Ashley Ormon's Blog

Thank you everyone who has subscribed to my website, and follow it also.

My website has grown, but more than that, so has my freelance business. I guess you can say this blog is “all grown up” now and has it’s own domain.

So, please continue gaining tips on writing and wisdom nuggets where I’ll be writing for now on: ashleyormon.com

I can’t wait to see you there and talk about bookish and writerly things.

Lesson One for Self-publishing: your book is not finished after you have written it.

Writing your book was the hardest part, but your manuscript is far from done. The second stage in getting your book published is having it professionally edited. This stage is necessary regardless of how great a writer you are. But, I’ve already talked about why even good writers need editors here.

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Editing is not you reading over your book searching for errors. Yes, you should do this and...

The Hunger Games, 50 Shades of Grey, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, and Mob Dick.  

You know what all of these titles have in common?

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They’re books. Great books — as culture has said — but more than being “great,” they all started the same: a single word written on a blank page.

I guess it takes the glamour out of things. The idea of a writer coming up with this magnificent idea, wanting to be published since his or her childhood. The glorious moment of their manuscript being accepte...

Sitting at a round-table two seats away from me, a lady lifts her head and thumb from her phone saying, “I could write a book! Everyone has one now.”

“You think so?” I ask interested.

“Of course,” she responds. “It’s easy. You pick a topic, write some words, print it, and there’s your book.”

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I sighed. She made it sound so easy. If only it was that easy.

Well, it can be if you skip the basic stuff; you know, finding an editor to correct all of those grammatical mistakes your reader will notic...

Art is a discipline. It is a skill. It is a craft. It is something which you must work at regularly, and struggle through the challenges by overcoming one word at a time. Professional writers know this. Amateurs, however, will often say they “write when the muse visits” them.

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Art is a discipline. It is a skill. It is a craft. It is something which you must work at regularly, and struggle through the challenges by overcoming one word at a time. Professional writers know this. Amateurs, however, will often say they “write when the muse visits” them.

You see, the writers we most admire: journalists — who pen words beautifully — are required to write weekly, on a daily basis. When the muse visits, they write. And when the muse has veered to a foreign, hidden place th...

Congratulations. You have written your manuscript (or article) and have found an editor. This is an exciting process as you become closer to having your work in the hands of readers. However, let us keep first things first. Here’s a quick list of how to prepare for this next stage in your writing journey.

Now before you tell me I am contradicting myself, because I warned against being your own editor, hear me out. Before sending your roug...

You can be a writer and an editor. You just can’t be both for yourself.

It’s hard to catch your own mistakes. You know how your work is supposed to sound, read, and what emotions you want it to capture. So when you go to edit yourself you still have all these things in mind. You’re too attached to your work and aren’t able to look at it with a different set of eyes.

Everyone: bloggers, journalists, students, authors — both those traditionally published and self-publi...

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I’m on the NYC subway taking the 2 train from downtown Brooklyn to Times Square. It’s a week from Christmas on a Friday night. The man sitting across from me appears to be half-drunk, although I know he isn’t.

He is smiling and I see his speech is a direct result of his almost toothless mouth. Still, his words doesn’t always make sense. His mind isn’t altogether and I’m wondering how he got that way.

But my heart is breaking for the boy who’s sitting at the very end of the train cart with his h...