Galley Ho! and my what's-it-script

The galleys of my novel for middle grade readers Dead Frog on the Porch arrived this week. And the galleys weren't all Pirates of the Caribbean. Galleys are the final typeset copy of the manuscript. It is the author's first glimpse of what the book will actually look like. And it's the author's responsibility to go through and look for glitches. So I went through it with a fine point mechanical pencil, got a little obsessive and had a whole virtual em dash vs. en dash smack down (don't get me started).

The galleys didn't look like this either because we have like, er, computers and stuff now.

I love the layout, and the text and chapter title fonts. Soooo close now!

The whole process got me thinking of some youthful advice I got from my niece a few years ago when I was still workshopping and rewriting my manuscript. This is a conversation between my niece (who at the time was 9) and me while driving the long lonely highway between Calgary and Edmonton.

Me: So, I got some feedback on my Dead Frog on the Porch manuscript from my writing group.

Niece: What did they say?

Me: They said my verbs are boring.

Niece: Oh, yeah, you have to use exciting words like Suddenly. What else did they say?

Me: They said I need to draw out the action. Do kids like action or interesting characters?

Niece: Action Jannie, kids like action.

Me: So I’m going to do some more rewriting.

Niece: So, you know your, ah, what’s-it-script?

Me: My manuscript.

Niece: Yeah, your what’s-it-script. Do the people in your writers group publish your what’s-it-script?

Me: No, they read my manuscript and give me feedback on how to make it better?

Niece: Why don’t you send it to the, ah, what do you call them, the people who make the books?

Me: You mean like the editors and publishers.

Niece: Yeah, why don’t you send your what’s-it-script to the editors and publishers instead of your writers group? Maybe then it will get published.

Me: Hmmm, never thought of that ;-j