NaNoWrMo Winner!

WINNER! 

As of today, writers are able to validate there novels and get the official WINNER badge (digital). As you can guess, I already did. The 50k word goal is mine. I'm still writing, but have also started to edit my novel. 

       Thanks to my sister's MAC I have my novel read to me as I edit. I have the habit of missing those sneaky words that are not supposed to be there, but are still spelled correctly.

I've created a term for this, though I'm sure others have probably done so before now. I call it being "Author Blind." It's when you read your work and you see what you wanted to write rather than what is actually on the page. I often do that. Missing diction issues, and word choices, like the difference between chose and choose or no noticing you have he instead of her or the. But there are ways to overcome being "Author Blind."

    I found an add on for Word Doc called Grammerly, it comes with a monthly fee, but it helps to do more than spell checking while you're editing. Of course you can ignore some of its suggestions as I did. Some things are just my style of writing, and I like them that way. Over all I found it extremely helpful, but only purchased one month, (even though it was more expensive per month than one of the longer subscriptions) I was sure I'd only use it for a month and didn't want to pay for something I wasn't actively using.  I might purchase another month when I pledge to revise my novel with the NaNoWriMo website.

Usually, I have family and friends that are kind enough to proofread for me. I really do enjoy their opinions and suggestions. All of them are avid readers and I trust their opinion on my work, though I pick and choose which suggestions I will employ. I often get impatient, and edit my novel while they have it, which can lead to redundancy in editing, but oh well. I just can't wait!

I like to edit at least twice before handing something over and these tools can help me have a slightly more polished novel. I'm not saying it's perfect at this point, only that I want them to look at content rather than spelling and grammar issues. The little stuff can be so distracting.

P.S. NaNoWriMo Winner T-Shirts are now available on their website for those of you who have met the word goal! They are so cool this year!! I plan to get one soon! TTFN!