A Writer’s Best Friend is the Editor

• Posted on July 27, 2009 at 7:13 pm

As I await the release date of my novel, Dreams Thrown Away, I am reflecting on the work it has taken to get to this point.  And I am reminded of the phrase, “no man is an island”.  My book consists of 122,000 plus words and formatted for publication into 387 pages.  So, it is needless to say the book is long winded, but intriguing enough to keep you captivated.  Editing it took many eyes and many hands.  In the beginning, I edited the book myself by revising, by editing, and by looking for certain things.  For instance, a writer friend advised that I read it several times looking for specifics each time.  Once I read it for overused words, I found myself picking up a thesaurus and a dictionary to eliminate at least one or two words that I identified as overkill.  Another read, I looked for finding a better way to say it.  And another read, I thought I was managing my commas.  Then another read, I looked for missing words.  

Do you realize that the human brain is so used to reading that missing words can be overlooked?  Especially, if you are the one who has written the material.  I found those words can remain hidden after several reads.  I missed words like:  to, am, and said or asked.   I missed them in the oddest places.   With anything, you want to write that first draft without taking the time to edit.  You have to get it out of your mind and onto paper (or computer screen).  But, I found it interesting how many times I could read my manuscript and still miss important things. 

My wonderful sister, a retired business teacher, took a swing at it.  She did an excellent job.  I updated her edits and thought it was done.  Then, I read it again and began to find more errors, or should I say, things I wanted fixed.  I fixed them, re-editing once again and thought it would be perfect.  Then I read it again, all 122,000 plus words and was surprised that I was still uncomfortable.  So, I did what any self-respecting writer should do, I hired an editor.  Suddenly, the words flowed smoothly.  It wasn’t that I needed to change the direction of the story.  I had captured any inconsistencies as I re-edited the book myself.  But, her minor grammatical changes and her many comma corrections made it flow…  I loved it.

However, I had to read it again, twice.  Though her editing was great, 387 pages later I found 15 more changes that had to be remedied before I could push the button on the approval of my book and finally self-publish.  The edited book was recently returned.  I checked for the corrections made, did several page checks to make sure nothing else was changed, held my breath, and approved. 

I am working on my second novel and I have a collection of short stories called The Shadow Shorts Trilogy that needs to be re-released.  After I am comfortable with each, I am going to call my editor.  I know she will ensure my hard work is polished and ready for your consumption.  So what is my advice?  Before you publish, find a good editor.  A good editor is a writer’s best friend.

Copyright © 2009 Dilsa Saunders Bailey – Must request permission to reprint.

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