I wonder if someone could help me decide on the appropriate/best sentence..

I was first writing the sentence like this

"Before I read my retraction, I'd like to emphasize that...."

but then began to have doubts, and changed it to

"Before reading my retraction, I'd like to emphasize that..."

Thanks

PS:I discovered your page recently and will be reading all the lessons asap, Great help already with neither/either..and who/whom... LOL

Both are absolutely fine.

(To me, it looks like something you're going to say before you read your retraction out loud. If this is the case, both are good.)