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You now have a completed manuscript ready to publish.

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You have overhauled your story. It’s time to fine tune your manuscript line by line. Check for repetition, clarity, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Editing is an extremely detailed process and its best when performed by a professional.

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When revising their work, many writers naturally adopt the A.R.R.R. approach:

- If not, go back to your notebook that you kept for additional scenes and any additional details.

-Rearrange: Consider the flow, pacing and sequencing of your story.

-Remove:You may need to eliminate passages that don’t quite fit.

-Replace: The most effective way to revise your work is to ask for a second opinion.Ask friends or fellow writers to take a look and give you feedback, and if something isn’t working rewrite it and replace it.

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Now you have your plan and you’re ready to start writing. Remember, this is your first rough draft. Forget about word count and grammar. Don’t worry if you stray off topic in places; even the greatest writers produce multiple drafts before they produce their finished manuscript. Think of this stage as a free writing exercise, just with more direction. Identify the best time and location to write and eliminate potential distractions. Make writing a regular part of your day.

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Prewriting identifies everything you need to do before you sit down to start your rough draft.

-Find Your Idea. You might draw inspiration from a routine, an everyday situation or a childhood memory. Alternatively, keep a notebook specifically devoted to catching your ideas as they come to you. Your own imagination is the only limit to finding your source of inspiration.

-Build On Your Idea Two of the most popular methods of fleshing out your idea are free writing and brainstorming. Free writing means writing every idea that comes into your head. Do not stop to edit your mistakes, just let the ideas flow. Or, try brainstorming. If you're on a computer, try a manual process first to help you visualize your narrative: write your idea in the center of the page and work outwards in all of the different directions you can take your story.

-Plan and Structure Piecing the puzzle together comes next. It's time to sort through your ideas and choose which ones you will use to form your story. Make sure you keep your notes even after your book is published – there may be the seeds for your next story as well.

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When you're a woman who spends a lot of time talking about sexism, you start to notice that about one in 10 of all the comments you receive begins with the same two words: "Yes, but ..."

Whether you've just outlined economic disadvantage or structural oppression, described workplace discrimination or discussed harassment at school, there will always be somebody who tries to argue that, in fact, it's women themselves who are to blame for the problem.

This "Yes, but" phenomenon happens so frequently that you start to recognise the same arguments being trotted out again and again; so often, in fact, that you start to wonder if it would be useful to have the responses to them all in one convenient place ...

'Yes, but girls just aren't that interested in science'

Take a baby, bring it up in a world that screams at it from every angle that it should be interested in certain subjects and not in others. Then, at the age of 15 or so, ask it what subjects it would like to study, and shriek excitedly that society was right all along - girls just aren't that into maths or science! QED.

'Yes, but if a girl's wearing a short skirt, she's asking for it'

The first flaw in this argument is that it implies the parallel assumption that every man is an animal with such uncontrollable urges that he's unable to prevent himself assaulting a woman who is wearing a particular piece of clothing. The second is that it's not backed up by facts. Most victims are already known to their rapists, debunking the theory that it's a random act provoked by a piece of clothing. Support charity Rape Crisis explains: "People, and especially women and girls, of all ages, classes, culture, ability, sexuality, race and faith are raped. The perceived 'attractiveness' of a victim has very little to do with sexual violence. Rape is an act of violence, not sex." Oh, and the third flaw? Women should have the right to wear whatever the hell they want without fearing assault. That's setting the bar pretty low.

'Yes, but women go off and have babies - why should companies pay the price?'

It's amazing that this still needs addressing in 2014, but some people still see pregnancy as some sort of selfish little jaunt at an employer's expense. The argument goes that small businesses in particular can't be expected to suffer the financial consequences if a woman wilfully flounces off to procreate, leaving them in the lurch. The glaring omission in the argument, however, is that - contrary to popular belief - there tend to be men involved somewhere in the process as well. Women aren't gleefully knocking themselves up for a nine month "holiday" - they are continuing the human race. As such, it isn't unreasonable to expect society, including businesses and other workplaces, to share the financial cost.

'Yes, but it's women who buy and write the women's magazines you criticise'

This is a classic chicken-and-egg situation. We bring girls into a world so image-obsessed that, by the age of five, they are already worrying about their bodies and, by age seven, one quarter have tried to lose weight. We raise them in a society that bombards them with images of thin, blonde, long-legged, smooth-skinned, tanned, large-breasted women, and implies at every turn that a woman's value lies primarily in her looks. Then we deride them for buying magazines that promise to teach them how to lose weight, smooth their skin and perfect their looks. If we changed the culture - the way we treat women, and the expectations they grow up with - we might find that media supply and demand would change, too.

