I've just finished the next to last draft on the manuscript of An Eagle Unchained.  At this point I perform a step that I think is unique to me.  At least I've never heard of any other author who takes the time and effort to do this.

I believe a good book should sound smooth when read aloud.  To achieve this and to also spot problems that I missed in reading the manuscript to myself while working on it, I read the manuscript into a tape recorder.  As I do this, I use a red pen to mark repetitious words or phrases, typos, awkward passages, passages that need expansion, or passages that need to be omitted or shortened.  Then I let the tape recording sit for a week or so while I work on the back cover material for the novel.

When I feel that I've divorced myself from the manuscript long enough, I listen to the recording.  Again I have the red pen handy to mark any changes I may have missed during the reading out loud.

Although this is a time consuming process I find it well worthwhile.  Hearing a manuscript gives me an entirely new slant on the story and I feel it makes a better story.  In a real sense this is the final editing job and eliminates many of the typos and other things that are jarring to a reader.

What do you think of this writing technique?  Do you know of anyone else who does this?  If you've read any of my published books, have you noticed that this process makes the story flow more smoothly?