Read your manuscript out loud.

As suggested by many authors, and editors - to pinpoint if your story is working out or not, you should try reading it out loud. What I did was record it. I then listened to my recording the following day. Half way through there was a long pause. There was noise in the background, I had forgotten to pause the recording.

I gathered from the background noise that I had gotten up from my desk to check the minestrone, (Italian soup).  Oh dear, I had burnt it, and it was stuck to the bottom of the pot. I tried to save it by pouring it into another pot hoping that my husband wouldn’t notice the burnt taste.

I went on listening to the recording hoping to have the time to get to the end before he came home for dinner. He was late that night so I did manage to listen to the whole recording.

 Don’t ever ask me to narrate an audio book. There were so many pauses and sighs in between, no kid would want to listen.

Listening further to the recording I heard myself saying Ah…oh… I burnt it. It was funny, you should try it. The pots and pans were clanging and I kept on sighing. Why?

 Because being authors is a tough job. Most authors have day jobs. I now realize how difficult it is to have a full-time job and try to write at the same time and give my family the attention they deserve.

 This said, I know I can’t do miracles, I am a multitasking mom, grandma, and wife, struggling to get those words down on paper no matter what. I am lucky to have such a patient husband.

Unfortunately, that evening I served the soup to my husband. He didn’t complain too much, he just said, ‘Ah… you burnt the minestrone… again.’

Oh…guess what’s for dinner tonight…minestrone. This time round I put the timer on.

This said, dear authors, don’t get discouraged, we will make it in the long run, all we need is patience and perseverance.  I hope you get a best seller out there one day.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Try to relax during the holiday season and stay with your family. We have all of 2017 to finish our drafts and get our books out there.

‘La speranza è l’ultima a morire’.  Don’t ask me how to translate it.

Yours truly from Italy.

I posted this on my pen names Blog as well, Jocelyne Turbett with E. A. Peterson. In the future, I will be publishing my children’s books under my real name, Eleanor Ann Peterson. All other genres under Jocelyne Turbett. Soon I hope.