'Yes, but women make different life choices'

Usually used to counter evidence of gender imbalance in top business positions, the problem with this argument is that it stops there. The point shouldn't be that women "choose" family over career, but that we still live in a society that forces them, in so many cases, to make that choice at all - while men are able to enjoy high-flying jobs and have children without sacrificing either. Yes, women may choose to have children, but they don't choose the structural setup of a society in which few options (shared parental leave, flexible working hours, childcare) are widely available enough to allow them to do so without compromising their careers.

'Yes, but women objectify men, too'

Two wrongs don't make a right. And there's a reason why the people who voice this argument nearly always cite the Diet Coke advert ... because there are far fewer memorable examples of male objectification to choose from. Yes, men are objectified, too, but not to such an extent, so frequently, or to the exclusion of their other attributes - as is the case for women. So it doesn't have the same wide-ranging negative impact on society's view and treatment of them.

'Yes, but women are their own worst enemies'

This argument seems to hold that, because some women are mean to other women, we shouldn't have the audacity to tackle structural oppression until we've sorted out our own individual differences. But saying we should all be treated equally regardless of sex is very different from saying everybody should be nice to each other. This is a classic attempt to deflect attention from ingrained inequality and instead on to women themselves, and leans heavily on the sexist stereotype of catty, "pbitchy" women.

'Yes, but women are bad role models'

Blah blah blah Rihanna, blah blah, Miley Cyrus ... It's not a coincidence that so many female singers perform extremely sexualised routines or wear very little clothing. They're women operating in a world that lets their male peers sing fully clothed and tells them they'll only sell records if they flash the flesh. It's another example of focusing on the symptom and ignoring the cause.

'Yes, but women just don't make good bosses'

This one always makes me laugh. It's invariably based on the speaker's own experience of three or four female colleagues, from whose individual failings they extrapolate the unfitness of the 3.5 billion or so other women on the planet. We've all had bad bosses, but we'd never look at a disorganised male colleague and assume that every other man in the world would have the same managerial style. Why do the same for women?

'Yes, but why didn't she leave?'

Probably the most pernicious of all, this argument is usually directed at victims of domestic violence. It's a variation on a theme, which also includes such gems as "Why does she always go for bad boys?", "Why did she provoke him?" and "Why didn't she see it coming?" It shows a deep lack of understanding of the psychological components of domestic abuse and the control an abuser can exert, but, most of all, it betrays a stubborn refusal to focus on the perpetrator instead of the victim. The best answer is the simplest: "Yes, but why did he do it?"
Topics

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When you're a woman who spends a lot of time talking about sexism, you start to notice that about one in 10 of all the comments you receive begins with the same two words: "Yes, but ..."

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When a smile or nod to a stranger is again and again interpreted as an invitation for a crude remark about the tightness of your jeans, it begins to seem that even this most basic gesture of humanity isn't extended to you.

See: any time a person is insulted within 30 seconds of being called beautiful, just because that person didn't respond to the initial "compliment" in a way that satisfied the catcaller.

Catcalls are directives - Turn around! Come talk to me! Let me see that smile!- which assume at their most basic level an ownership of the woman being catcalled. These aren't innocuous or playful requests; they are symptoms of entitlement, and messages that women don't deserve control over their own bodies.

In a sample study of 223 reported incidents of street harassment, analyzed by HollaBack! and Worker Institute at Cornell University, 19% occurred with bystanders present. But while witnesses can aggravate a feeling of shame - nothing quite ruins a night like being whistled at while walking with your partner - they aren't necessary factors. The imposition of explicit comments can make the person receiving them feel shame for simply existing.

It is inevitable that men and women will find other men and women attractive, and often in the absence of any real interaction. What shifts a catcall from innocent and fleeting attraction to objectification in its purest form is the decision to act on it. A catcall reveals a disregard for the woman's humanity, the possibility of her discomfort or irritation or fear, and signals that a woman is nothing more than her body or the ways in which she chooses to dress it.

