Co-Op Blog - The Blood-Red Pencil
Helen's Twitter Updates
Links to Others:
Author's Assistant
Blog Book Tours
Doug M. Cummings
Ebenezer Scribe
Exile on Ninth St.
Diane Fanning
Graveyard Shift
Guide to Literary Agents
Lifescapes
Lila Guzman
Lone Star Books
Martha Miller
Mark Mitchell
Joe O'Connell
Plotters & Manipulators
Poisoned Pen Letters
Exton Quinn
Rick Riordan
Roberta Isleib
Rose Fox Reads
L.J. Sellers
Sylvia Dickey Smith
Spookycyn
Women in Crime Ink
Writer Unboxed
A Writer's Word
Writing Thoughts
Writing the Westward Sagas
Awards for Helen's Website or Blog:
Copyright: 1997-2008
Editing Services
In addition to writing, I am a freelance editor and enjoy helping authors shape their words into a manuscript that’s ready to send to an agent or editor. I love holding a client’s published book and know that I helped to make their dream a reality.
When I work on your book, I consider:
Line edits
Cliches
Character development
POV switches
Passive writing
Dialogue
Pace
Tension
Continuity
Stereotyped characters
Concept
Structure
Rates
$2 to $3 per page, depending on the amount of work involved – double spaced, Courier New or Times New Roman, 1-inch margins
You can send me the first 10 pages of your manuscript ($15) as a trial to see if we will work well together (do not send without contacting me first). If we decide to work together on the full manuscript, you can include those reworked 10 pages for free.
Critiquing a full manuscript can take anywhere from one to three weeks, depending on how many times I read the work. I have been known to work faster, but I would need to know upfront if, for example, your agent is in a rush and wants one more set of eyes to look at it before it goes to the publisher.
You can contact me at: helenAThelengingerDOTcom
My Background
Chair, Texas Book Festival, 2005 – Present
Owner/Partner & Women’s Marketing, Legends In Our Own Minds®, 1997 – Present
Freelance Editor and Book Consultant
Executive Director, Writers’ League of Texas, 2003-2005
Writer/Publisher, Doing It Write weekly e-newsletter for writers, 2000- Present
President, Sisters in Crime, Heart of Texas chapter, 1996-1997
Former teacher at San Antonio College and Incarnate Word College: Public Speaking, Diction, Supervisor of Student Teachers
M.A. Southwest Texas State University, Speech Communication, specialization in Oral Interpretation, Thesis in Business Communication
B.A., Southwest Texas State University, Double Major in English and Speech Communication, graduated Summa Cum Laude
Awards
* Brown Foundation Fellowship
Brown Fellow at the Vermont Studio Center (Writing Residency)
* Sisters in Crime, Heart of Texas, “Great Beginnings”
* Johnson County Creative Writers, Mystery Novel
* Writers League of Texas, A Volunteer of the Year
* Best Hook
* Johnson County Creative Writers, Short Story Finalist
* Johnson County Creative Writers, Mystery Novel
Recent Speaking Engagements
* “The Synopsis: Four Steps to the Ultimate SALES Tool,”
North Texas Professional Writers Association Conference and
The Brazos Writers Conference
* “Marketing Your Book: Charting the Promotional Universe,”
Story Circle Network, Stories from the Heart III, Third National Women’s
Memoir Conference
* “E-Zines are E-Z,”
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Windhover/New Texas Writers’ Festival
Additional Information
If you’d like to find out more about me, feel free to explore my website, visit my blog, subscribe to the free ezine, Doing It Write, take a look at my Bio page, read some of my articles on my Resources for Writers page, or follow me on Twitter and the co-op blog, The Blood Red Pencil.