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how to edit your personal history

How to finalize your personal history for printing: Part 1- Editing and finalizing text

Part 1 in a series of posts to help you finalize your personal history for printing

You have accomplished an amazing work—a legacy—in writing your personal history. Your children and grandchildren will be forever grateful for this priceless gift! So don’t leave it locked on your computer…

Let’s prepare your legacy tale to be shared with your posterity. Don’t rush these final steps; it will take some time to do it right! And if you want it professionally printed, be patient! Printer deadlines are very early for Christmas as well as other times. To be safe, allow three months from when your manuscript is completely finalized and sent to print, for it to arrive beautifully bound. It is absolutely worth the wait!

Follow these steps to prepare it yourself, or contact us (702/625-1466 or info@legacytale.com) for professional help with any or all of the editing, layout and printing. We’d love to assist you in creating a legacy tale you’ll be proud to share!

Part 1: Editing and Finalizing Text

  1. Run spell checker on your computer, and print your first draft. In hard copy, read through your manuscript completely at least once and mark changes by hand. Go back into your electronic document and make the changes you marked. Cut and paste passages from one place to another in your tale, if needed to improve the flow.

Check for:

  • Spelling, grammar, and punctuation
  • date consistency
  • fact consistency
  • formatting and style consistency
  • major gaps in time period or information
  • complete names

 

  1. If your tale seems too passive, like a steady list of things that happened, consider reworking portions of your story to be more active. Change “was” and “were” to action words. Try to bring events to life with descriptive words and scenes, helping the reader feel connected.
  2. Ask at least one friend or family member you trust to proofread your manuscript. Allow enough time for them to be thorough and provide thoughtful feedback.
  3. Make additional changes to text for clarity, accuracy, and readability.
  4. Choose a title for your legacy tale. Be creative and think of something that might be unique to you and/or ties into your life.

OR consider professional editing by Legacy Tale. Our services include editing and consulting for content, format, organization, proofreading/copyediting, photos and captions. We can also create and include special features like timelines, pedigree charts, memories submitted by other family members, flowcharts, etc.

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please comment below. Was this useful? If so, I’d really appreciate you sharing on Facebook.

Have you grabbed a copy of my free e-book of writing prompts? If not, you can get it here.

Don’t leave your tale untold…

 

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