This is serious if you intend to proof your work for yourself – everywhere you will see the advice; “DO NOT DO IT“. This really is good advice.
And there is a good reason for this, and this is the fact that all your brain wants to do is please you. If you proof your own work your brain will tell you that there is nothing wrong with your writing, in the most part.
What this means is that you have an option, the option to hire a professional editor – not a typesetting editor, but an editor specifically for grammar and typography.
Some of you, on the other hand, may want to do the best you can for yourself, and essentially this is what this section is about.
So – how can one proof one’s own work without falling foul of the brain’s need to please?
- Cut out sight reading – never think you can read what you’ve written in your head and see what’s really there.
- Print your work and read it out loud – I’m not talking about mouthing it; really, really read it out loud.
- Even better have someone listen to you whilst you do it.
- Save your manuscript as a PDF file (Adobe’s portable document format).
- This is your only true hope.
I guess some of you are wondering, “How can a PDF document help me proof my work?”