Read Aloud Revision

So, those that follow me on Twitter know that this week I decided Secrets of Skin and Stone wasn't quite right because it was set in rural, small-town Alabama and it's in first person POV... but it didn't have an accent. I've been doing my read aloud all week. (Typically, my read aloud takes about 10 hours or so and I use it to catch typos and problems with flow.) This read aloud I've been working my childhood southern accent. It's been... fun. I've also been hitting up everyone on Twitter from the south to help me with slang and so on. This read aloud will end up at about 20 hours of reading... and I've been researching and running it by betas all week.

My throat is killing me.

It's coming out well. There are a few flaws with my plan besides the fact that I'm stuck in the accent even when I'm not reading. *head slap* Another is that shifting the flow to a southern drawl has added about 5K on... which means I'll most likely need another Kindle revision to check for typos followed by... *wait for it* ...another read aloud.

Finding time for a read aloud has been another issue because reading aloud with a southern accent... just ain't gonna happen with other folks around. So, I've been up late reading aloud after everyone has gone to sleep.

The agent request for Curse Me A Story has had to go on hold while I work on Secrets of Skin and Stone because I can't switch voices back and forth... especially not now. Luckily, that agent requested a look at Secrets of Skin and Stone so I don't feel quite as bad just continuing on with this revision.

If you don't already read aloud your manuscripts... you really should. It helps you catch so many problems including repetitive language, overuse of dialogue tags, voice discrepancies, tense changes, and just general flow issues. If you're a real idiot... you can write a book that demands you read it aloud with a southern accent because, let me tell y'all, if that ain't fun, I don't know what is.