[Hum to Whistle While You Work if You Can Carry a Tune Better Than I]
A universal conundrum for writers advanced and novice: How to edit if you don’t have an independent editor?
One of my writer friends, Tom Drinkard, who regularly (and I do mean regularly) blogs great advice for writers at Pinnacle Writing recently raised this question and offered some suggestions.
Tom goes into it a bit deeper than I do here, but it occurred to me to share what works for me, or at least what I think works for me:
I edit as I write in two ways. First I read over every sentence I put down on paper as I do so. The next day, as a matter of continuity, I edit/rewrite the scene(s) from the day before just before I move onto the next day’s scene(s), both reading silently and out loud. Reading out loud is an incredibly helpful editing tool. In this fashion, when I finish my “first” draft of a manuscript, it’s actually at least a second if not a third draft, meaning it’s now ready for the other editors I beg, borrow and steal to help me out.
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