By catcalling, harassers insert themselves into the personal space of the harassed: during her commute, her daily jog, her walk to brunch. This puts unwilling women on the defensive on a daily basis, where ignoring the comments isn't seen as an absence of a reaction but instead a transgression, or justification for more verbal assaults.

In September 2013, a 21-year-old man pulled his car up to a 14-year-old girl in Florida and offered her $200 to have sex with him. When she refused, she was grabbed, choked, tossed aside, and then run over multiple times. Luckily, she survived.

This is not an isolated incident. Throughout the country women have been stabbed, shot, and sexually assaulted for ignoring catcalls with alarming regularity, as Soraya Chemaly at Huffington Post pointed out, and this fact colors every incident of street harassment.

There's still a good chunk of people who, unfortunately and surprisingly, don't see the distinction between a compliment and harassment. A catcall is disempowering enough in itself - for making the person targeted feel violated, uncomfortable, or threatened - but it is doubly so when complaints about the catcall are silenced.

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When a smile or nod to a stranger is again and again interpreted as an invitation for a crude remark about the tightness of your jeans, it begins to seem that even this most basic gesture of humanity isn't extended to you.

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Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment | U.S. Agency for International Development

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Long-term, sustainable development will only be possible when women and men enjoy equal opportunity to rise to their potential. But today, women and girls continue to face disadvantages in every sector in which we work, while in some cases, boys are falling behind. For decades, USAID has been leading global efforts to achieve gender equality.

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Such inequality is hardly unique to the United States, however. In the following Q&A, Mary Brinton-sociology professor at Harvard University-answered a few questions about how the United States compares to other postindustrial countries on gender inequality, as well as how gender equality can help solve declining birth rates.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE TODAY?

It is important to incorporate men into the theoretical framework. Let's talk about how workplaces need to adapt to the "whole person," both women and men.

There is not a problem with female achievement. Women have caught up with men in terms of education. In fact, in the United States and a number of other countries, women now actually surpass men in educational achievement.

The problem arises when young adults try to balance work and family, and women end up carrying nearly all of the caregiving responsibilities.

If women put many more hours into these household activities than men, this greatly disadvantages women in the workplace. It is unrealistic to expect gender equality if workplaces demand that women be available all the time.

YOUR RESEARCH FOCUSES ON DECLINING FERTILITY RATES IN POSTINDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES. HOW DO FERTILITY RATES CONNECT WITH GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE?

A fertility rate-meaning birth rate-of 2.1 is necessary for a country to naturally replace its population. Since the 1980s, fertility rates have steadily declined around the world. In the United States, the fertility rate is 1.9. In Southern Europe and East Asia, rates are now below 1.3.

In Japan, for example, entrenched attitudes about women in the workforce and as mothers are likely contributing to the low birth rate. The cultural emphasis on being the ideal mother, along with a corporate culture that demands long work hours, makes motherhood very difficult for women with careers.

It's interesting to note that the countries with high female labor force participation rates tend to have higher birth rates. The postindustrial countries that have made it possible for women (and men) to balance work and family typically have replacement-level birth rates. Increased gender equality-both in the workplace and at home-is an important part of the solution to declining birth rates.

IN YOUR RESEARCH ON JAPAN, YOU DESCRIBE A "DEMOGRAPHIC TIME BOMB." WHAT IS THIS?

Japanese women are getting more education and want to have a career. But within the home, gender equality is not on pace with workforce equality. Woman end up doing a "second shift" of housework and childcare when they return home from work. The result is that many women are waiting longer to get into a partnership. They are choosing, instead, to focus on their career. And when they do get married, they have fewer children.

Japan's population is projected to drop by one-sixth by 2020, and by 2025, 40 percent of the population will be 65 years of age or older. This means skyrocketing health care and pension costs as the population ages. The reduced number of young, homegrown workers entering the workforce and paying into the pension systems could undermine Japan's economy.

WHAT CAN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES DO TO INCREASE GENDER EQUALITY?

Gender stereotypes are hard to break and, like it or not, we are all prone to engaging in stereotyping at one time or another. It's important to study our biases and quantify inequality, such as the work conducted here at Harvard, so that we can understand how to effect change.

In both Japan and the United States, public policy is an important part of increasing gender equality in the workplace and at home, but not all of it.

As a society, we need to continue to encourage people to go beyond stereotypes and recognize the contributions that each individual, male or female, can make to the workplace and to relationships at home.

