Monday, January 19, 2015

Following the Rules

My manuscript that’s contracted to my new agent is almost ready for me to submit to her. I’ve spent the past few weeks going through and making my last-minute edits and changes to what I’ve written. The changes are mostly areas where I think the story needed a little boost, or clarification. I’m waiting on another round of suggested edits from my critique group and then I plan to submit it to her on February 1.

In the meantime, I’m going through her list guidelines for polishing the manuscript. This is all before she goes through it and edits it. It’s exactly what I’m looking for—an agent who is involved in the editing process, but oh, boy. I’m discovering all the grammar and punctuation rules I’ve either totally forgotten about or never learned in the first place.

Most of my knowledge of grammar and punctuation has come down to “what sounds right.” I’m a big reader, and I know how to use things correctly, but not always why or the name of the rule. It can make things a little challenging when the guidelines say something about comma usage and I realize it’s a rule I’ve completely forgotten about (although I’m reassured by how many times I actually did follow the rule, albeit by accident).


But the goal here, in addition to getting the manuscript published by a large publisher, is to make it the best work possible. And after all of this, I’m confident it will be!

No comments:

Post a Comment