The Manuscript Academy Event Calendar

Exact date/time TBD. All member lounge events are members-only and included free with your membership. Look for a Zoom link two hours before the event! No need to RSVP--as a member, you're already on the list.In this morning writing series, join us with your laptop, your characters, and a word-count goal. Like working in a creative coffeeshop, we believe this will keep you motivated--and get writing time on your calendar, with the support of your peers.Learn more about the member lounge here: https://manuscriptacademy.com/member-loungeCameron Kelly Rosenblum is the author of The Stepping Off Place, named a Kirkus Best Book of 2020 and a Top 10 YA Dealing with Mental Health.  Her second novel, The Sharp Edge of Silence, releases 4/11/23 in the US and UK. Her books have been translated into Polish, Russian, Hebrew, and German. Cameron has been a teacher and a children's librarian. She lives on the Maine coast with her family.

NEW: Interact with your fellow members as if you're at the best in-person, yet still introvert-friendly, almost-3d cocktail party. Yes, there is something of a learning curve to use this new virtual "space" but your friends are here to help. Come ready to say hello, make friends, and find your new support system.

Do you have publishing questions you can't Google--or, if you do Google them, you get lots of conflicting advice?Or maybe you need help navigating our offerings, and want to make sure you understand how it all works?Join us to ask Jessica Sinsheimer, literary agent and Manuscript Academy co-founder, for thoughtful, personalized help.You can learn about: Finding your best faculty fitUsing your Gold codesJoining our eventsThe features you may have missedAnd more!The first ~20 minutes will be writer introductions (come prepared to talk about you, your work, and something you're enjoying--a book, a hobby, a new trick you've taught your pet--up to you!) and ManuscriptAcademy.com site tour.After that, we'll open up to questions.This event will not be recorded. Please RSVP to secure your spot. The tour will be via Zoom; however, you do not need to turn on your camera to attend. 

Camus wrote, "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." The key to creating a believable fictional world is being consistent. By consistency, I mean everything the reader needs to feel "secure" in the fictional world being built and not distracted by flaws in the construction. I think of this on two levels. First, the level every good copyeditor will focus on: consistency of style, grammar, spelling, and clarity (with Chicago Manual of Style, a style sheet, and PerfectIt as tools). And second, consistency of character names, ages, physical descriptions, speech styles, timelines, locations, and how everyone is connected (with character bios, maps, family tree, and "world rules" as tools, plus Word's search function).Amy Paradysz is a book editor with 20 years of book publishing experience. After learning the ropes as an associate editor and managing editor at Globe Pequot Press, she continued as a freelance editor while, over the years, Globe Pequot was purchased by Rowman & Littlefield and then by Bloomsbury Publishing. Amy has edited for Quarto Publishing, Islandport Press, and Cider Mill Press, among other publishers. She is comfortable editing adult fiction, memoir, self-help, academic nonfiction, full-color gift books, and cookbooks. Historical fiction is her happy place. Amy works both directly with authors and through publishers on copy edits and proofreads. She is based in Southern Maine, where she is a weekly columnist for the Sunday Maine Telegram and a contributing editor of Green & Healthy Maine magazine. She edited the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook, which was the 2020 New England Cookbook of the Year Runner-Up, and the follow-up Maine Community Cookbook (2022), which together were the inspiration for a storytelling-and-potlucks nonprofit called Community Plate. Amy has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and studied literary journalism and history as a graduate student at the University of Arkansas. She is a member of ACES: The Society for Editing.