Welcome for ROW80 Sunday check-in!

I’m getting around a bit better this week but, I’m reluctant to show my DH how much I’ve progressed. Shh! Don’t tell him but, I’m really loving the extra time I have to work instead of being interrupted by cooking and cleaning. I guess I’ll have to get back to the routine eventually soon, but for today I’ll let him continue to bring me my meals.

So, here’s how my week went:

• Write on short stories in progress 3 days/week with a weekly goal of 2000 words. Met my goal but just barely. Had one day out of town which shortened my writing days to 2.
• Plot outline of a novella series idea. Work is continuing on this–more character sketches, music soundtrack and plotting the 1st in the series.
• Begin the publishing process of at least one short story. This will hopefully happen in June.
• Exercise 5 days a week – at least 30 minutes each time. Same as last week-no lower body due to my injured foot, though I did hobble around more than last week. Did more upper body stretching and weights.

Photo courtesy of DarinCalhoun.blogspot.com

I’ve been self-editing a short story, scene by scene, and have been making note of ways to do it well. These are my tips from my own experience:

1. Decide, before beginning to write, how you will self-edit: As you write; As you complete a chapter or scene; or At the finish line. Then stick to that.
2. Use spell-check but realize it doesn’t catch mistakes like use of the wrong word or a missing word.
3. After you have read through once, read again backwards to catch mistakes.
4. Read your MS aloud to find holes and out of sync scenes, or have your computer read it back to you using Word’s speech feature.
5. Use the “find” function for all the usual over-used words such as: adverbs, ‘to be’ verbs, as, should-could-would, it, there, so, because, very, really, a bit, quite. I guess the complete list would be a whole blog post. Here’s a link to a writing consultant’s list of over-used words.
6. Try not to repeat descriptive words–at least, not in the same scene.
7. Try to eliminate some use of he said/she said by showing the character in action along with his/her dialogue.
8. Sometimes breaking a long sentence into two shorter ones has more impact.
9. When reading, pay attention to and make notes on some of the powerful language other authors use. Try to find the perfect descriptive words for your MS.
10. Pull out any chapter in your MS. If it’s so great that it can stand on it’s own, you’ve done well. If it feels weak, incomplete, boring…rewrite!
    

If all else fails, consider referring to one of my favorite craft books, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

How did your week go? Do you have self-editing tips to share?