From the ashes…

Hey guys,

As promised, here’s another quick update.  I’m actually working on edits RIGHT NOW!  Well, not right now, but I’m was working on it before this post and I’ll be doing some more right after.

In case you’ve ever wondered how the editing process works, I can tell you that it’s time consuming, and for me, at least, is divided into a few steps:

  1. Read the book (for the trillionth time) – note any hang ups (bad flow, grammer, confusing sequences, etc).  This usually takes two passes.  A normal speed pass (like I’m a regular reader) and a slow pass.  The regular pass gives me a sense of the flow in general, while the slow pass forces me to critically analyze what I just read and make sure my mind isn’t filling a detail or correcting a grammar mistake automatically.  Both are valuable, and often give very different results.  Since I sometimes like to read on my Kindle, I will make notes on the side on my phone or computer with a brief excerpt from the line, plus any suggestions or changes I have.  If it’s on my phone, I’ll send these to my editing computer so I can just search the text.
  2. Incorporate these changes into the book – and reread them then and there to make sure that I didn’t screw them up.  In certain cases, this may require rewriting an entire section, which means that any checking I do at that moment is not sufficient.  If I rewrite a section, it usually requires a reread of at least the full chapter at a later date.
  3. Rinse and repeat until no more hang-ups occur.  At the very least, usually 5-6 times.

Now I’ve previously done some editing, and I’m moving rather quickly now, so I think I’m actually on edit 3 or 4.  Each successive iteration should move significantly faster in general, so pass 5 and 6 should be even quicker.  At this point, I’m clearing an average of about 10%-14% a week of the book.  Right now, I would say I’m on course to finish in October, so I’m just going to keep this momentum going in the meantime.

Anyway, that’s the post for this month – back to edits!  See you soon!

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