Real Talk for Writers

with Isabel Sterling

Author & Master Certified Coach
Essential Writing Skills for Authors copyedits craft talk email templates writing skills Mar 02, 2026

Welcome to the first in a four-part series of essential skills for published novelists!

Full-disclosure: I started this as one big post of essential skills for debuts... and then quickly realized a two things:

1 - I had way too much to say to confine this to one post

2 - These are skills that a...

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When Your Draft is Genuinely Terrible craft talk failure intentional thoughts mindset revision Jan 19, 2026

"What do I do if my first draft is genuinely a heaping pile of garbage?"

We've all had a moment like this. You've finished the first draft, maybe even let it sit and cool off for a few days or weeks, and then you dive in to figure out what you need to revise before the book goes off to your editor....

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How to Make Copyedits Suck Less confidence copyedits craft talk mindset Nov 17, 2025

Copyedits! CEs! The least favorite part of the editing process for may authors, this is the stage where a Grammar Nerd descends upon your book with a digital red pen and point out all your mistakes. 

It's also the part where many authors decide they hate their book actually, and can they set the wh...

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