"No I don't, and if I don't, neither will your reader." Editor Robert Fulton writes not to please, but to teach.

Mom loves your writing, but the reading public is "grading" your work at the bookstore.

"Remember, if you’re doing something wrong and you do it long enough, you’ll soon be able to do it perfectly wrong."—Jack Montague

“Write! Just write anything! And you’ll become a better writer!” No, you won’t. That ridiculous suggestion makes as much sense as: Invest! Just invest in anything! And you’ll become a better investor! The pseudo-rationale behind this is “practice makes perfect.” No, it doesn’t. Unless you’re practicing things that improve you, you’ll just be practicing the same old mistakes. Though that may make you perfectly better at making those mistakes, it won’t make you a better writer.

Yes, I know, we were taught in school to “Just start writing and something will come to you.” Yeah, something will—frustration, but not necessarily a good idea. One of the best comments I’ve read lately on this topic was by Bruce Bartlett of Above the Line Agency: “Some writers just vomit everything they have onto a page…” Too often that is the way it looks.

Recently, a reader of one of my articles wrote: “I was under the impression that all writers ensured that their ‘babies’ were perfectly dressed to meet so august a person as an editor.” Some of the “babies” arrive in dirty diapers. Wish her impression were the norm. More submissions would be read.

How’s this for really piquing my editorial interest? “You probly are gonna see alot of mistakes cause I don’t spell good but you know what I mean in my story.” No, I didn’t know what he “mean in my story” because I didn’t bother to read it. Remember, writing is a business for many of us—not missionary work. I know few editors who have the time or interest to pick through a verbal landfill in order to find some salvageable plot. If a budding author can’t: figure out spell check, use a dictionary, or find a literate associate to proofread for him or her, most editors can’t take the time to read the manuscript. And notice the term is manuscript—not manuscribble.

Do you go to a job interview wearing last night’s “got lucky” sleepover clothes? Your query letter, proposal, article or other form of submission is your interview. Each time you send anything with your name on it you are interviewing. It’s important that a writer does not forget that, because an editor doesn’t.

Now, before I push paranoia onto everyone’s keyboard, does this mean no errors are permissible? Of course not. Depending on how one views today’s acceptable punctuation and sentence construction, there are errors in this article. Are they blatant? Are they repetitive? I hope not. As a reader, you shouldn’t expect less. The editor scanning your submission won’t.

So, what to do? There are excellent sites on the net that offer free tutoring. There are helpful chat groups. Writing clubs and bookstore-sponsored gatherings can be very useful. If you are near a community college or university, check with its English department about workshops for writers. I attend as many of each of the above as time permits. Perhaps I don’t need to attend in the traditional sense of gaining basic language usage proficiency, but I learn something useful every time.

I like to be in the company of writers. They are often interesting people. They are often knowledgeable people. They value their chosen work too highly to expect their editors, and ultimately their readers, to “…know what I mean in my story.”