After a week, I’m actually finished listening and editing chapter 5 (and everything before it, of course).  I try not to do more than one chapter per day, because that’s a lot to pay attention to and a lot of time to eat up.  Little bites are better, because editing is kind of an ease-up from writing, and although I’ve already written the introduction to Beyond (working title), I’m not feeling the passionate motivation to start chapter 1 with Fallen still needing a good going-over.

After I get through the “audio” review, I’ll probably go back and read it on the page, looking for anything the other reviews might have missed.  The audio review is good because it’s probably the best way I know to pick up continuity issues.  For example, if a character is referred to as “the scarred one” at the end of the book (because I settled on that title), it becomes very evident during the audio review.  I go, and make the mass changes across the manuscript, and viola’, issue solved.

Hearing the audio recording also points up sentences that are too long, too complicated, or unclear.  If the “English Speaking Female Voice” sounds like she’s panting that the end of a sentence – yeah, it’s too long.  That probably happens because the modeling of sentence structure in the text-to-speech program has a certain dynamic programmed into it that favors normal speech patterns.  No one has an extra set of lungs to keep a sentence going for three minutes…

I’m also, right now, enjoying a few other things – such as games on my iPad, more than usual.  Writing is hard work – period.  It’s fun for me, but mentally, it’s draining.  Even after finishing the introduction, I could tell that I’m too “burnt out” to jump into chapter one of Beyond.  It’s better to let the editing season be the editing season, and the writing season be what it is, in its time.  Until then…

See you in the future…

JTL