What I Learned From the Copyedit and Proofread (plus a poetry competition)

My second novel for ChocLit (an imprint of Joffe Books) will be released into the big wide world in a few months. The cover design and marketing plan are underway. Structural edits, copyedit and proofreading have all been done – and each one of these stages has been an education.

On a ‘Happy Walk’ with my daughter’s dog, Sam.

I thought I was pretty good at grammar, punctuation etc. but I’ve realised: I’m not! For example:

The school subject ‘geography’ starts with a small ‘g’ rather than a capital ‘G’.There is no hyphen in armpit (I have habit of putting hyphens where they’re not needed).The novel mentions the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. I was asked to change this to the ‘royal wedding’ to avoid referring to Andrew.Monetary values, such as £30, should be written in full, e.g., thirty pounds.“I’m alright.” Should be: “I’m all right.”

The points above are just a few of the corrections. There were a lot more!

Then there were the continuity mistakes which got picked up (thank goodness). For example, there is a cat in the story called Tibby and halfway through I had inadvertently changed its sex from female to male. I mention that one of the characters will have a birthday in a fortnight but a far greater timespan elapses before the birthday celebration takes place.

Needless to say, I am very grateful to all these professional people who have read the manuscript and stopped me from making a public fool of myself!

I’ll say a bit more about the book’s actual story when I have a front cover to show you. For now I’ll tell you that, like Little Museum of Hope, it falls into the ‘uplit’ genre of literature, i.e., by the end of it you will (should!) feel uplifted and positive.

If positively improving your mental wellbeing appeals to you, you might fancy entering this FREE poetry competition from Happiful magazine:

The magazine is looking for “poems that explore the topic of mental health and wellbeing in relatable, original, and empowering ways”. The winner will receive £100, and four shortlisted poets will receive a £25 National Book Token. All five poems will be published in Happiful. Closing date is Monday 20 November 2023. There are some useful tips on how to get started with poetry on the Happiful website.

Stay happy and positive everyone!