If You're Submitting a Manuscript Anywhere, for Anything, Please Read This ...

Here's the first instruction: Read the directions. Really. If you're submitting to a contest or to an agent or taking a manuscript to a writers conference, do what the guidelines or rules say. Barring any contraindications from the instructions, here are some basics:

Use Times New Roman 12 point. Not 14. Not some other odd font that will annoy the crap out of the person trying to read it. Yes, we all have font preferences. I'm partial to Goudy Old Style, or Tahoma or Arial when I'm in a...