Proofreading Your Own Work

I have two beta readers/proofreaders right now. I pay them. They work hard for their money.

Actually, they delight in finding errors in my work.

Before sending a book off to my proofreaders, I read my manuscript over and over and over again.

I edit and proofread as I write. It is not unusual for me to read six or seven chapters of what I have previously written before writing for the day. I would bet money you won’t find errors in the first several chapters of my work, because those chapters have been read and scrutinized the most.

The first error my proofreaders found in my current manuscript was on page TWO and was a missing, necessary comma. On page three I used the word google as a verb, but I had it capitalized. Then came a missing quotation mark on page five. Page seven had voicemail spelled as two words. Page ten had this beauty: … before taking off at run back to Clay’s property.

I find this hard to believe. I’ve done proofreading/editing for other people, and I know I’ve done a good job for them. My work should be nearly perfect when I hand it off to my proofreaders.

But it’s not.

I finally realized what the problem was. When you are reading something for the first time, you don’t know what’s coming. The words are new to you, and it’s easy to spot an error. Isn’t it amazing how a typo or missed word will stand out in a new book you’re reading?

However, I know all the words. I know what the story is. I know the text. If something is missing, my mind simply fills it in. I don’t always see the error.

You’ve seen those images where the words are jumbled but you have no problem reading the message. That must be what it’s like for me when I read my own work.

Most of the corrections that come back to me are little things. A small missing word. A missing comma. A missed quotation mark. A period instead of a question mark.

When I’m writing, I use a notebook to log questions that need researched either by looking back at a previous book or simply something I want to double check. When is Jo’s birthday? Is it book store or bookstore? I usually have so many things I want to double check, it takes a couple days to complete the list. In this list of things to do is also a note to check my work for that blasted word that. It is my nemesis, and I overuse it. Delete, delete, delete.

The full-on proofreading comes once I’ve finished writing. I’ve read my book on the computer all throughout the writing process, and I read it one more time on the computer. I then print a hard copy and read that – usually out loud. I transfer my book to my Kindle. Reading my book on my Kindle is akin to the reading experience I have when reading the books of others. I’m always amazed by how many errors I find at this stage.

While my book is out with my proofreaders, I go back to my computer and look to see what Microsoft Word has to say. I have Word set to show me pretty much everything it doesn’t like about my writing (like the pretty much I just used). I’m happy to say, there are usually not many changes. I like that I find a few errors after I send my book off. Hopefully, my proofreaders will find the same ones. It’s a bit of double check of their work.

Will my work be error-free when I publish? Probably not. There’s always the chance that when fixing one mistake, you create another. However, by the time I hit the publish button, I feel I’ve done all I can do, and I stop worrying about errors until the next book.

Do you proofread your own work? Do you leave it entirely up to others? What’s your system for proofreading? I’m interested.