Recently I decided it was high time to stop being a useless, procrastinating coward and actually attempt to get something published. But because I’m neurotic and a perfectionist, when my literary magazine of choice didn’t have a formatting guide in their submission guidelines, I decided to look one up. It seemed straightforward at first — double-spacing, contact info in the top-right corner, blah blah — and then it began to spiral. They seemed to want the story to begin on the title page, which just can’t be right. Their recommended font was something I’d never even heard of, and yet every comment section is filled with passionate debate about whether or not this is absolutely the only one you can use. I am periled by the thought that not using this font will drag me and my manuscript directly to hell, and yet whenever I try to apply it my hands shake with horror. There is something not right about Courier. I don’t know what.
Image: Simer Haer/The Cascade
