Edit. Edit. Edit.

I have just been trying to read J K Rowling, The Casual Vacancy.  I found the story uninspiring and, from the reviews, I am not the only one. The good thing about it is the perfect editing. I wonder how many people there were in the team that helped prepare this book ready for publication?

I read that Jeffrey Archer had 16 on his edit team. Imagine the luxury of writing the story and leaving the rest to someone else.

If you have the ideas, then editing is worth it. If you are brilliant at editing, but without any inspirational ideas a book isn’t worth writing. That makes sense.

So far I have made 15 edits and started on the 16th for the paperback. I have read what printing companies offer and it hardly seems worth doing. It has to be UK English for a British book, so that cuts out a lot of editing options.

I have found the more I edit the more I learn and have grown to appreciate making the story a better reading experience.

I was told not to litter the text with commas, now I think I should. There are certain words that could be written in a more interesting way and the occasional phrase that I wonder how I came to write it badly, then miss the opportunity of correcting it.

One more edit and I would like it professionally read. Any recommendations on how you do that?  I can run software myself.

I come back to the mantra of edit, edit, edit, yourself. One day, when I’m rich and famous, I’ll hire a team to do it for me, or have a live in secretary like Joanna Trollop. Wouldn’t that be great!