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Time To Revisit An Old Friend

OMG! I forgot it was blog post time. I have been in the writing cave pushing to finish a book that should have been finished several months ago. I feel so bad about doing a repeat blog, but this one fits into something I’m about to do…reread one of my books.
How many times have you reread one of your books? When I reread my books, I discover things I missed. I also evaluate the progress of my writing. I challenge you to reread something from your backlist. You might discover glitches or want to make a few tweaks. As writers, we’re quick to change the covers but ignore changing the story. Read the oldest book on your backlist and ask yourself what would you change.
I hope you find this post helpful. See you next month.

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“HAVE YOU EVER REREAD YOUR OWN BOOK?”

Happy pre-spring.   It’s almost time to shed the winter gear and replace it with light weight fabrics.

A couple of months ago, after I completed my Goodreads reading goal for 2017, I got the urge to read one of my own books as a reader…a fan.  It was never my intention to “edit” it.  But sixty plus pages into reading the print copy, I spotted a typo.  I was all set to ignore it.  But then I spotted another one.  When I finished, I had eight typos. Crap.

I like the story and wanted to continue reading the series.  The second book was worse.  It felt like the typos wouldn’t stop coming.  I couldn’t believe I released a book with so many typos.

This little exercise made me aware of something…not every book is free of mistakes.  As a creative, it’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I could have been so careless…unprofessional…and a host of other adjectives I care not to use.

So here’s my question.  Have you ever read your own book for pleasure? Did you enjoy the story as much as when you wrote it?

This wasn’t the first time I’d read one of my books, but it was the first time, I experienced this many typos.  I have no idea how I missed the typos.

Something amazing occurred from this exercise.  I saw my growth as a writer.  Of course I’m going to fix the typos.  But although it’s only been a little over a year since I wrote the books, I was tempted to go back and mature them up.  By that I mean, I could have gone in and changed the writing style to be reflective of my growth as a writer.  But if I did that, it could effect the tone of the book and the series.

Did I enjoy the story when I read it again?  Yes,  I immediately wanted to read the next book in the series, which I did.  I can honestly say, it’s horrible.  Because the story was written when I started writing.  It’s filled with so many mistakes, it’s embarrassing.  Here’s the sad thing, when I wrote it, I thought it was good.  Fast forward and I couldn’t even finish reading it.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished reading the books and I am faced with the inevetible…end the series.  Or re-write the book.

What would you do?