As a total historical fiction geek, my two favorite books are Madeline Miller's Circe and The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon. Both feature lush characters, intricate plots, and exquisite writing.

When I'm not proofreading, I'm spending time with my husband and our two little girls, two cats, and a grumpy bearded dragon. My humans and I like to go hiking, and we're longing for the day when it's safe to go to museums again!

I like to start with a checklist for the most common errors — double spaces, etc. Then I do a quick run-through to get a grasp of the author's style (and catch anything that might be confusing to a casual reader). After I know the major plot points and how it ends, I can do another pass to look at plot elements and continuity. Finally, I give it one last look, going page by page, to see if the formatting is consistent throughout and to make sure I didn't miss any errors or create new ones with my edits.