I’m still putting the finishing touches on my Klepto Cat Mystery number 3—Sleight of Paw. Yesterday, I was stunned to discover that my chapter numbers weren’t matching up.
Now this is something I often catch in manuscripts when I’m editing for others. Somewhere along the process, the author moves a chapter, deletes one, adds one, shortens one, etc. And then he goes along his merry way writing. Sure, he reads through the manuscript another twelve, twenty-five or eighty times, but he may not notice that he has two Chapter Tens or that Chapter Three is missing—it jumps from Chapter Two to Chapter Four. It’s easy to miss. And I had been missing it in my own manuscript. I had two Chapter Sevens.
I caught it, though. Yay! Only now I wonder what else have I missed that I haven’t stumbled upon, yet? I’ve been saying the author’s prayer—“Please don’t let me overlook something in my manuscript that will come back to haunt me or embarrass me.”
My message to you today is be ultra-diligent in your self-editing. Edit, edit, edit and then edit some more. Let your manuscript rest for a while and then look at it again. Invite those extra sets of eyes. They will catch things you have missed. Why does the author often miss crucial errors or flub-ups in his/her own manuscript? As a writer-friend often says, “Your eyes see what your brain expects to see.”
Do you sometimes wonder how you could have overlooked a glaring mistake over and over and over again? That’s it. “Your eyes see what your brain expects to see.” Some say we actually see with our brain—our eyes are just the brain’s tools. Interesting concept, huh?
Okay, so you know I’m about to publish another novel. I’m also in promotion mode with the novels and other books I’ve already published over the years. This month, I’ve been revving up my social media standing. I’m gathering more Facebook friends and Twitter followers. I’ve also had two more reviews for Catnapped and Cat-Eye Witness just this week. Reviews and our responses to them are interesting. When I get a negative review, I say, “Oh well, that’s just an opinion.” And I shake it off.
When it is a rave review, I take it at face value as if it was some sort of truth or fact.
I’m Patricia Fry. I’ve been writing for publication for 40 years and I have 40 published books. I’ve been guiding authors through the writing, publishing and book promotion process for nearly 20 years. And I’ve been writing fiction now for a little over a year. Check out my Klepto Cat Mysteries at Amazon.com. They are on Kindle only. Visit me at Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/kleptocatmysteries and follow me on Twitter. https://Twitter.com/authorplf