Revise and Edit

This week I revised and edited and revised and edited and revised and... you get the picture. Now that I am planning on self publishing, I realize I will not have a big professional editor making sure my book is perfect before it hits the stands.

No, I am that person. I will be the one to make sure the spelling is correct, the punctuation is correct and most importantly (I think) the story is the best it can be.

Making sure the story flows for the reader; this can be really hard to do.

In my head, as I am reading it, everything flows perfectly. When I read my story it is like I am watching a movie in my head. I love my story, but I want and need to make sure that the reader does too.

How do you solve this problem?

Test readers; people I trust and respect that can read my manuscript and give me an honest opinion about my work.

So far my daughter has read almost every incarnation. Earlier on in my process I had 4 other test readers as well.

At this point I wonder if I will revise and edit until I have to force myself to stop or if I will get to a point where I know it is done.

I guess there is only one way to find out.