We're coming up on the end of our journey to The Fast Draft. I know you feel like spending a month or better writing your book is the end of your hard work. Sorry, homegirl. It doesn't work that way.

After putting your all into the writing phase there comes the final stage of editing. This is where your work really comes to life. The first draft that you came up with may be some of your best work but without editing it's trash. You have to polish your story so that it turns into something that readers can actually enjoy.

If you can afford to hire an editor, by all means, take to Google and find a good one. However, if you don't have it in the budget for editing you can DIY it. My first suggestion would be to get some help from a family member or friend whose good with English and proofreading. Here are five more tips (plus a bonus) to help you edit your own work:

1. Take some time off and come back to your project with fresh eyes. A week or two should do you good. When you return to your project be ready to do at least four rounds of editing on your work to get it right for publication.
2. First Edit: Your first priority in editing will be consistency in storyline, timing, characters, locations, etc. The details matter! Readers will notice if you spelled a character's name as Kisha in the first few chapters but suddenly switch it to Keisha. If you describe a scene that happens in the middle of summer, you can't skip to a winter scene that takes place the next day. Go back to your notes to help with this if you need to. Develop your characters so that they are the stars of your book. Make sure to put in anything important that you feel readers should know about your characters.
3. Second Edit: Listen to your story via a text to speech app or website. Fill in any gaps, fix dialogue that's struggling, and pay attention to tone and flow.  Is it boring to listen to? If so, it's boring to read. Take the time to fix that. Also, I find that this is the stage where I find missing or repeating words and other mistakes I didn't catch with the naked eye.
4. Third Edit: This is where you go through and fix any spelling and grammar errors.
5. Final Edit: Here is where we go old school. Print out your book and read through it with and pen and/or highlighter to find any final mistakes you missed. You can take it to a Staples, etc. to have your story printed and bound for a reasonable price.
6. Bonus: Get some test readers who enjoy the genre of book you wrote. Once they read your book have them give their honest feedback on the pros and cons they found. If you feel the need to do one more round of editing after hearing from your test readers go right ahead.

Every time I start writing a new book I re-read The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield. No other book perfectly describes what it's like to get up everyday and make the sacrifices necessary to create art. It speaks of not only the creative side but the professional side as well.

If you haven't read the book I suggest you do ASAP. You can sample and buy a copy of the book HERE. Trust me, it'll change your outlook on your writing habits. Now on the today's post...

Reading a few pages of The War Of Art everyday before you start writing is my first tip for newbie authors. It'll give you the inspiration you need to put pen to paper. I also suggest:

• Freestyle Your Writing - Although I showed you how to outline your story and create a plot outline that you can follow I don't want you to get stuck to that while you're writing. Let the story flow while keeping your plot in mind. If you find yourself having writer's block go to your outline and brainstorm on how you can get from the place where you're stuck to the next point in your story's plot.
• Use Place Fillers and Take Notes As You Go - You aren't going to know each and every detail of your story as you're writing it. This is where place fillers come in. For example, a scene takes place with your characters in a beauty salon but you have to think about the details of how it looks and what the atmosphere is like. You can simply write your characters entering the salon and put (Describe salon details) in parenthesis like so. If you aren't sure how someone looks insert (detail his/her looks) and keep it moving. You can go back and fill in these areas during the editing phase.
• Always Have Your Writing With You - You're going to hear me say this over and over again: writing a book takes self discipline! You should have time carved out to write at home but if you can't be prepared to write whenever and wherever you have time. You should have your notebook with you everywhere. If you can't take your notebook then you should have some type of notepad app on your phone that you can use to write in. Just transfer your writing to your notebook when you get home. Never make excuses for why you can't write. Be disciplined and write everyday!

You're officially an author. Take it serious. I'll see you in part six for editing.

1. Buy your favorite type or notebook or pad to write on. Get something that you feel good about writing in. You'll be surprised how much that helps with creativity. The same thing goes with your writing tool of choice. Just as a painter needs the right brushes you as a writer need the best materials to create your art. Note: I suggest you write our your first draft by hand to keep from being distracted by social media or the internet.
2. Go through the steps I lay out in Finding Time To Write When You  Have No Time and commit to writing every single day until you get your book finished. No days off! 
3. Write five to seven handwritten pages (front and back) each day at minimum. You should be able to fit 200 to 250 words on each page. At that rate you can get in 1,250 words of writing each day. If you do that every day for 10 days that's 12,500 words. Only 25,000 qualifies as a short story or novella. You can get that done in 20 days! Writing 1,665 words every day for 30 days will give you  a full length novel.