Does Editing a Manuscript Help get it Published? Part 10 of 12

Hello and welcome to all the new people that we have. Keep up the comments, they are a source of vital energy for this blog, keep it up! Feel free to look over the other series that I have, so that you can suggest which will be better for the upcoming series. I’ll have a couple of guest bloggers between then, but sometimes this afternoon I’ll be working on getting the list out for the upcoming series. I’d planned for a couple more people, but computers and I don’t like each other. Or I didn’t type in the email correctly. That’s always a possibility. (I’ll let you guess who you think the people are… email me if you’d ever want to guest blog)

Today I’ll be mentioning two things: My editing pet-peeves on blogs and how I cope with editing. Yes I do read comments and this is where this post comes from… with my own twist.

When I edit I plan for more time. I use different colours than the standard res ink. I find that purple can highlight a grammar mistake better, whereas green or blue is my choice for spelling errors. Yell0w is for the parts of “I don’t understand this.” I was upfront with my editor. I told her this was what was needed and she’s been great about it. Really great.

I need to read my manuscript out loud while I’m typing and while I’m editing. Otherwise what happens is that I get confused and write many, many, fragment sentences. I also have someone these days read my blog before its published. I write but I need to be aware of my inner critic. It can get loud.

It helps to know what you want from your writing. I want publication, and I’m willing to edit until my fingers hurt from redoing things. it makes a better product. and it takes time, but it’s worth it. I need to have a positive attitude, and I think that’s the most important.

As for blogs, admittedly, I’m not one to see a grammar mistake, unless it’s a very common one, that I can see. I look for content. I look for passion in a blog. You know the ones, for example, Georganna and Jennifer keep their blogs up a lot. They have a passion in their blogs that can be seen. They enjoy the work and the time. Even a coupe of mistakes on grammar doesn’t seem to stop them.

On the other hand I can tell if a blog is there for something other than for enjoyment. You know the ones, the blogger comes and goes, or doesn’t want to deal with negativity. They repeat the same things over again, they don’t encourage comments ( Or I can’t find the comment button) or whatever… you just know.

I would say the one thing that makes me leave a blog right away is no content and no passion. A spelling mistake on something really long is nothing. ( Yes it is… but for sake of point here) A spelling mistake on something small…. that’s something.

I’ll ask a two part question here: Where do you find the most passionate blogs out there— what makes them something you want to return to? Also, how do you edit that makes it faster or easier?