Making sure a book, novel, or story is ready to begin its journey to editors or agents takes lots of patience. I’ve read my novel, A Long, Long Summer over and over. I’ve read for typos. I’ve read for slow spots. I’ve read for grammar. I’ve read for spelling. I’ve read and read and read. I’m reading yet once again. This time for all the above and to break it into chapters. No matter how often I’ve read it, I find places that could be improved.

I want to send this story on its way to see if it can find a publisher. It is a story of a young girl, Jeanne, who is sent to her cousin’s farm to spend the summer of 1943. Her doctor father is in the U.S. Navy and her mother works a swing shift so there is no one to care for her at home in Albany. Jeanne is sure she will hate it. She worries about her father in the war. She is convinced the farm is a stinky scary place. Slowly her cousins, Sally and Johnny, help her embrace new experiences.

Reading your novel is a bit like getting a child dressed for a very special occasion, making sure clothing is pressed, hair is in place, and shoes are polished.