Congratulations! You’ve finished the first draft of your work-in-progress (WIP) and now you’re ready to revise. Oh, didn’t anyone mention that?

The revision and editing process is not for the faint of heart. However, in the end, it’s cleansing and glorifying. Using these 10 steps as a guideline to revisions will help strengthen your story for a future agent, editor and reader.

1. Print out your manuscript.

2. Set your manuscript aside for a minimum of two weeks. Go work on another project and let this one stew. The reason you need to do this is to get perspective on your work. It is almost impossible to self-edit. You need to take a step back and take a deep breath to clear your head, which is possibly the most important step throughout this process. With a clear head, you will see things you didn’t before.

3. Read your manuscript. Get a notepad, a separate document opened on your computer, sticky notes or however else you want keep track of ideas and make notes along the way. You are NOT going to make any changes to your manuscript at this time. By approaching your manuscript as a reader and not a writer, you can make sure the story flows, you have enough detail or too much and fix any major holes.

4. Go ahead. Make the changes. Incorporate all of those notes you’ve taken. Maybe you’ve had to replace some scenes, add characters, or get rid of them. Make sure tension, flow, goals, motivations and conflicts are all present. Clean up your dialogue because you don’t want it to sound like the dialogue from Abduction with Taylor Lautner. For a lot of authors, this is the most difficult part: making the story make sense. To get a better handle on this step, you can use “The oh-so-fun revision check list for writing”

5. Justify every scene. Deborah Coonts, author of Wanna Get Lucky?, once told me she knows why every word, sentence, paragraph, page and scene is in her novel. You need to, too. Take a look at each scene in your book. Does it progress the plot forward? What importance does this scene bring to the whole of the novel? Is it developing character? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, then neither will a reader and it needs to go.

6. Tighten your writing. A reader does not want to read, “he said/she said” at the end of every piece of dialogue. Cut down on adverbs and sentences more than twenty words. Your story is set. Now, make it sound better. If you’ve said something in twenty words that could be said in ten, cut it down. Agents LOVE “compact writing”.

7. Copyedit. The best piece of advice I’ve ever put into practice was to play fifty-two card pick-up with my MS. No, you’re not going to throw it up in the air and dance beneath them. Although, that would be fun. With this step, mix up every page of your MS. Separate those pages into ten random piles then draw one page at a time and correct those mistakes. Grammar, spelling, typos, sentence structure, etc. With this technique, you’re getting a better perspective because you’re not getting caught up in the story. And because I know from experience, I must add DO NOT TRUST MICROSOFT WORD TO CATCH EVERYTHING. Word does not take context into account.

8. Submit to your critique group or freelance editor. The best way to see if your manuscript is ready for an agent/editor/publisher is to get multiple perspectives on your work. Others will catch what you haven’t. Don’t have one? Start your research in your local area, check out the writing blogs, or stop by The Indie Market’s Facebook Page.

9. Make the changes. Now, you have some, at least what I hope is, great feedback from two or more critique partners or you editor. They’ve helped you to tighten your writing, fix grammar and spelling mistakes, clarify POV and more. Contemplate each suggestion. Does it work for the tone you’re trying to accomplish in a particular scene or chapter? Will it strengthen the plot or character or take away? Make sure the changes you make are ones you can live with and believe in.

10. Celebrate! You’ve just finished revising/editing your MS! Reward yourself for a job well done with a well-deserved break. And maybe some chocolate.

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*Natascha Jaffa dedicates her experience to helping writers grow through her editing firm, SPJ Editing, which she considers the best job in the world. When she isn’t editing, you can catch her snowboarding, rock climbing, or training for her first Ragnar Relay. She’s an active PRO member of Romance Writers of America, an editor for SoCal’s Mystery Writers of America chapter and is published in suspense and romance as Nichole Severn. Writers can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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One day while munching leaves on the treetops, Bronto the Apatosaurus discovers a nest of blue eggs. Bronto is kind and smart. He lives in the Jurassic Period and knows there are many things that could harm the little eggs. He protects them during the long night but he dreams about a great volcano. The next day while he searches for the mother pterodactyl the earth shakes and the volcano erupts. Bronto hurries back to the tree with a good idea to rescue the eggs. Rosenberg’s impressive watercolor and ink illustrations animate earth’s lush and rapidly evolving landscape with vibrancy and color. Bronto and the Pterodactyl Eggs is sweet story that shows the importance of helping the weakest ones through a dangerous and changing world. Young dinosaur fans will fall in love with big-hearted Bronto.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Peggy Tibbetts

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Length:  6,000 words or less; up to 5 poems

Payment:  $200/story; $25/poem

Reprints:  No, and no simultaneous or multiple submissions

Rights:  First North American anthology rights, payable upon publication. One-year after publication, all rights return to the creators.

