When submitting a book or writing a book...

When submitting a manuscript, make sure you've proofread it EXTENSIVELY. Sometimes when you've spent so much time working on a book, it's hard to catch those little mistakes...like writing sever instead of severe and so one and so forth. Never send in a book without having someone reading it who has a good eye for those sorts of things. Another trick is to read your manuscript outloud to yourself. It may sound stupid, but you'd be amazed at what you'll catch that your eyes have skimmed over and missed. When you send something in that has a lot of minor grammatical mistakes, bad punctuation, missing words, wrong tenses or wrong/mispelled words, it looks extremely unprofessional and leads your editor to believe that you may not take your writing as seriously as we take our editing work. You may have a really good story with great elements, but sometimes we just can't overlook those mistakes.

And a writing tip. When writing, be sure you're writing and using all five of the senses. Make sure the reader is completely immersed in what is going on--the smells, the sounds, the way things feel, how something tastes, and of course, what the character sees. Sight tends to be the main sense used, and it's just not enough. To have a great story, the reader needs to feel like they are there and experiencing firsthand what the characters are seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, etc.

Editing Tips

One thing I've been seeing a lot of lately is more telling in manuscripts than showing. When you tell the reader what is happening, you're not drawing them into the story, making them visualize everything and urging them to read forward. I know if I get a book from the library or I'm standing in the store looking for a book to buy, I'll read the first chapter. If it doesn't catch me, I don't buy the book. To catch me requires two things: a good hook and good storytelling. If you don't manage to do both of those things, you're not getting my money in your pocket. And if you're submitting to me, you're probably not getting me to buy your story, either.

Don't just write "She was sad." You've got to give me...and your readers...more than that. Was she crying? Were her cheeks red? Or, maybe she wasn't crying yet, but you could see the tears glistening in her eyes, ready to roll down her cheeks as soon as she blinked. Paint the picture for me.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all! What's everyone up to tonight? Me? Myles and I will be heading out with our best friends and their daughter, my adorable neice, to take the Squirt trick-or-treating. :) Then, she's staying with a babysitter while Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Myles and Aunty go out to have some adult fun. :) Not sure if I'm going to get into my costume or not. This year I was Hugh Hefner's maid...Hugh being my Myles. We'll probably go to our favorite hick bar so we can drink and Ann and I can sing and dance. Three of our favorite things. Woo hoo!

And on another front, yesterday we put an offer in on another house. If we get it, this will be our 3rd rental. This one will take some work to get it ready, since it's a foreclosure, but it's worth it. Losts of painting and yardwork and cleaning to do. Eeek. But, if we get it, we'll get it done and get it rented and have more money in our pockets between rent and equity. And then Myles will look for yet another one. :P

Editing tip for the day:
Pay attention to comma usage. Read your sentences out loud, pausing where you have commas and see if it sounds right. I've been running into a lot of misplaced commas lately. These are easy fixes, people! =)

When you submit a story...

For the love of God, don't bother the editor about it a week after you sent it. Seriously. The automated reply says to allow eight to ten weeks for a response. We try not to take that long, but understand, you're not the only one whose story we have to read. At any given time, we've about about thirty of them. When you email us and "nudge" us, it doesn't make us want to read your story. It annoys us and makes us want to reject it. Yes, I said it--reject it. The story may be good, but when you bother us, it makes us wonder what it will be like to work with you, and possibly your agent, during the editing process. It's not JUST the story you're selling, it's you, too. Your story can be wonderful, but if if you make us dislike you, your story will get rejected. There are always more stories behind you. Remember that.

No, you haven't already ATE.

This is one of those annoying little things that just gets to me. Please, people, learn what a past participle is and how to conjugate your verbs. :) You have already EATEN, dammit. Eats, eats, ate, eating, and EATEN. The past participle of eat is NOT ate. :P And you have not drank a lot; you have drunk a lot. Gar. Is it just people in Indiana, or is this some sort of widespread virus?

Oh, and seen, yet another one that is misused. Except, in this case, it's the opposite of above. :OP You did not seen them at the mall yesterday; you SAW them. You have seen them in the past. Gar. I have actually received manuscripts where the author described something as "She seen the sun on the horizon." Yeah, that's pretty much an automatic rejection. Just a side note. :) For those of you who care.

Okay, I'm done with past participles today, though I'm sure that's NOT the last you'll see of my rants regarding them. I think the whole "seen" thing is one of my biggest pet peeves ever.