A Writer's Checklist for Editing

I completed the first round of edits for Secret Lives and Private Eyes this week. Whoo hooo! I made myself a checklist for ensuring that I verified some key areas. Sometimes, when editors or proofreaders use the track changes feature, the formatting and spacing isn't quite right after the changes are accepted.

Here are the items on my checklist...

1. Make sure that all quoted text has an opening and closing quotation mark. Sometimes with editing, the end quotation mark disappears.

2. Check to see that there is one space after all marks of punctuation. I also check to make sure that all sentences have the correct end punctuation.

3. Run the spellchecker to make sure words weren't run together by accident.

4. Make sure all paragraphs are in the correct place and are indented. Sometimes, during editing they merge or lose their indent.

5. Check to make sure that all usages of a word or phrase are consistent (e.g. T-shirt or t-shirt; a.m. or AM). I make a style sheet while I am self-editing to keep me on track.

6. For mysteries and plot twists, make sure that if key clues or plot points are removed that all other references to them are also removed.

7. If dialog or chapters are removed, make sure that clues and foreshadowing are still correct.

8. Check all of your em dashes (to ensure that they are not two hyphens). Also, check your ellipses to make sure that the spacing is correct between the periods.

9. Check all of your chapter numbers to make sure that they are still in the correct order.

Writing, editing, revising, and proofreading are hard work. I probably spend more time revising than I do writing.  Best wishes with your writing project!