When you’re cleaning up your house, do you ever skip over the same things over and over again?
If something is out of place but it stays in the wrong place for days then do you stop seeing it after a while?
I do. My eyes just pass right over the misplaced item as if it weren’t even there.
This is how a plastic, orange whistle, designed to look like fake lips ended up on my table for weeks.
The children left it there. I did notice it for the first few days (“What the *&%$??”), but I always seemed to have my arms full of laundry, groceries, or library books.
Then I just didn’t see the plastic, orange lip whistle anymore. Until yesterday, when I finally tossed it back in my daughter’s room.
Editing is like this for me. I read my manuscript over and over and over…but sometimes skip over the same mistakes each time.
The only ways I’ve found to counteract this issue is to read my manuscript aloud and to give it to other people to read (family, friends, agent) before my editor gets it.
Otherwise, our work in progress may have a bunch of plastic lips in it.
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