Greetings, Writers! Here’s a fabulous editing trick that works like a charm: after saving your latest draft, read it on Kindle. No, you don’t have to publish it as a book to do this, and it’s a great way to edit your WIP (Work In Progress).
Reading your WIP on Kindle allows you to see your ms. as if it were a book already, and take my word for it, the errors stand out. Any clunky, repetitious language or logic errors become evident with the force of paintball splatter.
Here’s how to upload your document to Kindle.
- Step One: email your document to your Kindle address. (If you don’t know it, go to your Amazon account, click on Manage Your Content and Devices, click on Your Devices, highlight the target Kindle, and the email address will appear. Just send the doc as an attachment. I do it in DOCX format (Word 2013) but PDF might work, too, if you’re paranoid.
- Step Two: Wait a few minutes, then go to your Kindle and open the document.
Reading my doc on Kindle tricks my brain into thinking I’m reading an actual book, and more often than not, on the first run-through it’s pretty bad. Open the document on your laptop and you’ll be able to do the edits on the actual Word doc as fast as you find them on the Kindle.
Okay, that’s your hot tip. Now, back to the salt mines.
This post was shared by Lynne Spreen.
Great tip, Lynne. I’m constantly editing and it gets tiresome, so a new technique is most welcome. Thanks!
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You’re welcome, Brenda. I’m amazed at how different my WIP looks when I read it on my Kindle. The weak parts just come screaming through, but luckily it’s for my eyes only, WAY pre-publication.
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