Thank you, Barbara O'Connor

I love to read about other folks' processes, especially when it comes to revision, and one post from Barbara O'Connor's blog some time back really stuck in my mind. She said she reads aloud her entire novel as part of the final tweaking.

So she has been on my mind as I give the current almost-finished manuscript a bit of spit and polish. In the past, I have read out sections, but never the entire novel. It's taken me several days but you know what? It's been well worth it. Repetitions that my eye skipped over/forgave, stop my ear cold. Anything that tangles my tongue gets tossed -- I want to make this book easy for a classroom read-aloud! And those darlings that my editor has indulged, I've cut. It's almost like spring cleaning!

Though the darned thing still doesn't have an official title, it's starting to sound like a real book.

So thanks, Barbara!