Hi Kevin,
This is the beginning of how I learned to edit my own work, FWIW.
I had to learn to edit my own work. Editing your own work is extremely difficult. It’s kind of like this saying I heard, “We cannot objectively write about ourselves because we believe our own lies.” My firm beliefs are that every writer needs an editor, and if you want a quality editor, you must pay quality fees. Editing is difficult and tedious work when you are not editing your own work.
That being said, I edit my own work and I consider it excruciatingly painful. However, I have no choice, and sometimes I leave the work for a month and come back to it with fresh eyes and find all kinds of improvements to make.
First, define the editor’s purpose. What type of editor do you need? Developmental, line editing, etc.
When I edit a book, I immediately begin two logs, a style sheet and a chapter by chapter notes sheet. I color code.
It amazed me how much easier organizing became when I learned about style sheets. Style sheets are not only for editors. Every writer should create a style sheet for each work, but not necessarily at first. Here is a simple style sheet blue print:
http://theeditorsblog.net/2011/07/12/style-sheets-the-setup-and-the-benefits/
In my chapter by chapter notes, I use that for every little thing that I may need to refer to in chapters way down the line. I note when a character is introduced, even if the character is a dog, imaginary, or an inanimate object. You can use chapter by chapter notes to develop characters and arcs.
I came up with color coding when I edit because I am dyslexic, but this is the best article I have seen that explains uses of color coding in black and white, plus the author gives great advice on self-editing:
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/55-FE2-LayeredEdit.html
I created my own grammar guide which consists of hundreds of files at this time organized by grammatical term. I do not always grasp a linguistic or grammatical term in textbook form, so I explain to myself details about the concept in language that I understand.
I studied everything I could put my hands on for styling dialogue, and I created my own dialogue guide.
Last, but most certainly not least, I tackled comma rules in the following critical areas. Punctuation improved my writing 75%. The following are some headings in my comma guide.
PUNCTUATION: Understand the proper usage of the semicolon, the colon and the comma.
AP DOESN'T USE A SERIAL/OXFORD COMMA BEFORE THE LAST ITEM IN A SIMPLE SERIES.
FOR A SERIES OF COMPLEX TERMS, THOUGH, USE COMMAS AFTER EACH FOR CLARITY.
AREAS OF CONCERN IN COMMA USAGE ARE:
COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS:
FANBOYS: For And Nor But Or Yet So
COMPOUND PREDICATES:
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES:
APPOSITIVES:
COMMAS WITH APPOSITIVES
IS ESSENTIAL-NO COMMA
IS NOT ESSENTIAL We still know who the subject of the sentence is without the appositive.