Building a Solid Weekend - Part 3

Today I spent a few hours rethinking a plot point of my current project. I should confess that I’ve actually been working on things for this manuscript for several months. Come to think of it, I’ve been reconsidering portions of a book I wrote six years ago.

Maybe you have some of the same issues. You’re almost done and yet you aren’t because there’s one more thing you want to fix. That one more thing turns into two, then three, then … Well you get the idea.

What to do? What to do? Rewrite, rewrite and rewrite again. Then? Edit, edit and edit some more.

But you protest, "I was done with it. I even wrote THE END."

That's fine, and you did write it in all caps so we'd know you really were done. There is one point I would make though, it can't hurt to go over your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb.

"No one goes through all of that!" You grumble. "I catch mistakes in printed books all the time."

So do I, but then again, we all make mistakes. That's why pencils have erasers and computers have a DELETE key.

A writer friend told me about a published author she’d recently heard interviewed. The author confessed that she edited her manuscripts more than fifty times before she was satisfied that they were as polished as they could be.

My friend and I chuckled at the thought of going through our manuscripts that many times before we submitted them. Then we both realized that that author had something neither of us had: published books.

I don’t know if a manuscript requires more than fifty edits, but every manuscript could use some rewriting and perhaps a little editing even when you’re convinced it’s finished.

Most of the sessions I highlight here are designed to give you the tools necessary to get your manuscript into its best form. And once it's in tip-top shape, the rest of these sessions are all about submitting your project to an editor or agent for potential representation.

Look these over and plan on showing up to at least one of them, your manuscript and writing career will benefit.

You’re Done (at least with the 1^st draft)! Now What?

Friday 9:00 –

(1) Editing Isn’t for Kids: The Young Adult/Children’s Markets from an Editing Point of View – Molly O’Neill

(2) Am I Done Now?: Editing from the First Paragraph to the Last Period – Carrie McCullough

Friday 1:30 –

(1) That’s Different … Get Positive Attention from Editors and What Will

Hurt! – James Frenkel

Saturday 9:00 –

(1) Courting a Query: Tips to Catch an Agent – Melissa Jeglinski

Saturday 10:30 –

(1) Case Solved: Finding Ways to Grab a Mystery Editor’s Eye – Toni Plummer

Saturday 1:30 –

(1) Not Kids’ Games: Making Your Young Adult and Children’s Manuscripts Editor-Ready Works – Molly O’Neill

(2) A Little Verb, A Little Noun: Creating A Synposis That Sells – Stephanie Sun