Loud Reading and Preparing for Tomorrow

I've just finished yet another round of edits to The Vanished Knight. It had started innocently enough. I wanted to read it and the sequel The Heir's Choice so that I could actually be sure I didn't screw up anything continuity wise.

But as little as five sentences in, I discovered that I'm not satisfied with the way some of my description was written. Chalk it up to the two years' worth of experience after the last time I edited TVK, but I just didn't feel as happy with it as before. Something felt off.

So I did the one thing I KNOW I should always do, yet always omit from my process. I read the entire thing (all 250 odd pages) out loud.

It's a tedious and surprisingly tiring thing to do, but I broke the book into five 50 page sessions and read out loud. It's amazing how much I picked up this way that passed me, my editor and two proofreaders by back when I published the book.

Which goes to show you that using a publisher definitely doesn't ensure that the quality's better than self publishing. If the book had stayed published, I probably wouldn't really have tried to edit it again.

Anyhow. It's done now, which is good. Tomorrow I can start with The Heir's Choice. I'll probably continue spending about an hour and a half each evening reading out loud. It's a nice length to work on, because it means I stop just before my concentration starts to wander.

Of course, that won't be the only thing I'll be doing this month. I've got a few other goals as revealed this past Friday and then I also have A to Z Challenge. Twice. On top of that, I also have another exciting announcement, but I'll probably wait with that one a bit, until I have more information. I do think it'll be a great step forward for my writing career, though, so watch this space.

In the meantime, it's 09:13 PM, so I think I'm going to turn in. Want to get back into the habit of waking early to get some writing in before work starts. Wish me luck!

Are you also mentally preparing for Camp NaNo and/or the A to Z Challenge? Are you turning in early tonight or waiting for the clock to strike twelve?