Related Courses

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Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace

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Such inequality is hardly unique to the United States, however. In the following Q&A, Mary Brinton-sociology professor at Harvard University-answered a few questions about how the United States compares to other postindustrial countries on gender inequality, as well as how gender equality can help solve declining birth rates.

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Although we are only a few months into 2015, it has already proven to be a watershed year for women's rights around the world. On the heels of the International Women's Day March for Gender Equality, the He for She and Planet 50-50 by 2030 Campaigns and the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, international advocates and officials alike are coming together to evaluate the progress that has been made over the past several years. This raises the question: what is the current status of women in the United States?

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR )-- in partnership with a multitude of organizations including the Ford Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, and the Center for American Progress -- just released the 2015 edition of its project on the Status of Women in the States, with newly updated data and trend analyses on women's economic, social and political progress in the United States. The findings? Although we have indeed experienced progress toward gender equity, it's likely that we won't see equal pay for American women within our lifetime. (For more on this topic, see this post by Roosevelt Fellow Andrea Flynn.)

The road to achieving gender equality in the U.S. is quite clearly checkered with significant potholes.

Over the next several weeks, IWPR will be releasing a series of reports that include data on U.S. women's employment and earnings, poverty and opportunity, work and family, violence and safety, reproductive rights, health and well-being and political participation. The data and trend analyses found in these reports can be explored by topic and differing demographics (women of color, older women, immigrant women and Millennials, to name a few), as well as on a national or state level. The first two chapters on employment and earnings and poverty and opportunity have already been released, revealing a number of insights on the state of women within this country. Some highlights:

In just about every state in the country, Millennial women are more likely than Millennial men to have a college degree, yet Millennial women also have higher poverty rates and lower earnings than Millennial men.

Although more women are receiving high school diplomas and completing college than ever before, a considerable proportion of women either do not graduate high school or finish their education with only a high school diploma.

By the time a college-educated woman turns 59, she will have lost almost $800,000 throughout her life due to the gender wage gap.

There are incredibly large disparities throughout different regions of the United States; southern women are the worst off with regard to employment and earnings. Furthermore, the status of women differs notably by race and ethnicity, with Hispanic women having the lowest median annual earnings compared to other women.

In general, women's economic security is directly linked to their family income, which includes earnings from jobs, but women tend to be concentrated in fields that lead to jobs with relatively low wages. Even women who do go into higher-paying fields still earn less than their male peers. This helps explain why, in 2013, about 14.5 percent of women ages 18 and older had family incomes that placed them below the federal poverty line, compared with 11 percent of men. However, even this estimate does not fully capture the extent of the hardship that women continue to face in the U.S.

What can we conclude from this data? As a recent article in The Washington Post puts it: "When it comes to equal pay, the American woman is stuck in a proverbial waiting room. But the number on her ticket, the length of her stay, largely depends on where she lives and to whom she was born." In other words, the status of women in this country is incredibly complex, and as a result, there is no simple, one-size-fits-all solution to achieving gender equality.

Gender equality is an intricate mosaic, a picture that cannot be complete without understanding and exploring the dynamic regional, national and demographic factors at play. As a result, we cannot approach these issues without thoroughly peeling back and exploring each layer. It is necessary for all of us to reassess how we measure, monitor and evaluate the status of women so that we can effectively determine both the progress that has already been made toward achieving full gender equality and the challenges and obstacles that lie ahead.

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For U.S. Women, Inequality Takes Many Forms

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Although we are only a few months into 2015, it has already proven to be a watershed year for women's rights around the world.

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- Slut shaming/ sexism

- The uses of the "Bitch" to degrade women

- Women is body shamed

- How women our told to be restricted by

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- 1 in 20 women (5%) has been raped at some point in their life from the age of 16 and beyond

- In general 1 in 7 rapes happens to women

- 1 in 10 males get raped by males

- Mainly statutory rape done by females towards men

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- Women are more accepting of sexuality/gender

- Even though women of homosexuality is easily accepted they are also considered as 'turned into' or 'experimenting', fetchizied.

- Trans-gendered men are slightly more accepted in than a trans-gendered women

- Agender, gender fluided, aromantic, asexual etc. is through my perspective is equally difficult for both/all sex

- Male homosexuality is highly harder to accept than women

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- In the United States, women only make 87.5% of what a man makes

- Women are still expected to to fulfill the 'women are forced to juggle full-time jobs and family care at home.'

- Women can need be viewed as just the provider