Calling for submissions! We hope people are not intimidated to send us submissions.
You don’t have to be an experienced writer. As long as the story is well-written, we’ll work with the writer correcting errors, making the story ready for publication.
We want all stories to be free of errors and easy to read. The changes we make are copyedits. Copyediting is a science that corrects punctuation, spelling, grammar and other errors. It is also an art; we use a light touch, making edits without changing the writer’s voice.
We always contact the writer by email to review and approve the changes. Most of the time, the writers are pleased with the edits. We also have enjoyed email dialogues with writers about their stories.
We work hard to preserve the writer’s voice and story while making the following common edits:
* Changing passive to active verbs
* Making verb tenses consistent
* Making noun and verb plural/singular consistent
* Deleting overused prepositions, such as “out.”
* Moving sentences to improve flow.
* Replacing a word or phrase to make wording more concise.
* Deleting the overuse of the exclamation point (“!”) and ellipsis points ( . . . ). Both should be used sparingly, for maximum affect.
Internet reading is noncommittal. Readers click in and out of pages quickly and may not give a story a chance, as they would a book they’ve bought. Ultimately, we want the reader to comment on a story, so we often make these changes:
* Create shorter, less dense paragraphs. This creates “white space” that makes for easier Internet reading. For example, an original paragraph with six sentences may be separated into two paragraphs of three sentences each.
* Delete out-of-season references and dates so long as they are not critical to a story.
* Omit ages, especially at the beginning of the story. If a writer includes the age 50, no one younger than 50 may read it, cutting off half our audience.
* Delete the word “senior” (as in “citizen” or “moment”) because this is a midlife forum and we think of ourselves as young.
Yes, we edit, lightly. The writer’s voice should shine without distraction from technical errors. So don’t be afraid to send us your story.
