It seems like dishes… and just about anything else… gets done when it’s time for the proofreading stage.
Oh, there’s a chore that needs done? Dishes been piling up? The counters are clean now!
Laundry need washed? Everything’s now been washed and hung in the closet! (Or neatly stacked in a chair because the closet is cold and I’d rather put on warm clothes in the morning thank-you-very-much).
Plants need a little bit of pruning? Even those pesky scale bugs are about to face the gardener’s otherwise defeated wrath.
Or, for a little more fun… new stories need written? Old stories need revised? Let’s do this!
(Inner voice just scowls. “No new stories for you right now. Jot down a few notes and get back to proofreading! Finish what you’ve started!”)
*Sigh.*
There’s all these other new stories calling you to write them, but you’re stuck giving that manuscript you’ve looked over nearly a dozen times one more read to look for typos, and then after you’ve given it that maybe-final/maybe-not-final read you’ve got to actually input those notes into the manuscript.
*Cue second sigh.*
Proofreading might be my least favorite part of the process.
Still, proofreading is important, and helps me to correct little typos I don’t want you guys to suffer through. Missing “a”s and “the”s. The occasional word that just doesn’t make sense. Minor plot points I thought I removed during the read-aloud but accidentally remained in place. That sort of thing.
It’s all about polishing… even if, for me, it is the least interesting part of the process.
Funny thing is that in the 2018 newsletter email I’m adapting this post from, I was lamenting the proofreading process for Fractured Skies.
Now I’m lamenting the proofreading/editing process for The Dark Forest of Aneth. The reading part’s been done. I just need to add my editing notes to the manuscript. But… uh… there’s been an outline and draft written for Huntress 3 and a whole new 5,000-word short story drafted, polished, and sent to beta-readers since I finished that reading a few months ago. *Cough.*
So… yeah.
Do I need to write that draft I’ve been meaning to write for five years?
Looks like I just need to get myself some proofreading or editing notes!
In the meantime… here’s a throwback to when my Legion Spore plushie got to help out with the proofreading:
Isn’t it adorable? (Well, as adorable as living airships made from shapeshifters go). Isaac made it for me for Christmas a few years back.
Actually, I also made him a Legion Spore plushie (we both had the same idea), but let’s just say that the one he made better matched the first Legion Spore, and the one I made closer resembled the Manticore. We had a productive discussion after that regarding the differences between how we saw the living airship of The Glitch Saga.
Needless to say, the Legion Spores you see in the books have been refined a bit.
Or a lot.
And that’s another reason that proofreading… and read-alouds… and beta-reading… is important!
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Read a few polished books that I at some point had to proofread or edit…
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Happy reading and writing!
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 