Welcome to our group blog. This May our Group Blog is on editing. All books go through multiple edits. What have you learned are your problems, and what irks you about editing?

We do go through many edits. The first few are our own edits before we send anything off. After the first draft we edit for sentence structure, spelling, grammar, character development, interior and exterior conflict, plot, red herrings and probably a lot more. Then we edit again. Then off to our editors, revisions and back for more editing. I think all of us want the best polished novel possible for our readers.

What are my problems? Ah, so many challenges. I tend to use passive voices – was – a lot. I need to use words that are more active and vivid.  As well I use crutch words like smiled, glared, stared, and words like ‘just’ and ‘that’. I also have some punctuation issues, like where to put the comma.

Editing takes time and it’s technical and not creative. working with your muse, but it’s a necessary evil for a well-written story.

I think what irks me about editing is that no matter how many edits you do, or how many people edit it or look at it, when you read the final published copy – there’s always an error – which someone immediately points out. Sigh…

I’m looking forward to seeing what our other authors have to say about editing and what irks them.

Skye Taylor  http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

Diane Bator  http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

Dr. Bob Rich  https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1Tb

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/

Margaret Fieland  http://margareetfieland.wordpress.com

A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/

Victoria Chatham  http://www.victoriachatham.com

Judith Copek  http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/