Please excuse the heavy use of correction tape on this green paper.
Tips for writers:
- Do write the first draft off the top of your head.
- Put it away for a week, then re-read it, fixing spelling and grammar errors.
- Add and remove stuff without mercy (keep a printed copy of the original in case you change your mind).
- Wash, rinse, repeat until happy with the copy.
- Make a "pretty" copy for the editor and be ready for whatever comes your way.
- After you get over your hurt feelings, fix it and resubmit.
In time, you will get it right.
Cool editing tools:
- Grammarly/Hemingwayapp.com
- Tool kit that comes with your word processor
- Human editors
- That stupid red English book that gets revised every year, and you are forced to buy it over and over and over again... Aaaagghhh!!
After much hard work, I finally got my rough/first draft done and submitted with a few weeks leeway. This was indeed one of the hardest things I've done in a while. Hard not for just coming up with a sustainable idea, but being able to write enough to make it a short story. Hard too because I had a 5000 word limit. That many words seems like a lot until one sees the barrier coming closer.
Richard Polt was kind enough to send the participants a template to test the page on. I liked this because I can enter my digital copy and then type it out to format for the upcoming book. That is just what I did with the above typed copy. Since I tend to not pay attention to the bell, this prevents me from overtyping my lines. I also lets me know when to shove another sheet of par in the typewriter,
Thanks Richard, et al!
