April 13-15: Spend a weekend writing in Zurich

In 2010, Writer Abroad and two other American writers living in Zurich stopped complaining about not having English-language writing instruction in Zurich and created it instead. 

Today, the Zurich Writers Workshop is holding its 8th workshop. For better or worse, since Writer Abroad created it, a lot of other workshops have been founded both in Zurich and in Switzerland. It's been great to see such interest in English-language writing instruction in a country where English is not even one of the four official languages. It felt like a big risk back in 2010, but today it's shown there is a big heart for this kind of weekend event.

Which bring us to our 2018 workshop.

The 2018 Zurich Writers Workshop, which will be held April 13-15, is going to feature two very different, but equally great workshops: Food & Travel Writing with Adam H. Graham and Drafting and Revision with Michelle Bailat-Jones. 

Registration just opened and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you can’t commit to the full weekend, it’s possible to just attend Pitch Perfect in Zurich, which will be held on Sunday, April 15th. Pitch Perfect in Zurich will offer live feedback on anything a writer might pitch to an editor: from query letters, freelance magazine and newspaper pitches, to personal essay pitches. To reflect reality, the participants will pitch the instructors ahead of time via email, and besides providing feedback on each submission, the panelists will discuss which submissions caught their eye in their packed inbox and why.

What's more, mid-April is a great time to visit Zurich thanks to the spring festival, Sechseläuten, where a snowman called the Böögg will be set on fire on April 16th to predict the summer weather. So enjoy a writing weekend, and then end it with a bang, the Böögg version.

How to find an editor

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because it’s about finding an editor, not being one.

Whether submitting to publishers or agents (or for authors who publish independently), finding an editor has never been more important. The publishing industry no longer spends time or money developing new talent, so the new talent must develop itself.

Luckily, based on Writer Abroad’s experience, independent editors are relatively easy to find these days. With more publishers downsizing, there is a huge selection of editors eager to find work. But how does a writer find the right editor?

Writer Abroad had this dilemma a few months ago. So she wanted to share her editor search process with you.

At first, she researched websites like The Independent Editors Group. She read the bios of the editors and determined which editors might be right for her project. But rather than email them cold, she went to LinkedIn to determine if she knew someone who knew her chosen editors.

Turned out she did. One of her contacts on LinkedIn highly recommended one particular editor from The Independent Editors Group. So Writer Abroad was connected with her. This editor agreed to read the first 50 pages of her book. However, it turned out she was not the right editor for the book, as she preferred to do structural editing rather than copyediting.

So back to the drawing board.

Writer Abroad began emailing authors she knew (and whose work she respected) to ask if they had copyeditor recommendations (note: it’s very important to know what kind of editing you are lookingfor to begin with). One author Writer Abroad knew gave her the contact info for the editor at Bloomsbury who had edited her book. This editor was now working independently, however, the timing didn’t work out as she was very busy.

So this same author gave Writer Abroad another editor she knew and this one turned out to be a perfect match. After reading first part of Writer Abroad’s book, this editor already had initial thoughts that Writer Abroad loved as well as a reasonable price, so Writer Abroad hired her to copyedit her book.

It’s not a straightforward process to find an editor, but Writer Abroad thinks the most important thing writers can do from the first day they call themselves a writer is to network with other writers and publishing professionals. That way, when you’re finally ready, you’ll have trusted people that can help you out.

How did you find your editor?

Day jobs, copywriting, editing & more

Erika Dreifus had a great post yesterday about five things to appreciate about being a writer with a day job. In the last five years, she's managed to work 9 to 5, maintain a fantastic blog, and publish a collection of short stories. She is inspiration to all of us who want to work and write.

Speaking of working and writing, sometimes if you're lucky like Writer Abroad, you can combine the two. On Sunday night, the advertising copywriters of the world (well, of the U.S.) had their evening of glory. One of the best written spots was for Chrysler, although I thought the Chrysler spot from last year was an even better example of writing well for advertising. So too, the spot last year from Google.

Speaking of writing for advertising, SWISS recently unveiled their new campaign and Writer Abroad had the honor of working on it. The ad pictured in this post is one of the print ads.

In other news, the spring Zurich Writers Workshop is already half full, so if you're interested in attending, Writer Abroad recommends registering soon. Zurich has been a home to James Joyce, Goethe, and more and is a great literary city to spend a weekend in.

Finally, Writer Abroad heard that it was good to cut out filter words when editing a novel or memoir so Writer Abroad decided she would do it as she continues to edit her 350-page memoir. It felt like a lot of work but seemed like a fairly easy thing to accomplish in small chunks with a baby around. Anyhow, thanks to a helpful blog post from Write it Sideways, Writer Abroad had a list of words to go through and now her book is four pages shorter.