Editing Stages : how I do the editing process

I know probably most of you are like 'First stage of editing, what?' so I'm here to clear things up.

Stage one: Go through, fix all the red squiggly lines. (first draft)

Stage two: Send to my friends parents to edit. (wait....)

Stage three: Get the copy back, and fix everything they pointed out. And maybe delete scenes you don't want. Or they won't work.

Stage four: Let the book sit for awhile. Just relax.

Stage five: Get first proof. Read through it, mark with red pen.

Stage six: go through proof, and fix mistakes on the doc. (this way be awhile....)

Stage seven: Let the book sit again. RELAX. Don't freak out. 


This is what you DON'T do:

Stage eight: Get new proof, re through it, get the color of paper you want, fix size, letter size...etc.

Stage nine: Start thinking about the next book. But don't write it, you still have to finish editing the other book. You're done with it yet! And you might make changes in book1 that you may need to write in book2.

Stage ten: Give new proof (doc) to three editors that are awesome. Let them handle the rest.

Stage ten and a half: start next book. (this calms you down during the last of the editing process.)

Stage eleven: Get each part back. (there are 3) and add more description.

Stage twelve (new one I will try with SF2): give to your mother to read.

Stage thirteen: Wait until release date. Finish writing next book. (you may pick a release date before stages 4 and 5. You need a deadline you know.)

Stage fourteen: Sleep....yeah, that's nice.

Yep, there you go. And then, you just have to do it all over again. This should take about maybe...3 or more months. At least, with SF, it did. It might go by faster since I've got a hold of it. But it all depends on how fast the editors are, and you with your parts.
Also, some writers use deadlines, but...I really make myself guilty if I don't get something done, so I don't use one. haha. (lucky me, right? ;))

Ok, there you go. Hope this helped. And feel free to use it! I get my proofs from Createspace, since I'm selfpublished. If you have any questions, just ask!

-Maddi