Pleasantly Surprised

The British can have a tendency to be a bit cynical about large events, and have in the past made some half arsed attempts at things, with the end result being rather naff.

With the Olympics, I fully expected the same kind of half arsed performance and finding myself slightly embarrassed when we failed to step up to the mark.  However, for the past two weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised at the incredible show that we've put on.  From the typically British opening ceremony, to the fantastic venues, the organisation, the enthusiastic Games Makers (volunteers), to the closing ceremony, it has shown that when we make a bit of an effort, we can be up there with the best in the world.

I've also been blown away by the Herculean efforts of all of the athletes.  There are some awesome role models among them, that have achieved their status by hard graft.  It's so refreshing to have real hero's rather than the recent idiots we seem to get who are famous for being famous.

I'm very proud to be British :o)

A Self Help Book Tale

As you may already know, I'm getting close to finishing my revisions for Odd Squad, and teetering on the edge of making my first round of submissions.  The closer I get, the more nervous I'm becoming about sending it off. 
So, in an attempt to make sure I don't miss something critical, I've been reading a book that I picked up recently called: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

The book covers a wide range of areas to look at, and provides a good selections of examples to back up the lesson.  On a personal note, I was quite pleased and re-assured that I knew most of the things mentioned, but it also helped sharpen and remind me of things to check on my (hopefully) final round of revisions.  It's been a great help.

What about you guys?  Have you found something that has helped you edit your work?

An Imaginary Problem?

I'm hoping that this post doesn't come over as a whingeing entry.

You see, I'm struggling with the latest rounds of edits.  The first few rounds were quite straight forward.  The repeated words, the glaringly obvious telling rather than showing.  You know the drill.  The next phase was made simple by my fantastic Crit Partners who pointed out things I'd missed, or suggesting neater and cleverer ways of putting something across.

It's now, with what I'm hoping are the final rounds, that I'm having problems.  I'm trying to concentrate on one specific area at a time and weed out the last few remaining bits, that when fixed, should make my MS shine brighter than a shiny thing that really shines.  You know the thing, making sure that the showing is done in the best way, that the perspective is close to the protagonist when it needs to be close, and steps back a bit when required, etc...

I know what to do.  It's just that when I start reading, it starts off good, I notice a bit here, make a change there, and then...I've read five or six pages and haven;t even noticed that I'm turning the pages. 
I'm immersed in the story.
I keep trying to kid myself that I'm turning the pages because it's good, and carrying me along, but there's another voice just under the surface who keeps reminding me that I know the story so well that I'm reading what I want to read and not seeing any problems.

So... the big question of the day is...

How do you guys get past this?  Or, do you even have this problem?