READING THE BIBLE-1st Kings Chapter 18

POP - The Most Powerful Weapon - the Power of Prayer

Reading the Bible-1st Kings 16

Join us as we Read the Bible

READING THE BIBLE - 1st Kings Chapter 14

Wondering What God Thinks? Read the Bible with Us

READING THE BIBLE-1st Kings Chapter 12

Demon Worship, Lust and Evil as we Read the Bible

Queen of Sheba - 1st Kings 10 - Reading the Bible

READING THE BIBLE-The Lord Appears - 1st Kings 9

Happy Easter - READING THE BIBLE - MATTHEW 28

Happy Easter- Talking about Jesus and Easter

Join us as we read through the Bible

Join Us As We Read The Bible

Spend 5 Minutes in the Bible Today

History Doesn't Repeat But it Rhymes with Elon

Spend 10-Minutes in the Bible Today

READING THE BIBLE-1st Kings Cptr. 2

King David's Successor: Solomon

The Legacy of Lust & Punishment of King David

Sticks & Stones May Break My Bones. . . Reading the Bible

The Christmas story - Luke Chapter 2 - in the Bible

PROPHESY OF JESUS BIRTH - 2nd Samuel

The Ark of the Covenant - Reading the Bible This Year

The Resurrection of Jesus is the Good News of the Bible

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ - Mark Chapter 15

What does God Say about righteous Anger? Read Mark 11

Divorce - What Does God Say About it? Mark 10

The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ - Mark 9

Demons, Dogs & Deafness - Bible Discussion Today

Jesus Walks on Water - READING THE BIBLE - Mark 6

Demon-Possessed Man Gets Healed - Mark 5 - READING THE BIBLE

The Witch of Endor - READING THE BIBLE THIS YEAR

A Story About a Giant Battling a Boy - David & Goliath

Jesus and Beelzebub - READING THE BIBLE THIS YEAR

Mark Chapter 2 - Jesus Heals

Christ's Resurrection - READING THE BIBLE THIS YEAR

The Death of Jesus and Judas Hangs Himself

THE LAST SUPPER - Matthew 26 - Reading the Bible

DIVORCE-What does the Bible Say

The Supernatural Ark of the Covenant-READING THE BIBLE

The Ark of the Covenant-READING THE BIBLE

Jesus Walks on Water-Matthew 14

Curious about Demons? Join us as we Read the Bible

Forgiveness in the Bible

READING THE BIBLE - REV. 20 - SATAN'S DOOM

Hallelujah! - READING REVELATION 19

Curious What the Bible Says about Prophesy?

Reading the Bible - Revelation 17 - The Woman on the Beast

7 Angels & 7 Plagues - The Tribulation in the Bible

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim - Reading the Bible

666 - The Number of the Beast - READING THE BIBLE

Joshua's Farewell-Reading the Bible this Year

The Woman and The Dragon - READING THE BIBLE IN 1 YEAR

The Two Witnesses for God - Revelation 11

The Angel & The Little Scroll - Revelation 10

Misunderstandings Can Start Wars - Joshua Chapter 22

Cities of Refuge: Joshua Chapter 20

END of DAYS: DEMONS & DESTRUCTION

The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 5

Revelation Chapter 2 - Angels, Stars, & the Future

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Sitting Down to Pay Your Bills - What Could Be Worse?

Self-Editing

Writing is easy. The hard part comes with revising.

Writing is like daydreaming . . . on paper. Editing is like sitting down to pay your bills. It’s not fun or easy and a lot of the time we hate doing it.

Editing is like searching for lice in your kids’ hair. You have to use a fine-tooth comb. And be prepared for a little nitty-gritty work, which might seem a little distasteful and could even make you a little queasy. But, if you prepare for your editing session like you would prepare for an important date, you’ll be miles ahead of the game.

And, if you add these tips to your writing toolbox, editing just might be a little easier:

• Critique Partners:

Check over your manuscript—carefully—for typos, extra spaces, and grammatical errors before giving it to your critique partners to read.

If you don’t have critique partners, get them. If you write for the children’s market, your local SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) will help hook you up with other like-minded individuals and get you into a critique group. This is important because it is difficult to find your own errors. You know what you meant to say and you can read the words the way you meant them without ever noticing even the most blatant errors.

• Computer Software:

Your computer is only one tool in your writing toolbox. Common software such as Word, WordPerfect and others will scan your document for typos, extra spaces and grammatical errors for you, but this is only your first line of defense.

After you have scanned your document for the obvious red flags, provided by your software, you need to read over your manuscript very carefully and then hand it over to your critique partner(s) before you even think about sending it out for possible publication. .

• Critical Questions:

Ask yourself a couple of questions, after you have written your manuscript:

1) What is the topic?
2) What conclusion do you want your reader to draw?
3) What questions do you want the reader to think about, or respond to?

These ideas might help make editing a little easier but, if not, sit down and pay your bills. Then go back to editing, it might not seem so distasteful after that.

4 comments:

Jody Hedlund said...

Great tips! Thank you! I just finished editing two books and actually had the help of Tiffany Colter, Writing Career Coach, as my objective set of eyes. I loved getting the feedback!

Bish Denham said...

Excellent tips. Another thing is to collect a list of those over used words like...like, that, really, just etc. and get rid of as many of them as you can.

Clementine said...

I must be weird because I'm the opposite. The story is the part that I struggle with because I'm a natural editor. I LOVE revisions. For me it's like cleaning up a messy house.

Rena Jones said...

Great post, Kim!