Dear Purposeful Prose, I had a hard time giving my writing to an editor for the first time. I completely self-edited my first book, but I’ve learned that if I keep doing that, I’m going to be stuck in a rut throughout my writing journey. My editor has a lot of great ideas, but the issue is in the details. There are a few writing quirks that I had that I thought worked well in my manuscript. I like to sometimes repeat wording for emphasis, for example, and when I do it, I like

The following post is from Purposeful Prose’s own guest writer, Chartres Royal, specifically on writing letters and letter etiquette. While many consider letter writing a dying form, we have discussed this point. Our conclusion is that letter writing is neither dying nor dead. Letter writing has taken on different forms, and expectations around letters have changed with time and culture. The modern connotation of the “letter” is usually tied to professional correspondence or

Dear Purposeful Prose, I’ve stopped reading books as much because it’s hard to pay attention through reading, and when I am paying attention, the books give or show me too many ideas. I wouldn’t use them in my own writing, but I want to come up with my own ideas. A lot of writing communities I’ve said this in have gotten angry about this and said I’m not a “real writer,” and it’s gotten to me. I’m not sure what to do.  To begin by answering the question directly, existing wor