Writing – May Peterson Books

6 06, 2020

Update on Platform and Schedule, Summer 2020

By May|2021-11-23T22:28:50+00:00June 6th, 2020|Editorial, Publishing, Representation, Writing|Comments Off on Update on Platform and Schedule, Summer 2020

One of my goals is to provide a library of free content for writers, including tools I have found useful as an author, as an editor, and as a sensitivity and artistic ethics consultant. This will include resources for writers who are trying to learn to navigate the publishing industry and career life as an author, trying to manage difficulty with the writing process, and trying to improve their writing skills.

I want these resources to be something they can turn to before paying an editor. Marginalized authors in particular often have to count every penny when […]

7 10, 2019

The Over-manipulation Problem

By May|2019-10-17T18:56:06+00:00October 7th, 2019|Editorial, Writing|Comments Off on The Over-manipulation Problem

I’d like to talk about a problem that has plagued me for years, without me knowing what to call it or how to talk about it. It’s a problem I call over-manipulation.

Most writers seem to run into it at one point or another, and surprisingly little advice is available to help deal with it.

Over-manipulation is not something that only has to do with writing, but any self-improvement, including exercise, nutrition, psychological work, and spirituality. This post is focused on writers, but some of the observations I make here may be helpful in other ways.

To talk about over-manipulation we have […]

2 12, 2018

Meet Each Demon As You Go (Inspiration in Despair)

By May|2018-12-02T19:32:06+00:00December 2nd, 2018|Narrative, Writing|Comments Off on Meet Each Demon As You Go (Inspiration in Despair)

Art is hard.

At least, it’s quite an undertaking. It’s generally harder to create something than to destroy something, and that art is a particular labor of creation: creation from the disorganized substances of the artist’s life, hopes, memories, beliefs. Numerous little deities of sorrow, passion, and fury people the halls of our imaginations, and they lay hands onto whatever we create, to be marked by them for good or ill.

But art seems to be especially hard right now. Nearly every artist I know is presently staring down horrors that shadow the horizon enough to freeze every delicate, artistic inner […]

2 10, 2018

Art Has an Effect (Make Sure It’s the Effect You Want)

By May|2019-10-23T13:28:14+00:00October 2nd, 2018|Editorial, Representation, Writing|1 Comment

If I had to name the part of my role as an editor I find the most daunting, I’d probably say sensitivity editing. But I’d also name that among the most important.

For those not familiar with the term, sensitivity editing is editorial focused on making sure a work is written with care toward its audience. Particularly, making sure the work is sensitive about the dynamics of race, sex, class, and disability that might impact that audience.

Some may wonder how this could be as important as I’m saying it is—and it’s true, some authors struggle with receiving sensitivity edits. This […]

The Sacred Dark Trilogy

Romantic Fantasy with ghosts, gays, and grandeur.