This is an author's blog written by Pico Triano. 'Pico's Profile' will tell you a little about me. 'Pico's Stuff' will lead you to links and information on how you can access all my publicly available writing. 'Friends and Family' advertises websites on behalf of family and friends. The 'Friend Book Reviews' page is where I review materials written by the many friends I have made as a writer. Finally I recently added a review page for general reviews.

Sunday 25 August 2013

Editing - Blind To My Own Mistakes

You just completed the first draft of your first novel and you thought you were done. Editing is hard work. It took me more man hours of work editing my first book "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" than it took to write it. Worse like a lot of writers, I'm completely blind to a lot of my mistakes. I can have a sentence that makes absolutely no sense and can read it thirty times and not see anything wrong with it. Sometimes I need a little help (maybe a lot of help).

Never fear there is help out there and you can find it. It doesn't have to cost you anything if you are broke. That just might mean looking harder and being a little more patient. There are people who make money from editing. There are a couple things you can do without anyone else's help and that is where you should start.

First thing to do is take that wonderful rough draft of yours, put it away and forget about it for at least a couple weeks. While you've forgotten about it temporarily, write something else or educate yourself further about the nuts and bolts of writing. Look for resources online or at the library. After that you will see your work with fresh eyes and you'll be ready to start working it over.

Before I go into a massive edit, I like to get feedback from some fellow writer friends. Online or local writing communities and groups can be great for this. I am at times quite active on Writing.com and Book Junkies on Facebook. It is a give and take deal, so you better be prepared to give back. Friends in those types of places can make a big difference. I have one friend from Writing.com named Glenda who loves the characters I write and has reviewed a great deal of my work just because she likes it. She's good too. She now works as a freelance editor/writer at Literature Editing by Glenda.  She is the only person I know who has perfect grammar and punctuation throughout her rough draft writing. I wish I could do that. She tells me she wishes she could create characters as real and compelling as mine. Everyone has different strengths.

I'm lucky to have my own in home writing group. I have four children with writing aspirations and I do have them critique my work.

Once I've gathered everything together I go to work. I look at every criticism and comment and consider it. Especially the ones I disagree with or that have somehow hurt my delicate feelings. Those are often the ones that make me better. I am probably my own worst critic granted I'm sure some troll will eventually come along and help me out on that one. 

It's tough work. Sometimes painful work but if you want to be a serious writer it has to be done. I think publishers know if you've made the effort to pay your dues.

*This like some of my other posts was first published on Bubblews. I write there for practice and fun. Once in a while there is something like this that I think has enough merit to be added here.

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