Full Monty Method - Tip 11 - Proofreading

Good morning beautiful creative souls. A very happy day to you all. What are you all reading or watching these days? I am fully invested in The Crown at the minute, and I have also been immersing myself in my own books, as I am doing 75 Hard, so there is a requirement to read 10 pages of some sort of personal development type book every day for 75 days, and am finding it very interesting reading back what I wrote.

One of the things that is VITAL in writing a book, after all the writing and editing has been done, is to PROOFREAD it. And taking time to do that is key because its easy to miss things. Our eyes glaze over, we skim words that seem to make sense because the first and last letter are right. We think words are spelled correctly because we want to think that, and our ego brain won't allow us to be wrong, because wrong isn't good ( thats the ego talking ), so PROOFREADING is a non-negotiable.

I once co wrote a book in 30 days and would never do that again because upon reading it, the amount of things I missed in my editing/proofreading stages are ... many!!! Time, when it comes to the full editing process, is not your enemy, it is your absolute bestie!

Proofreading isn't about making any big changes, its about ensuring everything you have already written is exactly how it should be. I's dotted and t's crossed. It's not a bad idea to get someone else to proofread your manuscript before you hit publish, but do make sure that it's someone you can trust. Someone who will commit to doing your manuscript justice, and someone who will only do what you ask them to do, not other things you don't. If possible 2 or 3 people proofreading it ( you might call them beta testers ) is ideal, because each of them may spot something the other doesn't so you'll have all bases covered.

You can absolutely do it yourself, just take your time, do it when your eyes are fresh and in good lighting, don't do it while tired, and go over it a couple of times just to be sure.

Sometimes, once you've written your book, the idea of editing and proofreading it can feel overwhelming so, break it down into manageable sections and just get it done. You'll be delighted you did it, proud as punch its complete, and more than ready then to hit the big PUBLISH button.

Lets me know below what you're writing at the minute? Anything exciting? Juicy? Serious? What's your genre?

Have a super day

xoxo

Ciara

Editor in Chief - ALL IN MAGAZINE.