An editing trick

I finished editing the first 30 pages or so of the book last night. whew. Let me tell you, editing isn’t as much fun as writing. However it is satisfying to know these 30 pages of the novel are so much better than they were before.

I tired a new editing trick I learned about on Twitter from another writer. I recorded myself reading the first two chapters then played them back. Anything I stumbled on or didn’t sound right I changed. It really helped catch awkward phrases.

There are free programs you can get online that will read back to you. I downloaded Natural Reader and will use that to read chapters as well, however you lose the natural inflection you get when you read it yourself.

So what editing tricks do you have?