When you’re cleaning up your house, do you ever skip over the same things over and over again?
If something is out of place but it stays in the wrong place for days then do you stop seeing it after a while?
I do. My eyes just pass right over the misplaced item as if it weren’t even there.
This is how a plastic, orange whistle, designed to look like fake lips ended up on my table for weeks.
The children left it there. I did notice it for the first few days (“What the *&%$??”), but I always seemed to have my arms full of laundry, groceries, or library books.
Then I just didn’t see the plastic, orange lip whistle anymore. Until yesterday, when I finally tossed it back in my daughter’s room.
Editing is like this for me. I read my manuscript over and over and over…but sometimes skip over the same mistakes each time.
The only ways I’ve found to counteract this issue is to read my manuscript aloud and to give it to other people to read (family, friends, agent) before my editor gets it.
Otherwise, our work in progress may have a bunch of plastic lips in it.
My post from yesterday had a glaring error. One of my readers was kind enough to point it out in an off-line email. Yikes, was I embarrassed. Proof reading is not a strength. Even so, I read that post…well…a bunch of times, and read over the same error every time. Even my wife, who is pretty sharp, missed it.
So, point well taken. Sometimes you just don’t see the problems…but others do. Reading aloud does help, too.
Best Wishes, Galen
Reading out loud is a good practice. When I first tried that, when doing self-edits on my first book, I found that I was writing such long sentences I’d be out of breath before reaching the period with a gasp! lol
The Old Silly
I do both – read out loud many times and give it to readers. Have to, otherwise I’d have orange lips all over my manuscript.
Karen
That’s so true. We read what we think we wrote, not necessarily what we actually wrote. Reading aloud is a great way to find those kinds of slips. It’s also a good way – if you record yourself – to find out what your fans will hear when you do a reading. That can be interesting!
Helen
Straight From Hel
This is such a great analogy. I think we all do it. That’s why critique groups can be so helpful.
You know what I love about your blog? You manage to get your point across, elegantly and succinctly — without droning on and on. When I go to a blog, I want a relatively short post. Thanks for that!
Nice picture. Now I now what orange plastic whistle lips (or is it “lip whistle”?) really look like. And I think I need to go back to the drawing board. My WIP is FULL of plastic lips!
I have family and friends read over manuscripts before submitting to my editor / proof reader. This is a an expensive part of the process and basically the last eyes to see it and give feed back. I don’t like making changes after the fact because I know I’ll introduce typos and poor syntax.
Steve Tremp
Galen–It’s so easy to do. Sometimes I’ll see a big error on a previous blog post and re-publish the darned thing, minus the error. I’m sure I’m messing with everyone’s Google Readers.
Marvin–Too funny! So now you write Hemingwayesque terse ones, right?
Helen–I hate the way I sound, so I’ll forgo the recordings. :) Funny how you THINK you sound one way, then you hear yourself on the answering machine, and…
Steve–And family is happy to edit for free. :)
Karen–I’m with you..and a good practice it is!
Alexis–Thanks. And your blog is a quick, informative read.
Alan–I think I might have plastic lips ambushing me 24/7 in my WIP! :) I’m only on the 2nd draft reading, so maybe I can get rid of a few.
You wouldn’t BELIEVE how loud that darned whistle is. I think it could wake the dead.
Elizabeth
It is amazing how we all manage to have blind spots when it comes to our own writing. Even when I read aloud, I am caught quite often saying what I think I should have written rather than the words that are actually on the page. I’m kind of glad that I’m not alone in this.
Excellent analogy!
I use the AutoCrit Editing Wizard EXACTLY because of this problem. It sees tons of things that I completely miss. I’m always amazed at the problems it finds.
My manuscript is always a lot cleaner after I’ve worked through it with the Wizard.
Read the manuscript out loud is excellent advice. The other thing is that reading and editing from the computer monitor is totally different from reading and editing printed pages. Beginning writers often don’t realize how many editing passes we need to make before a manuscript is ready to submit.
That is exactly what happened to me yesterday. I read a ‘perfect’ chapter out loud to DH, and so many typo’s jumped out at me!
Janine’s wizard sounds good.
Linda–Thanks so much!
Cassandra–Oh, you’re definitely not alone. And ‘blind spot’ is a good term for the condition.
Janine–I’m going to have to check out this wizard. Sounds really useful.
Glynis—Isn’t it amazing how many errors we discover when we read aloud? Who’d have thought?