Submissions:  By email only, with attachment

For more information go to Submission Guidelines for Futuredaze: An Anthology of YA Science Fiction

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The Secret of My-Myst: The Adventures of Rupert Starbright (Volume 2)

The Secret of My-Myst is Book 2 in the Adventures of Rupert Starbright series. And Mike DiCerto does not disappoint. We jump back into the thick of it with our hero, Rupert and his companion Dream Weaver. The evil Murkus still enslaves the children of Far-Myst while his darkness spreads across the land. He is more terrifying and powerful than ever before as a flame-throwing, winged Dragon Lord. Rupert is still trying to make his way home to Graysland. On a quick trip to the outhouse, Rupert crosses paths with Quix and Xerks, Murkus’s boy soldiers. They lure him into the Wildness with the promise of finding the treatmentia bush to cure his grandmother’s coffus. After all, the only reason he even came to this bizarre-o-land was to help his grandmother, who happens to be a very wise woman. But now he’s stuck here.

As much as I would like to go on and on about this captivating tale, you really must enter the mysterious land of My-Myst with Rupert and meet the shape-shifting Truseens for yourself. Be prepared to lose all contact with the outside world while immersed in this mesmerizing adventure. Once again imagination plays a major role –- which I love. Amazing things are learned about the Weaver kids. And the path to victory does not necessarily mean destroying the enemy.

The Adventures of Rupert Starbright is a top-notch, original fantasy series. For all the questions The Door to Far-Myst (Book 1) asked, The Secret of My-Myst answers –- then asks some more. Along his journey this time, Rupert discovers a connection between Graysland and the strange lands of Far-Myst and My-Myst. See if you can figure it out. I’m pretty sure the answer will come in Book 3. I confess, I’m hooked on Rupert Starbright.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Peggy Tibbetts

Review of The Door to  Far-Myst (Book 1)

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Underground Book Review for Letters to Juniper

Click here and vote for Letters to Juniper

Voting will close on Monday, May 28
Winners will be announced Friday, June 1

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Evolution for Young Minds: An Evolution and Natural Selection Guide for Children

Evolution for Young Minds offers an introduction to a complex and controversial subject that is original and – dare I say – entertaining. From genes to evolution to natural selection, children learn to explore the nearest things in nature in order to understand the big picture. This book dispenses with boring textbook science and presents the history of the planet and the evolution of the animal world with the help of colorful photographs, illustrations, diagrams, even fun puzzles. Young minds can test their skills at simple gene-mapping and find out how elephants as a species are fooling the poachers.

Each chapter covers one topic on one page and is followed by a set of questions called, Dean and Lisa’s Learning Check. For teachers and parents who are looking for an interactive approach to natural science this book serves as a unit outline, complete with a glossary and two hands-on experiments, all of which is guaranteed to keep students fascinated. Evolution for Young Minds puts the fun in natural science.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Peggy Tibbetts

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Flashlight Press

If your manuscript meets the criteria above, send a query email (no attachments) describing your story (plot, word count, target audience, what makes this story unique) to Shari Dash Greenspan: submissions@FlashlightPress.com

Please do not send the full manuscript.

Flashlight Press Submission Guidelines

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Me’ma and Bright Eye, her wolf companion, lived happily with her grandfather in Sunken Creek, their native village. He taught her about the meaning and value of the purple leaf tree in their lives. But the settlers had arrived and all but destroyed the purple leaf trees, except for those on the Great Mountain. Me’ma also learned she possesses the ability to communicate with animals and the spirit world, a gift from her ancestors. But she does not yet understand it. One terrifying day the evil Baron and his men arrive on horseback and destroy the village and capture the villagers. With the help of Bright Eye, Me’ma escapes with her two purple leaf dolls, Xetacu and Tchesue. Thus begins Me’ma’s amazing journey to find safety and a new life on the Great Mountain. Along the way she meets some unusual characters in the animal and spirit world and discovers the secrets of her own special gift.

Adventure flows like a river as the struggles and courage of indigenous people are revealed through the eyes of one brave girl. Me’ma and the Great Mountain has plenty of humor and peril and peculiar characters to keep young readers fascinated – maybe even awestruck.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Peggy Tibbetts

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All articles are commissioned. Feature articles are usually 1200-1600 words, with sidebars. ASK also occasionally commissions photo essays (400-600 words), humor pieces (200-400 words), short profiles of people, inventions, events, or the arts (200-400 words).

The magazine’s 2013 themes are now posted at Ask Authors’ Page

Submission Guidelines for ASK Magazine

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Open to: All writers

Genre:  Fiction

Word length:  10,000 words or less

Prizes: 1st Prize – $100; 2nd Prize – $50

Entry fee: None

Deadline:  June 30, 2012

How to submit:  Attach your submission to an e-mail and send to: research@winkies.org

For more information go to Oz Fiction Contest at Winkie Con 2012

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