Time to get back into the editing series…a new beginning for a new year. I want to apologize for heading off in the wrong direction earlier, but it’s a blog: like any conversation, it’s pretty much first draft.
I know a lot of writers who are like, “You must never show anyone a less-than-perfect version of your work; it’s unprofessional.” But you also have to market yourself as a writer, and I’m a process writer. “Show me the process!” So I guess I have to market myself as a get in there, get your hands dirty kind of person when it comes to writing, and never admitting to a mistake would be wrong, too. A conundrum.
That doesn’t mean that I advise sloppiness, though. I’m reading this Writer’s Digest book that about has me climbing the walls, wanting to hit people. “Look, a VERB goes here. A VERB. Spell check picks those kinds of things up now. A VERB.” I am in despair of this book’s commas.
Eh, look at me talking when there’s editing to do. I’m going to shoot for at least part of a chapter every week.
“So here’s the plan,” she said, knowing that it meant that her plan was thereby jinxed:
- Introduction: The Editing Perspective
- Editing Roadmap: First Draft to Final Book
- Is Your First Draft Ready (Warning: Plot Synopsis)
- Initial Reader (Beta-reader) Preparation (a.k.a. The Cleanup)
- Integrating Comments
- Copyediting Overview
- Style Sheets
- Copyediting Checklist
- Before You Lay Out the Book: A Checklist
- Ebook and POD Book Layout Checklists
- Typesetting for Ebooks and POD Books
- Proofreading
- The Sanity Check: Checklists
- Conclusion: Post-Editing Smugness
- Resources
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If you happen to think of something else you want covered, from “this was a pain, so pass this on” to “what should I do if…?” or even “Jeez, I can’t believe you gave such a lame, inaccurage suggestion…” Because yo, that’s how I roll: see step 5.