My journey editing my own work

I just submitted the final version to Amazon. Whew! (Wipe forehead.)

I hope readers enjoy this book. I definitely sweated over this one.

I’m taking a break from writing on this blog for a little while. Readers, please feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions or feedback for me.

Many authors use a professional editor, but I haven’t gone that route yet. I’m taking the idea of being indie to the extreme, I guess. I’m probably wrong, but I think editing my own work makes me a better writer. As I read through my drafts, I notice patterns in my writing that I need to address. It also forces me to think about my weaknesses. I admit I should have spent more time editing Resisting the Billionaire, but I was impatient–definitely a weakness I’m working on.

For Deserve, I forced myself to read it over and over until I felt like it flowed seamlessly.

If I decide to continue to write, I’d probably need to look for some beta readers, but I’m not there yet. I’m too stubborn for my own good sometimes. And did I mention I’m an introvert? Yeah, sometimes it sucks to be too shy to seek the opinions of others.

Some lessons I’ve learned in making edits to my work:

Even the smallest tweaks can make a big difference in the flow of the story
When you’re sick of your own writing, take a break and rest your eyes
Try to read through it carefully for grammatical and spelling errors, but then read through it rapidly for emotional impact, continuity, etc…
Rinse and repeat the above step
Read your work on the device you normally use to read other books. I tried to edit it on my word processing software and I definitely missed mistakes

Until later…