This is the stage that gets us down to individual sentences and paragraphs, the kind of editing we usually associate with the red pencil and the squiggles between lines. 

   At this stage we can argue about choices of individual words, punctuation marks, placement of clauses in each sentence, dangling participles, and all the other details that must be tucked into place before you let anyone see what you have accomplished.

   Normally I do a lot of that as I work through the line editing. I’m just fastidious about words and sentence structures. So I spend time fixing things as I go. We can talk about how much of that work you want me to do on your draft, but I warn you, I love it, and I can hardly keep myself from doing it as I go.

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