When we finish writing a story, an article, or a novel, we feel a rush of pride. The urge to immediately send it to a magazine or contest is strong, but the wise author must overcome it.

Don’t even show it to your writing group at this stage, because you are too involved in it, and there may be some awkward flaws that were introduced into the narrative during the rush of creation. You want their feedback to be constructive and not focused on the editable flaws.

Set your manuscript aside for a week or so then come back to it and look for

1. Dropped or missing words.
2. Words that spell check won’t find because they are spelled correctly but are wrong: They went their for breakfast.
3. Extra spaces in odd places, and after sentences. Editors want one (1) space after each sentence.
4. The paragraphs are indented, NOT WITH TABS…