Are We There Yet?

How do you know if your mss is ready for submission?

You finished the first draft yesterday

Your mom loves it

You did spell check on it

You're tired of looking at it

NOT!

Your critique group thinks it's ready*

*note: provided that your critique group isn't afraid of hurting your feelings

You've polished, polished, and polished it some more*

*note: till it gleams

OK, your manuscript is all shiny and ready to go out on a date.

First homework assignment--read Miss Snark's blog archives. She's mysterious and hysterically funny agent who blogged. She let her blog go dark, but not before she answered a million questions from her snarklings. I learned so much from her.

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

Do you have to read the whole thing?
No. But once you get started, I think you'll have a hard time stopping.

I'll talk about query letters next.