Here's something I've learned after making expensive mistakes of cash and having to get over the embarrassment of writing miscues on my first novel, BLOODLINE RUN. I am still learning.
I'm on my second novel, (comming soon) and I'm at the point of finishing revisions after a thorough whipping from my development editor. I'm at the point where authors grumble about how they hate their manuscripts. That's where I am right now. How desperately I want to finish it. I'm eating crow about how I thought this second one would be easier, finished, and out the door in 18 months. Well wrong-O! I'll be happy to see it completed and ready in a little over two and a half years. Big improvement over the first one.
Nonetheless, Chet, DON'T GET SLOPPY NOW. You've worked your ass off creating the story. Time to put it in the hands of a professional for the final few yards to get over the line.
After all, when you spend years writing a novel, the last thing you want to do is rush it out the door. After you think it's perfect, you've read it dozens of times, sent it through Grammarly, let your Mother read it, have your significant other pick at it....then...and only then let a line, copy or proof editor get their hands on it. Someone you trust for a fair price. I'm NOT saying send it through all the six different editor rubrics. Hell no. Most of us authors are not the right kind. And I know they can be expensive. Pushing out a novel that hasn't been through a pro's hands might be a more expensive mistake. (Agents, publishers) I say research editors like you're buying a computer. One you can afford and understand. NOT LIKE I DID ON THE FIRST BOOK, where I spent too much $ on questionable editors. Mostly my fault for choosing the wrong ones for what I needed. This is why I say recognize where your writing weaknesses lie and choose an editor(s) who can fix those gap and or grammar wounds. Generally speaking, one of the copyeditor varieties is a good bet at the end of the process before the book launches. If you don't, you'll probably live to regret it by readers letting you know about the typos, dangling participles, punctuation etc., errors you missed! Cuz (I say this as a compliment), you're a creative genius; you've written a frickin' book. You're not a phraseologist, lexiconist or grammarian.
Don't rush your masterpiece!
https://writerunboxed.com/2011/02/25/you-really-hate-your-writing-that%E2%80%99s-a-good-sign/
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