Today I want to share with you a few tips about how to edit your own book.
- Print it out – you can’t have a bird’s eye view of your work if you can’t shuffle pages back and forth to see how everything slots together.
- Move into a different space where there are no or only minimal distractions – no computers, no other work pending, no lists. Just you, a clear desk and your sheets of paper.
- Turn off your phone (or, like me, get an ‘just-in-case-there’s-an-emergency’ phone [pictured] and put your smartphone away/turn it off).
- Get a red pen, sit down and put your editor hat on – not your writer hat on. It will break your heart to cross out some sentences or even whole paragraphs (or/and evict a character if you’re writing fiction), but it is necessary. It’s called ‘killing your darlings’ (William Faulkner).
- Read it all out loud if you can. It makes it easier to spot what’s not quite right, what’s redundant and what needs fleshing out/explaining further.
If you would love more tips on writing and editing, feel free to like my Facebook page here if you haven’t already. If you would like my support but you’re not sure how it all works, book your FREE consultation here.
PS: I’m currently editing a book of poems I wrote between December last year and May this year. I always have a book next to me when I write… and when I edit, it seems! It helps get my creative juices going. This book of poems (pictured), Milk and Honey, is exquisite. I have now finished it and I know I will go back to it every now and again. Absolutely recommend it!