I often reread books, indeed there are books I have read so many times I have had to buy new copies, that is a reading habit that stretches over decades. David Gemmell Legend for example I know I have read at least ten times since I first picked up a copy in the early 1980’s. However reading a book you penned yourself, well, that is a vastly different experience.

I hate reading my own books. I suspect as a writer I am not alone in this.

There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is the difference between reading for fun and reading as a writer. I’ve read the entire Belgariad sequence at least five or six times over the years, those books (all 12 of them) are like a warm comfort blanket. If I need to switch off the world for a while rereading one of my favourite books is almost always my escape of choice. When however I write a book I reread it five or six times minimum in the writing process oft times many sections of a book probably twice that. I work in a series of drafts, I always have, I know some writers who do things other ways but the only way the words work for me is multiple drafts, up to six or more for a novel.

There are reasons for this, one of which is dyslexia, and the weird way it affects my typing. I will often write the wrong word, not because I can’t spell, but because my fingers garble up the messages from my mind. I type fast, but it takes me a long time to type, because in any given sentence there will be three or four typos, some obvious, so not so much, sometimes the word I type is a word so close to the ones I intended to type I don’t even notice, often it is a matter of tense or plurality. Everyone does that occasionally, its one of the reasons editors are so valuable, but I do it constantly. Here’s an experiment…

I’m going to type this line twice, the first I will correct the second I won’t.

I’m going to type this senatnce twicve the first I will correctb teh second I won’t

Now some of that is just bad typing, but actually most of it is my brain not communicating my words properly. Also I was very self conscious typing that second line rather than doing so with my normal flow. So it actually makes more sense than normal… I can type slower, but when the writing works the ideas cascade and deliberately typing slow stops that process in its tracks. So I don’t. I type a few pages maybe then go back through fixing all the errors (most of them at least) And keep doing that till I finish the draft…

That’s draft one, draft one takes some time.

It is then the reading starts. Every draft after draft one starts with a read through, and generally lots of notes. Round about the third or forth draft I hopefully have something I would let others read. By the fifth I may even let someone read it, and it may go to my editor the wonderful CG Hatton. Then if it gets past that somewhat ominous stage it need to be read through again, and have a final edit , then read through again for a check , and then set up for proof copies, which are then read again to check everything…

And then someone complains in a ‘review’ that they found a typo on one page and it ruined their immersion…

That’s my process, it’s slow, its laborious, and for every word that got to the printers in the final book I have probably written five, but it works for me. For the most part it works for my readers. Every writer faces their own challenges, dyslexia is just one of mine. I don’t use it as an excuse, dyslexia is a by-product of having a mind that functions a little differently. I like my mind, it makes me who I am.

One of the reasons for this blog BTW is just to say to anyone who wants to write but is dyslexic, don’t let that stop you. Don’t let anything stop you.

I will also point out I know writers who are not dyslexic who have equally arduous writing regiments. Everyone has there own method of shedding blood onto the page, I do not claim to bleed more than anyone else. Besides the blood is in the words, not the writing of them. If you ain’t shedding a little blood as you write your doing it wrong…

It does however mean that by the time I finally publish a book I have read it through its various incarnations innumerable times. As it is my novel I also struggle to read it objectively suppressing the urge to edit. I have trained myself to read as a writer when I read my own stuff, just rereading them for pleasure is virtually impossible at this stage. So the very last thing I want to do again is read them again…

Currently I an rereading my 2020 novel Maybe…

Maybe is my second most successful book, at least when it comes to on line sales. While the first Hannibal novel is more successful, it is also over a year older. Maybe has out sold it A Spider in the Eye, though not by much , consistently since it release. It is, however, out on its own for Kindle Unlimited reads. It is also the first book of a trilogy, and also the only book so far written in that trilogy.

It has also been very popular with readers, who keep asking about the sequel…

From a commercial point of view I should be writing the sequels, but for one reason or another they keep getting put on the back burner. (A global pandemic didn’t help either) Also commercial success, nice though it would be, doesn’t motivate me, has a lot to do with this. However, I do want to write the sequels and frankly I should get on with them now the first Hannibal trilogy is complete. But my original plan for the series was a book every six months and its been over three years since I wrote book one. So…

Currently I an rereading my 2020 novel Maybe…

Its quite good…