers from 2016, while I was lurking and cheering on friends. And there are a gazillion great lessons to learn from a contest like Pitchwars, but these are mine for now (and counting!). Subjectivity in Story I thought subjectivity was something I fully understood. I’ve even *gulp* blogged […]

When Losing Feels Like Winning #authortoolbox

Even if I tried to quit or take a break, it would hurt too, plus I’d fail, because . . .

I love it too much.

“The Beyond Within” narrated by TallTaleTV

I stare past her at the golden sky. Five stars burn to the north—what Khompan Elders call The Martyr, and Ajh, The Friend. I call them the Reminder.
“There is more,” the Reminder calls. “More to you.”

Doing BETA Better

Now that I’ve had some minor successes with my beta swap model, I’m ready to bring it back online and share the process. My Role Play – Beta Swap. By role-playing as agents, publishers, and editors, we learn something in play that we learn otherwise only by making publishing mistakes. Most new writers make these mistakes, and […]