If you wade through my 2016 posts, you'll find me declaring this year as "The Year of Edits."
Logic would suggest, if 2016 is The Year of Edits, 2015 was The Year of Writing.
Which is 100% true.
I spent 2015 writing three different novels and only went through them to proofread a handful of times. Now I'm returning to each and giving them the old-fashioned "spit and shine."
And, boy, do they need a lot of spit!
Now that SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS is in the capable hands of my beta readers, I've transitioned my attentions to WISHES, MAYBE, a book I haven't touched, read, or even thought about for over a year.
With this break (as well as writing another novel while waiting), I've noticed three things so far:
1. A long break makes editing (and reading other's opinions) a lot easier. I understand that the book is far from perfect. And being aware that it needs work comes a lot easier. Though, I'm not going to lie, there's still a sting!
2. Plot points I would've considered "okay" are absolutely not. Being far removed from the world of WISHES MAYBE, I can look at things with a critical eye.
3. My muse has had time to recover. When I wrote WISHES, MAYBE, I was a soaked sponge that was wrung dry by the time I typed The End. But now I'm full of new ideas for the book. Ways I can make it better, more real, and un-put-downable!
So, what about you? What's your method to editing? How long do you wait to "dig in" to your edits?
For me, 2016 has been the Year of Editing. If it was like the Chinese Calendar, for every month, instead of an animal, picture a dripping red pen.
Since we're almost to July (I can't believe it!), I'm considering myself a Seven-Month Expert when it comes to book editing. And I've decided to share my tips with you.
If you couldn't tell by the title, there's only three. I like to keep things short, simple, but effective.
1. Go traditional. Edit on your computer first. Do all the major rewrites, sentence tweaking, and flow-fixing.
2. Audiobook it. There are a bunch of programs online where you can transform your words into audio--yay for the digital age! My favorites are the ones that you can download the mp3's and put them on your phone, iPod, what have you. Listen to your words aloud with a notepad (or the word doc) handy so you jot down thoughts.
3. Hardcopy, for the win! Printing your book out, or putting it on your Kindle/tablet is a great way to pick up final typos that you missed by going through #1 and #2. A post I did earlier shows how to get your book formatted for kindle. Or, if you have a tablet, keep it simple and open the document in MS Word, reader mode!
Happy editing!
p.s. I have an exciting announcement coming next Tuesday. Prepare to be blown away!!!
