The Red Pen Edit
You don't have to love it but you should learn to appreciate it.
I am going to suppose you self-edit. When you do that editing (during your writing or after you’re done) is entirely up to you. But if you are a writer, then you self-edit. And if you don’t self-edit, then you should, because that’s just what you do. Self-editing is a great way to learn how to write better, catch your own mistakes and eventually not make them again. It’s also better when you don’t bog down beta readers or editors with mistakes that you could’ve easily fixed ahead of time. So, in short: You self-edit. I self-edit. We all self-edit.
Now that we got that out of the way, what I want to talk more in-depth about is how I self-edit. I work in two self-editing phases. Phase One is using ProWritingAid/Grammarly plus my own eyes and ears to fix grammar, punctuation, typos, stuff like that. Phase Two is what I like to call the Red Pen Edit: I print out my manuscript, grab my trusty red pen, and get to work.
Before I share the how of my self-editing process, let me share some of the tools and costs so you can do it too. For starters, I’m not rich, by any means. I own a printer, but it’s not one of those fancy laser printers where I can just print off hundreds of pages and not run out of ink so I can afford it. This means I have to rely on outside sources to get this done and give myself the proper amount of time to prepare. So here is a list of the tools I use, the time it takes to get it done, and where to get it all yourself:
MANUSCRIPT
Office Depot - $30 - $45
Depending on how long your manuscript is* (pages) this will determine the cost of printing it. But be sure to use the following settings so you don’t end up spending more than you need:
Paper - Letter Size / 20lb weight / portrait
Ink - Black and White
Double-sided (must)
Binding - Coil or Wire (page count depending) / (don’t choose tape!)
*You’ll need to do a couple of things before you upload your document into Office Depot:
Create a PDF of your manuscript.
Have a cover page with your book title & author name.
Insert a blank page between the cover page and the first chapter. This will make sure your first chapter starts on the right side and not just behind the cover page.
Insert a blank page on the last page of your manuscript. Just to make sure your entire manuscript is printed and the last page isn’t cut off by mistake.
As you configure your manuscript the price will begin to change on the bottom right-hand side to let you know the cost. There are other configurations you can make, if you want, such as having a cover that is a certain color instead of just a clear plastic cover or have tab inserts, lamination, etc. Just keep in mind that these things cost extra and really aren’t necessary as you intend to edit your manuscript so it doesn’t need to be all that pretty.
Keep in mind that the exact settings of your manuscript in PDF format will differ slightly when uploading and viewing it on Office Depot’s website. I went through the trouble of removing things like widows and orphans only to find out that the layout was different and it didn’t matter. I could find no way of forcing Office Depot to keep my settings even though my uploaded document is the same 8.5” x 11” that they have. Don’t drive yourself nuts trying to figure it out.
And if you’re like me, you can just divide what they have as the total page count for your manuscript in half, that way you’ll know how many pages it will be once printed. For my 90k word count manuscript, it was 380 pages, which worked out to 190 pages printed.
Lastly, depending on how large your Office Depot is (if you have one within driving distance of where you live) you can do curbside or in-store pick-up which means no shipping to pay and you can usually get it the same day if you order it early enough in the day. Otherwise, just have it delivered and if your cart is over a certain amount, it’s free shipping!
PEN(S)/HIGHLIGHTERS
Pilot Precise V5/V7 (Red Pack of 12) - $15 (on Amazon)
Zebra Zazzle Liquid Ink Highlighter (Chisel Tip) (Assorted Colors Pack of 5) - $10 (on Amazon)
Pilot and Zebra are my go-to for any sort of inky things I need and for pencils as well. I just love and trust these two brands. You can’t go wrong with any decision you make here. Honestly, you just want a great RED pen and at least three different highlighter colors to get you started.
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Once you have your manuscript in hand, pens, highlighters, and some sort of beverage (water, coffee, tea, whatever) then you’ll be ready to begin. I recommend finding a nice quiet spot that is cozy and comfortable cause you might be sitting there for a while working.
Now, the red pen is for those obvious changes you need to see off the jump, like typos, inserting words or paragraphs into the story, making a note to yourself, stuff like that. The highlighter is something I like to use to point out those good bits in my story that I want to remember.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sea of red ink staring at you as you self-edit. You see all that red and can instantly get discouraged by your own storytelling ability. I know I question if I’m good enough or cut out for this kind of creative endeavor all the time. That’s why it’s nice to remind myself of those moments I really enjoyed writing. Those lines of dialogue touched me or made me laugh when I wrote them.
Use the highlighter to literally highlight those things to yourself. That way, as you go back over your edited pages to make corrections, every once in a while, you’ll get hit with a bit of color that’s saying “hey, look at me, remember this awesome thing you wrote?”
Trust me, you’ll be amazed at just how good that will make you feel as you do your level best to correct those pesky mistakes you keep making.
And the reason for having different colored highlighters? Well, you might want to designate all dialogue that’s great, one color and description or prose that’s really good, another color.