Comments on: Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:33:58 +0000

I know Anna is probably gone by now, but, wow, I loved her recommendation on the final pass and using the print preview. Before I submitted my revised manuscript to my agent, I ended up having a couple of blank pages here and there that I discovered only when I printed the darn thing out. Doing a print preview would’ve caught these errors ahead of time. I fixed those blank pages, but since I didn’t print it out again, I wondered if I got all of them, or caused others to occur. I know it’s because I didn’t always do hard breaks after each chapter, but I do now.

By: Jay Tee

Jay Tee — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:45:43 +0000

Thanks for a great article.

I use the AutoCrit Editing Wizard to help me find overused words. It looks through my manuscript and finds all the words you mentioned, plus it tells me if I’ve repeated a word or phrase too close together.

It really saves me time.

By: Tomer Guez

Tomer Guez — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:21:22 +0000

> Clean in terms of everything from document formatting to spelling to proper
> grammar to weird spacing.

Well, that is true, a good program that look at is Spell Check Anywhere (SpellCheckAnywhere.Com). It adds spell checking to all programs.

By: Ann Macela

Ann Macela — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:49:16 +0000

Thanks all, I’m signing off now. The conference is going well and is a lot of run. I highly recommend Moonlight & Magnolias to those looking for a conference with lots of good workshops that is also less hectic than National.

Thanks all for your questions.

Cheers,
Ann

By: Ann Macela

Ann Macela — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:47:18 +0000

Comment by Diane
2009-10-02 10:08:08
I’d be interested in your advice on formatting dialog. Is it acceptable to insert a spoken line in a paragraph of either action or thought exposition, or should a spoken line always be separate?

Hi, Diane, I missed this beforre.

I think it’s okay to put the spoken line in a paragraph, as long as what he’s saying relates to the action.

He ran toward the house (LONGER sentence). “Dammit, John, how could you do this?”

Some if this depends on what you want the reader to be thinking or feeling as she reads it. If you break the dialogue into another line, it may disrupt the flow or the mood or your purpose.

Cheers,
Ann

By: Tracey Devlyn

Tracey Devlyn — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:52:34 +0000

Ann,

Thank you so much for answering everyone’s questions while at conference.

Good luck at the Maggie’s!

Tracey

By: carrie

carrie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:17:21 +0000

I’m in Word 2002, an oldie but a goodie. =) And you are absolutely right, it was borders! I’ll be darned…I’ve argued with that thing since May. Thanks tons!!

carrie

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:22:04 +0000

Looks like the new pic didn’t come up.

By: Wes

Wes — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:20:33 +0000

Great tip on single spacing drafts.

For you Red Sage fans, there is a Red Sage Spa although I’m sure the publisher and spa are unaffiliated. The spa is in the Medicine Bow region of Wyoming where the novel and TV series THE VIRGINIAN were set. The sign in the background of my pic is for the spa.

By: Ann Macela

Ann Macela — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:00:11 +0000

Hi, Barbara,

I don’t understand the first question. How do you use the tab key to make a correction? What kind of correction? Which editors and at what stage in the process?

I firmly believe that everyone must get used to either indenting paragraphs a half inch by the automatic indent OR by setting the tabs at half an inch and hitting the tab key to indent the paragraph.

Do NOT just space over.

Also, when starting a new chapter, put in a page break, not just hit enter until a new page shows up. Page break = CTRL+Enter. Hold down CTRL and hit Enter.

Uploading is tricky, and I don’t know that I have figured that out. My best suggestion is to put an extra blank line in between paragraphs. Sometimes the indenting gets lost, and the extra line shows that you’ve begun a new paragraph. Like a business letter that doesn’t indent the paragraphs, but puts a line between them.

Word2007 can be confusing. One of the worst problems is that they moved things around, so when you look where they used to be, they’re not there anymore. I have several big manuals and I’m forced back to them from time to time. And I can almost decipher Word Help!

Once upon a time I wrote computer manuals for a living. The people who write manuals and Help usually know too much, IMO, and don’t/can’t bring thing down to basic steps for the rest of us.

Cheers,
Ann