The More You Learn... The More You Learn You Screwed Up

     There really isn't anything I love more than spending a Sunday afternoon opening all of my manuscript drafts and changing a format element because I learned something new.   There was the day I realized I needed to put my contact information on the first page (duh!).  The day I added a word count to start the manuscript and an "End" to finish it.  Then there was the day I formatted everything in Courier 10 based on several websites' recommendation.

By Kriss Szkurlatowski via SXC.hu

      Over the last week I have started to establish which writing websites are trustworthy and which are just okay.  The trustworthy ones today all said to use 12 point font.  I was also seeing fonts other than Courier recommended.  Uh-oh.  I swear the first 10 websites I used as formatting resources stated 10 point courier was the best font! 

              
     As I changed the font size on all my drafts, Moira Allen's discussion of the heated debate on fonts (http://www.writing-world.com/basics/manuscript.shtml) helped to satisfy my frustration.  Do editors really even care about font?   

     
      I did not yet make a change on the font type.  While SCBWI recommends Arial or Times New Roman, I am hesitant to make the switch from Courier.  Even though I really dislike the dated look of Courier (so 1995!) and I loves me some Times New Roman, I may just take the chance for now on Courier.

   
      Look for more great posts where I screw up!  Wait, what is this about "title in ALL CAPS"... son of a...

UPDATE:  I am fully converted!  12 point font, Times New Roman, 1" margins, word count top right, contact info top left, title centered, author centered 3 lines down from title, story starts 3 lines down from author.  Voila!  Oh, the hardship of the beginning writer who loses hours just figuring out format.