THE GOLDEN BUBBLE – 19

IRONING THE WRINKLES

The hard work is done now.   You have the satisfied glow of knowing your writing is as perfect as it can be.    You type those magnificent words,

THE END

You print out your manuscript.   You’re so thrilled with yourself, you decide to read through it one more time and revel in your own brilliance.   Horror of horrors!   All kinds of things are wrong!

http://www.myironing.com.

At least that’s how it seems.

1. Take a deep breath.
2. Relax.

Honestly, it’s not as bad as it seems.   It’s just a number of minor glitches, infelicities or typos that, combined with the fright you’ve given yourself, makes you think the whole thing is a disaster.

Once you’ve got over yourself and cooled down  re-read.

Read your work ALOUD.

Reading out loud is the severest tests you can give your writing.  It helps you  identify those tiny mistakes that, through familiarity, you might otherwise miss.  Watch out for and mark:

• Misspellings
• Awkward sentences
• Poor punctuation
• Over-long sentences and paragraphs.
• Sentence rhythm and pattern.
• Pay attention to even your slightest doubt because, even very minor mistakes, can make it hard for the reader to grasp your true meaning
• Make the necessary corrections
• Use the spelling and grammar check

   RULE OF THUMB:

Any sentence that you find difficult to read aloud, probably needs some adjustment.  

Ahhhhh… so is this really the end?

Well maybe… but then you hand it over to an editor…

More about that anon.

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