one of the results of writing

Editing in whatever form it manifests itself is the end product of writing. For as much as I'd love to write the perfect novel, it's not a quest for which I pine, or even consider. When I write, I know invariably there will be the round of edits whether the words come in a flood or are plunked a few at a time.

While different projects require this or that sort of assistance, all need an initial read-through, my way of mulling over what I've just set to a word document. I take notes, sometimes on each chapter, sometimes just on what I see is incorrect or in need of immediate help. I don't consider a read-through an actual edit, in that I'm not changing anything to the novel itself. Only making notes, which does make me flinch a bit, as I see things I want to change, small things and I wonder if when I return to this story, if I'll recall those minute bits.

I try not to think about that when I'm actually poking at it later on.

Now that I have an e-reader (an iTouch which covers so many bases, and I just love it!) that's usually how I sit with that first look. Easy to take anywhere, and a small legal pad or notebook accompanies, simple to tote and take those notes. When it's time to get into the nitty gritty, it's at my desktop, so being able to go some other place to just READ is a real treat. Later on, when the necessary edits are few and far between, I'll read a manuscript on Stanza, then return to the waiting document, fix what needs it. Very portable, and viewing one's work in what looks like a professional font is priceless!

This is more to the nuts and bolts of editing, but every craft or job carries with it rules, basic parameters that all must follow. Athletes train, and we do to, training to becoming better authors, but also the details of what follows the writing; editing can seem daunting, but I like to think of it as raising a child. If the actual writing is pregnancy, then everything else is like teaching a baby to walk, a toddler to use the loo, a preschooler to share and a teenager to, well, I'm not really sure how to master that, and my youngest is seventeen years old.

But you get the gist.

Every novel needs to be tweaked, in one manner or another. Even with all our modern conveniences, there will always be a need for revisions. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of an edit, a manuscript I've looked over extensively, and still find something in need of change, a paragraph to be reworked, or even a small misspelling. I think it's as a writer improves, our older novels show that level of our ability, and as if eyes take in anew what has come previously, we can't help but notice. Which is good, means improvement has been made!

Also humbling, because of course when I wrote this or that, while I knew it needed work, I thought it was pretty good.

Well, okay. It was okay.

Some people put a limit on a project; it's this good, and now I'm done. Knowing myself, I tend to allow most pieces to sit in limbo, only a few that I KNOW aren't going to move past my hard drive. Everything else is open for further interpretation, all depends on my time. Because something else is usually brewing in my head, and that means one thing.

There will ALWAYS be something to edit!