Hi Fellow Readers and Writers–
Tomorrow I begin editing the 11th in the Two Old Biddies Series, Knit Ahoy! Murder at Sea. And that reminds me of what I’ve heard other authors say…”I hate editing my book!” But I don’t. I really like the process. Am I crazy? Not at all. Let me walk you through how I do my editing, and maybe you won’t dread it anymore either.
Once I finish the first draft of a book, I set it aside for a couple of days to a week. Why? Because I want to read it with fresh eyes, just as a reader would. I read through the entire book in one day. That way I can see if the story flows as it should, and make notes if it doesn’t.
I correct any glaring errors, then read through to catch things like wrong tense, places where I need more description, etc. To me this is like adding frosting to a cake. I tend to write short–just to get the story out of my head and onto the page–so this is the part where I add stuff that makes the story shine.
Final read-through is a line edit, where I attempt to catch any typos I’ve made. I type uber-fast, and a lot of times I put “her” instead of “here,” and stuff like that.
Believe me, setting your book aside and reading it with a “reader’s eye” instead of a “writer’s eye,” really helps. It’s as if you’re reading a new book by your favorite author…and you’d better be your own favorite author, don’t you think?
So relax, and have fun with editing. You’ll find it’s not so bad, after all.
Happy Reading and Writing to you all,
Jill-Ayn
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