Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Waiting to Edit

If you wade through my 2016 posts, you'll find me declaring this year as "The Year of Edits."

Logic would suggest, if 2016 is The Year of Edits, 2015 was The Year of Writing.

Which is 100% true.

I spent 2015 writing three different novels and only went through them to proofread a handful of times. Now I'm returning to each and giving them the old-fashioned "spit and shine."

And, boy, do they need a lot of spit!


Now that SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS is in the capable hands of my beta readers, I've transitioned my attentions to WISHES, MAYBE, a book I haven't touched, read, or even thought about for over a year

With this break (as well as writing another novel while waiting), I've noticed three things so far:

1. A long break makes editing (and reading other's opinions) a lot easier. I understand that the book is far from perfect. And being aware that it needs work comes a lot easier. Though, I'm not going to lie, there's still a sting!

2. Plot points I would've considered "okay" are absolutely not. Being far removed from the world of WISHES MAYBE, I can look at things with a critical eye.

3. My muse has had time to recover. When I wrote WISHES, MAYBE, I was a soaked sponge that was wrung dry by the time I typed The End. But now I'm full of new ideas for the book. Ways I can make it better, more real, and un-put-downable!

So, what about you? What's your method to editing? How long do you wait to "dig in" to your edits?



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