Carmen DeSousa

No one is infallible. We all make mistakes! A nd no matter what you do, you can't please everyone!  But it doesn't mean you shouldn't try... Will I still get some poor reviews, absolutely! But when readers complained, I decided to listen. Did I change the basis of my novel, NO! Did I address the issues I could, absolutely! Did it make a difference! Well, you tell me. There is still one poor review on top, one of the oldest reviews. Unfortunately, readers still like to 'up' one-star reviews, even when the one-star review doesn't make any sense.  Not to complain, but how can you look at a book that starts the description with:  A passionate romantic -suspense of love, betrayal, and obsession, She Belongs to Me will have you falling in love and wondering if you can trust anyone right up to the last page.    And then like a review that starts with: " Up front, I must say that romantic mysteries do not appeal to me. I don't mind...

Before I start this post, allow me to preface by saying that by no means am I an authority on writing and editing. However, I've learned many tricks of the trade in the last few years, so since aspiring and new authors always ask, I decided to write a blog post about my process. Before I wrote my first novel, I used to be a proofreader for several publishing companies. So when I sat down to pen the next great American novel—insert laughter—I thought, "I got this!" I mean, I did this for a living. I had edited theses for graduate students, dissertations for doctorate students, blog posts for highly-respected speakers, and proofread nonfiction books for authors who held PhD's, and of course, hundreds of fiction books. But, man, was I wrong! The problem is ... like looking over my girlfriend’s shoulder while she plays chess or Scrabble, it's easy for me to   spot   her next move, whereas she’s so wound up in the overall game, she might not see the...