I've got the self-editor blues...

[dirk2024]

Damnit.

So based on a prompt that was posted here in AH, I wrote a short story. I enjoyed it. I think I spent a week on it. I even gave it a day or two to marinate before I re-read it in an effort to self-edit the damn thing.

Then I submited the story and after three days it was published last night! (yeay)

Then I re-read it.

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

Happens to us all. Don't sweat the old story, make the next one better. Either that, or slow down the rush to publish. I don't do that, my rolling edit process means I don't need to, but if you're suffering from premature submission syndrome, there's only one cure: take your time.

 

[dirk2024]

but if you're suffering from premature submission syndrome, there's only one cure: take your time.

 

[TheLobster]

Did you give it a pass with TTS? Even the dull robotic one lets you hear odd word choices and phrasing, not to mention just plain old typos and similar mistakes.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Self editing is so difficult. The reason I think is.
Self editing is just another pass by the same set of eyes.
Miss it once, and you probably miss it every time..

Cagivagurl

 

[dirk2024]

Did you give it a pass with TTS? Even the dull robotic one lets you hear odd word choices and phrasing, not to mention just plain old typos and similar mistakes.

I want to say yes, but now I'm not sure. I have Read Aloud on Word. I know I used it for my Summertime submission, so I assumed I had used it for this one, but now I have doubts.

As EB said, I was in too much of a hurry to publish. It just gets exciting the closer I get to being done.

 

[dirk2024]

Self editing is so difficult. The reason I think is.
Self editing is just another pass by the same set of eyes.
Miss it once, and you probably miss it every time..

Cagivagurl

Yeah. That's why I let it sit a day or two while I worked on some other stories. Perhaps I need a week to reset my eyes.

 

[dirk2024]

And this is with short stories...6k to 10k range. I can't imagine having to do this on a 25k-50k story.

 

[Lorelei907]

I’ll proof read my stories a hundred times before submitting it then horrified at the things I find once it’s published. Like embarrassingly horrified. Luckily you can make the corrections and resubmit.

 

[iwatchus]

When I was a reader thinking about writing. I swore I would make sure every story was typo free. I am still waiting to write my first one. I just reread a few stories from my series this morning, checking something for a spin-off. I found three more significant typos in the two stories I read. Including one where the wrong person is having sex.

 

[Lorelei907]

I think it’s just the nature of the beast.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Damnit.

So based on a prompt that was posted here in AH, I wrote a short story. I enjoyed it. I think I spent a week on it. I even gave it a day or two to marinate before I re-read it in an effort to self-edit the damn thing.

Then I submited the story and after three days it was published last night! (yeay)

Then I re-read it.

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

I've corrected a published story once in a while. If it's one of two typos, I let it go. Occasionally, I've rewritten a story and published it elsewhere. Or I've published it here and replaced the original, maybe with a new title. Sometimes it takes months or years before I decide to do that.

Posterity, or until the grid goes down. Then we'll be writing on cave walls again.

 

[Jorunn]

If you discover it quickly, you can ask Laurel to remove a story. Then work on it again to get it right and resubmit. I just did that, and even changed the storyline to use new characters.

I do self-editing. I am trying to learn how to do editing for others too. Definitely do a read-through for flow. Then Word spelling and grammar, then free Grammarly (or other tool). You don’t have to change everything it finds!!! Read your story through again and make any changes. Then back into Grammarly for a final check. A day away from your story also helps.

 

[dirk2024]

I've watched the rating go from 4.72 (on 8 votes) down to 4.25 and now its edging back up to 4.36 (22 votes and 2.2 k readers). One of them left a nice comment:

Such a lovely read. Would not mind a sequel or two to explore this pairing/harem further.

 

[caleb35]

You got to spend more than just a couple days away from it. That's something I used to do, and I had a similar reaction when I'd re-read it much later. I'd recommend you let your first draft sit for at least a month before you revisit it, perhaps two months even. You need that much time away from it for your brain to forget enough of it to read it with a fresh eye when you do review it.

 

[dirk2024]

You got to spend more than just a couple days away from it. That's something I used to do, and I had a similar reaction when I'd re-read it much later. I'd recommend you let your first draft sit for at least a month before you revisit it, perhaps two months even. You need that much time away from it for your brain to forget enough of it to read it with a fresh eye when you do review it.

Wow. I was thinking of waiting a week.

Maybe I'm addicted to it at this point. Not the story itself, but the sharing of it. I feel like I'm jonesing for a fix.

 

[Lorelei907]

I had submitted a story that I’d put a lot of craft work into and was rather proud of. I was so happy to find it at 4.8 the very morning it was published. Then I was heart broken the next day to find it had dropped to 3.6! It took many weeks for it to slowly crawl back up to the 4.8 range, and I think it improved mostly because the Mods occasionally go through and do a sweep of invalid ratings.

Bottom line, I think there are a lot of trolls here who take great delight in dropping 1 bombs on people stories. If my work is truly deserving a 1 I’d rather hear why so I can learn and improve my writing.

After that little incident, I’m actually more interested in people’s comments. I get much more satisfaction and delight out of reading something meaningful from my readers than seeing a number.

 

[caleb35]

Wow. I was thinking of waiting a week.

Maybe I'm addicted to it at this point. Not the story itself, but the sharing of it. I feel like I'm jonesing for a fix.

That's normal; once your first draft is done, you want to get it out there. You have to fight that feeling a bit, though. Wait at least one month to review and revise before submitting.

 

[dirk2024]

After that little incident, I’m actually more interested in people’s comments. I get much more satisfaction and delight out of reading something meaningful from my readers than seeing a number.

Yes, that's true. I wished people commented more, then I realize while I comment some, could do more.

 

[SimonDoom]

I know how you feel. I pride myself on knowing grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but when I write my brain sometimes has little brain farts and I type something I didn't mean to type. I don't always catch the mistakes, despite my efforts and always using Word's editing tools to try to catch them.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I know how you feel. I pride myself on knowing grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but when I write my brain sometimes has little brain farts and I type something I didn't mean to type. I don't always catch the mistakes, despite my efforts and always using Word's editing tools to try to catch them.

Sometimes it's worse when you have those brain farts and don't type something you meant to type.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes it's worse when you have those brain farts and don't type something you meant to type.

The funny recurring one for me, as has been pointed out by more than one reader, is writing "waste" when I mean to write "waist." As you can imagine, that's not good in an erotic story.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

And this is with short stories...6k to 10k range. I can't imagine having to do this on a 25k-50k story.

Yes, 67k novel and reading it all ... again ... and again. And after submitting, still finding typos 'n shit.

Never fails, the errors are always in the last edits - those last changes that I made in the last half hour before hitting submit. I mean I have to stop editing at some point or I will edit forever, but I have to proofread my final edits just as I would anything else. Of course, how many more times am I gonna read this thing through? I'm getting sick of my own story, dammit! But that is where the errors are, in those final final edits, never fails.

 

[dirk2024]

The funny recurring one for me, as has been pointed out by more than one reader, is writing "waste" when I mean to write "waist." As you can imagine, that's not good in an erotic story.

I've come close with that one several times.

 

[dirk2024]

Yes, 67k novel and reading it all ... again ... and again. And after submitting, still finding typos 'n shit.

Never fails, the errors are always in the last edits - those last changes that I made in the last half hour before hitting submit. I mean I have to stop editing at some point or I will edit forever, but I have to proofread my final edits just as I would anything else. Of course, how many more times am I gonna read this thing through? I'm getting sick of my own story, dammit! But that is where the errors are, in those final final edits, never fails.

I enjoy your stories as I am one of your many followers. Thank you for all the hard work you put into your tales.