Ah, editing. While my writing time was limited yesterday by the weather--the Chicago area received anywhere from 3 to 9 inches of rain--I did manage to do some work on "Seer, Tyro, Fiend" and even more this morning.
First, I saved my Microsoft Word manuscript as an .RTF file. This is the format that Write Words wants to receive books in. I also modified it to Times New Roman 12 point instead of the Courier New 12 point I usually write with. I like Courier, a non-proportional font, because it's easier to spot some errors and omissions, like an extra space after the end of a sentence (there should only be one between the period and the start of the next sentence). My draft is also double spaced whereas I need to send it in as single spaced. The reformatted version tends to bring out repetition more since more text appears on the screen at once.
Next, I turned on the feature which displays format marks, like new line or tab. The mark at the end of a paragraph should be the paragraph mark (backwards P with a line through it) and not a new line (left pointing arrow with a corner on it). I find that when the new line mark ends a paragraph, it gets lost when the manuscript is turned into a galley. Just trying to save some work down the road.
I also wrote a blurb, which I think is pretty good.
Seer - A psychic. Tyro - A beginner. Fiend - A diabolically cruel person.
When a fledgling investigator comes to Stefanie Durant's Windsong Lake art studio to ask her to use her psychic ability, the Ken, to find a missing insurance beneficiary, she refuses, saying her recently-reawakened talent does not work that way. Yet she cannot stop thinking about Nadine Oberg, a teen who ran away from home and disappeared on the streets of Chicago ten years ago. Driven in part by a recent encounter with a tormentor from her own past as well as an inexplicable obsession about the missing woman, Stefanie undertakes to hone and use her psychic power as a force for justice.
Her efforts induce staggering changes in the Ken, transforming the pinpoint of light she sees in her visions into a guiding star which will lead her deeper into the mystery surrounding Nadine and the unknown fiend who made her flee. As the intricate web of secrets and deceptions begins to untangle, Stefanie's involvement goes deeper still and more visions portend danger as the fiend menaces her and people she loves. Can her Guide Star lead her to Nadine and the identity of the fiend before it destroys Stefanie's life too?
I've started another reading of it in its final format, and I've found a couple of things to fix. Maybe I'll be sending it off next week?
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