Quick Tip Tuesday: Read Your Work Out Loud

Quick Tip Tuesday: Read Your Work Out Loud

My final self-editing move is to read my book out loud. Gregg and I take turns, chapter-by-chapter – one person reading and the other with the open laptop making corrections.

Here’s why: You use a different part of your brain when you read out loud and hear the words versus when you read them on a screen.

You’ll hear a repetitive word even if you don’t “see” it when reading. You’ll realize she might have picked up the book twice when you’re hearing it versus reading it.

Your brain will also insert words it knows should be there when you’re reading silently. A missed “the” or a missing comma are not apparent; however, if you read it out loud, your brain doesn’t play those tricks with you.

If you don’t have a reading partner like me, having your computer read back to you will work as well. Most word processing programs have plugins you can add to listen to what you’ve written. If yours does not, you can turn it into a ebook and use an e-reader to read it to you as well.