My New Favorite Editing Tool

I am working on edits for two books right now.  One is off for the final round polish and with the second I am going in to tear apart my rough draft and get it ready for submission.
All this editing (not my favorite part of the process) has forced me to improve my technique.  It needed to happen, but I can still whine about it a bit. ;p
I have tried a few different ways to go through my books. I printed them out to work on, read them on my kindle and took notes in the file, and tried just editing in the document itself.
Someone owes my editor alcohol after the steep learning curve I went through with Track Changes. Pretty sure that someone is me. Bourbon, right Lisa?
Then I tried something else. I have an older model Kindle Touch that offers a Text-to-Speech feature. It reads documents (that have the feature enabled) in a robotic, monotonous tone. What I discovered, was that any mixed up or missing words, and other mistakes or awkward wording jumped out at me like blinking neon lights.  I threw my own books on the device and started listening.
Only problem was it was a pain in the booty to follow along on a computer.  So I brought out my printout, and had my "Aha!" moment.
I found my groove and the edits are going so well thanks to my out-of-date e-reader.
Anyone out there have a favorite technique or tool they use during the editing process? Share below!

RT Recovery

I have no idea what day it is.  I have no idea what time it is.  I have no idea where my coffee cup went.

That's right, I am home from RT 2013.

I have some pictures to share.  The first day, I was so excited that I woke up at 4:30 am.  Much to my roommates' dismay, the trend continued.  I am an early riser and always get up ready to go.

 Samhain Publishing had a TON of signage out.  They even had these really cool clings on the elevators.  I might have taken a few pics with my new publisher. Don't judge me, but I may have kissed one or two.

 This is a shot of me with Lexi Blake/Sophie Oak.  I fell in love with this author when I found her first book under the Sophie Oak name.  Small Town Siren.  I found book two in the series, and then promptly emailed her and let her know that I was stalking her.  For some reason she responded rather than blocking me, and she is just the most fabulous person.  I was so glad to run into her again.

This was my embarrassing fangirl moment of the con.  Victoria Dahl was one of the first authors I read that let me know it was okay to be funny and sexy at the same time.  Her books and her female characters were strong and snarky and fabulous.  I hugged her.  It was great.

At that same book signing I also met Angie Fox!  She took such time to chat with me, I was amazed. Angie Fox is also one of my funny idols.  I was freaking out a bit when she handed me her card and TOTALLY forgot to get a picture.  She signed my book, and I love that she wrote all over the page for me.  Know that she is also awesome.

And now, for what you really want.  Here is a picture of one of the cover models wondering around the convention.  The Ellora's Cave Cavemen were there as well, but only stayed for a night and didn't really hang out and have fun with us like these guys did. Until I learned Charles Paz's name, I might have referred to him as the guy with shoulders bigger than his head. But don't tell him that. He is a great guy who worked hard to keep the energy up at the events.  Another cover model not pictured, is DeLonn Donovan.  He was my dancing buddy at the Ellora's Cave Disco.  I blame him for my busted knee.

I also am heartbroken that I don't have a picture of Dawn from Daydrmzzz (http://daydrmzzz.blogspot.com/).  Dawn and I met on Goodreads, and we touched base for just a couple hours in Chicago at the last RT.  She introduced me to some fabulous people, and I just had to hang on for the ride.  She also beat me with an evil stick, but don't worry.  It was totally consensual.  :D
 

My roommates were Mary Abshire aka Diane Thorne and Dani Morgan.  We were sad to see the week end.  It was an incredible experience, and I hope both of them are going to RT 2014.  New Orleans sounds like an absolute blast. 

Now I am off to do epic amounts of laundry, and drink even more epic amounts of coffee until my body recovers.  

Oh, and I suppose I should actually be writing, too!  I only wrote 3k the whole time I was away, so I have some editing and new word catch up to do.  Hopefully my body will be a little bit more motivated today. I yawned as I typed that.  

Thank you to all the people I met.  I am going through all the business cards and each time I add someone to twitter or mark their book on Goodreads, I am hit with another amazing memory.  

The romance community truly is a home away from home for me.  I am so glad I found you all, and can't thank you enough for the fabulous time.

Roxy