Australian Writers Mentoring Program

So you’ve finished a draft of your manuscript. You’ve thought about structure. Your scenes are rocking, and you’re confident that you’ve mastered the movement of time. You’re almost ready to deliver the first chapters or the finished work to your publisher, or to send it out to your dream agent, or to the publisher whose eye you’ve been trying to catch.

What’s missing?

Polish.

 

Before established writers deliver their work to their agents or publishers, they polish it. That means making sure that every sentence does its work. It means making the most of grammatical rules (and understanding them to begin with). It means sharpening the verbs, and making sure that the shape and shine on the page is industry standard.

 

A publisher friend told me that she doesn’t even look at a manuscript if it’s incorrectly formatted. I nearly fell off my chair; but instead, I decided to make sure that anyone I worked with would know for sure exactly what ‘correct’ formatting would look like.

 

For thirty years, I’ve coached writers from idea to publication. I’ve worked with hundreds of writers, and guided them to successful publishing careers. Creating the perfect polish at the final stage is a straightforward but critical element of that success.

 

And many writers have told me that the simple process of clarifying and tightening their sentences has moved their work from the slush pile to a dreamed-for publishing contract.

 

 

Now, I’ve created a hybrid course that will give your manuscript its best chance of getting out of the slush pile.

 

I created the Craft Studio as a focused, four-week hybrid format designed for serious writers who want targeted and proven expert guidance, not generic curriculum.

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In Perfect Page, Perfect Polish, you'll master the crucial elements of final-stage polish: the sentence, the verbiage, the formatting, meeting and even exceeding the expectations of the publishing industry.

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You'll learn how to sharpen each sentence, how to understand the music and the rhythm of your prose. You’ll understand the process and practice of fine-line editing – verbs, nouns, clauses and sub-clauses. In Perfect Page, Perfect Polish I will guide you through the steps you need to take to make sure that when your manuscript arrives on an agent or publisher’s desk it sparkles on the page.