After signing the contract for publishing The Divorce Planner, I started the self-editing process. Every publisher has its own standard formatting for print, although most publishers abide by the Chicago Manual of Style for grammar and spelling.
Formatting addresses how the manuscript looks. I changed margins, removed tabs, added four asterisks between scenes, and deleted extra spaces between periods.
Grammar addresses how the manuscript reads. I evaluated each sentence to correct everything from dangling modifiers to comma splices.
Three weeks later, I sent the manuscript to my editor for a review. Here’s what I received back the next day to correct:
12 instances of “it is”
153 instances of “it was”
12 instances of “there was”
29 instances of “trying to”
57 instances of a comma before “then”
Now after I submit my additional corrections, my editor will schedule a year of edits—from developmental edits to address any issues with the storyline to galley edits in which the final manuscript is examined for any errors before it is printed and released for sale.
Good work. Only 12 "there was" isn't bad. One of the best first sentences in a novel was Jane Austen's "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."
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