When you’re going through your manuscript, it’s difficult to catch every mistake and fix it. You might say that’s what editors are for.

You would be absolutely correct.

If you want to edit before sending it to an editor, developmental or otherwise, I would suggest having it read to you out loud. Though reading it out loud to yourself is good, have someone or something read it to you.

I use Scrivener to write, but there is an option in the edit drop-down list for speech. It’ll read your words to you. Although I use the Siri British male voice on my Mac, it was interesting to have that voice read it.

But it worked. It made me realize that in some areas, I had something that made no sense, only because I’ve been rewriting a story I have been working on into first person. While doing so, I’ve changed a few things, and I’d accidentally left a few things in…like him walking out of an elevator answering his phone when a sentence or two earlier said his desk phone was ringing.

It also helped me get back into the story and where I was trying to go. I’m not exactly a oantser, but I’m not a plotter either. I do have a small outline written of how I want the story to progress, but it’s not anything in-depth.

I would recommend having something or someone read it to you. It can help bring your words to life, giving you a vision of what’s on the page. It can also help if you’ve mispelled a word, such as “put” and “but” where it’s only one letter off, but your eyes didn’t notice. But it was noticeable to your ears.

Try it. You might find it helpful.