The many facets of writing a book from start to completion and submitting for publishing is a wild ride. This is just one of the itsy-bitsy shiny edges I experienced.
Editing and revising, it’s a dirty job but it needs to be done. The first draft of my manuscript was a mess and it needed to be cleaned up. Even so, I took a chance and let a couple people read it. It was strange how nerve-wracking it was to wait for opinions. They liked it except for the errors and sentence flow.
I can fix that.
The idea of paying a copy editor to revise for me was tempting except for the cost. I thought it would be frustrating and arduous to copy edit my own book. I was wrong, it turns out when it’s your story it’s exciting and rewarding.
As I read, I found errors galore. At first, I thought perhaps I’m not cut out for this after all. That self-doubt lasted only a minute when I reminded myself that regardless of the outcome, I did this, I wrote a book and I love it. Spelling was a revision on its own, as was grammar, repeat phrase check, flow and of course there were details to add and take away.
Around revision eight I was optimistic, removing and trimming the loose ends, setting up foreshadows and making sure all the characters have a voice. Word count became an issue that helped me find the way to polish the story. I washed away the crap words that made the story flow frizzy and tangled.
My advice regarding editing your own work.
It is a long and rewarding process. Nobody likes dirty greasy hair, and nobody likes dirty greasy sentence structure. Take the time to read, revise and repeat.
-Sheryl
Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved
I wrote a book. Now what? 
Thank you so much for your advice. Wish you the best with your book 🙂
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Thanks Kristinakoti,
I hope my future posts are helpful too.
-Sheryl
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Good luck with your book!
I agree with what you say, and sometimes think it’s best to wait before you read it back.
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Thanks for the comment.
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Thank you for reading my blog. I do find errors after I have published a blog. Sometimes I find an error the 2nd or 3rd time I’ve read a published item. Spellcheck unfortunately is a “lazy” tool to use. Just as an “aside” I’ve been “edited” in the past and have decided that I really don’t like it!
Barbara
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After a while I find my eyes are just as bad as spell check. They get lazy and skip over the typo that I wrote in the first place. My friend who is reviewing at the moment keeps pointing out super silly and obvious typos. We laugh about it since I find the same when I proof something of hers.
I enjoy reading and adore a good blog post and when I have time I like to wallow in the words of other writers.
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