The Editing Passes

I've just finished "scrubbing" words from the finished product. Editing overused and filler (stuffing?) words. Examining word usage. It's a tedious process, always, and every time I wonder how so much verbal garbage gets through. Then again, until I reach the editing phase, I don't pay close attention to how the words get on the page, only that they tell a story. Every book has its own unique error code. In this book, I found myself missing the extra "o" on too. Must be lazy fingers this time around. 

As I look through demonstrative pronouns and prepositions, I discover they often don't belong. What's worse, they are usually part of a broader pattern that doesn't belong. Case in point, "it was as if it was..." How many of those words really belong? And isn't there a better way to say that? Talking about feeling like a turkey. But again, my brain was in "get the words down" mode, which is why there has to be an editing pass. 

As I finish this next round of edits, I fret that I haven't caught all the errors. There are more. An author's life is filled with such worries. In the end, I probably won't catch them all, but I do try. I'm always proud that I caught most of them. There will be more editing passes. My next phase is to read through the whole darn thing now that I've picked apart targeted words and phrases. I'll see what I've broken in the process, and on this next read, make sure the story tracks and all the threads are trussed up. This will probably be my last pass before it goes to the editor for her input. Then, fingers crossed, I'll only have minor corrections and potentially two more proofreading passes - one of them proofLISTENING, with Word reading the story back to me for snafus I might overlook with my eyes but my ears will catch. My critique partners are also still looking things over for me. They almost always think of things I've overlooked.

I took time out between some of my editing passes to celebrate the holiday with family and will spend tomorrow with friends. My heart is full, getting to spend time with my kids and grandkids all in one place at one time. I am thankful and truly blessed.

My best wishes to everyone for a Happy Thanksgiving.