Missing words are difficult for the author and sometimes even editors to catch, but not an alert reader. When reading over your manuscript, do so slowly enough to note each word is indeed written as opposed to assumed. Reading it aloud may help, but not necessarily.
I suspect that most authors think much faster than they type, making it easy to skip over words. When you’re on a creative roll this is especially true, when you can hardly get the thoughts down fast enough, before you lose them. Nonetheless, like invisible typos, missing words will throw readers out of the story, something you want to avoid. In some cases, a good grammar checker may catch them, but test it to make sure. If you use beta readers, make sure they keep an eye out for such things, too.
Marcha's Two-Cents Worth 
I can’t bear to listen to my own voice, which makes me somewhat taciturn. Using text to speech software solves that problem for me. Natural Reader does a good job. My ears spot missing words, which are my biggest shortcoming, better than my eyes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can relate! I don’t like my voice, either. That’s a super idea, Scott! Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
I search for a number of words in my final revision, like ‘saw’ and ‘heard’, etc. Even after all my other proofreading, I still will catch something I missed.Even professional proofreaders miss things. It is exhausting. As an aside, Marcha, I tried the Hemingway Editor app. Clearly, I am no Hemingway. It tells you when it thinks your sentences are hard to read. I think I have to get the James Joyce Editor. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! I just finished your book, Mary. I don’t recall finding any issues, it was squeaky clean for such things. Your writing is like ambrosia! I wouldn’t change a thing! I’ll get a review out there for you soon. BTW, I used to live in the Bay Area. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Marcha. I actually did change some things in Lies — new cover, some revisions. Hint: One of my favorite characters survives. When it is published, Amazon will take away my reviews, so I would be pleased if you waited to post a review until the new version is on Amazon . I will send you a copy as soon as I get them so you can look at it before you post.. I am hoping it will be up on Amazon by the first week of June.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great! I’ll be happy to wait. In the Kindle version it would have been handy to have a table of contents, especially to the list of the families. It was hard for me to keep everyone straight at first and it would have been great to be able to get back there more easily.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There was a family list in the paperback version and I will include it in both versions of this revision although I hope it will be easier to follow now. Making it easier was one of the reasons I revised it. I have heard that comment before. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The list was in the Kindle version, it just wasn’t that easy to get to it. I should have written it down. LOL. It’s certainly more than a murder mystery. Your research is amazing! You need to take credit for it as a historical novel, too.
LikeLike
I guarantee that I think much faster than I type, thus I’ve been known to omit words, or even an occasional syllable. Wish someone had suggested that I read the manuscript aloud years ago – it could have saved me some embarrassment. Fortunately, I discovered that this worked by reading aloud…. Let me just say, its wise to read to an attentive cat or dog instead of a potentially critical human.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! My problem is when I read aloud or talk on the phone, my cats start talking, too! I don’t know if they’re telling me to shut up or commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reading aloud is a sure-fire way of getting Purrseidon to settle in for a snuggle… otherwise, she tends to be a very busy cat. That said, she has been known to make comments.
LikeLiked by 1 person