Thursday, January 19, 2012

What I Learned About Editing

I don’t have much experience in the area of authoring, editing, and writing so I’m doing a post based on a bit of good advice I received once. (I’m probably the last person you’d want to pay attention to for advice on writing, but I’ve found this bit of info to be particularly useful.)

First, a fact about myself. I spend way too much time obsessing over details.

Who doesn’t, though? (If you don’t, put your hand down and play along.)

I’m not surprised I’ve had such a hard time breaking my habit of nitpicking through grammar and spelling issues. Extreme attention to detail is a huge aspect of graphic design so it makes sense that I’m naturally inclined to obsess.

At some point, somewhere between editing one draft and getting hung up on grammar errors halfway through another, and having a major case of stress-induced heart burn and gnashing of teeth, I realized my process wasn’t working. I pulled myself away from my work long enough to get some much-needed advice. After my graphic designer spent a few days having a small tantrum I came to terms with what needed to be done. It’s time to stop obsessing over details and MOVE on.

Write the book.

Then edit.

At least then I will have a finished manuscript.

8 comments:

  1. Yeah .. Writing the book and then editing .. that is how it is done!!


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  2. I'm great at writing books, just not so great at editing :-)

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  3. Sarah, I hear ya. Editing is such a difficult process for me. I loathe it. I always end up over analyzing my work and getting sidetracked with one thing or another. I'm getting better at it, though.

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  4. Abhishek: Makes sense, doesn't it? :)

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  5. I'm not a big fan of editing and can never seem to stop. It's incredibly daunting.

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  6. It is a daunting task. I wholeheartedly agree!

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  7. Puratory's a great place for editing, dear. Let's hope we dont go thar; let's hope we go straight to Seventh-Heaven, girl. Follow us...

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  8. Puratory's a great place for editing, dear. Let's hope we dont go thar; let's hope we go straight to Seventh-Heaven, girl. Follow us...

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