All about editing, from a novice
My first impression of the work of the choice few who edited my first manuscript was that they shredded it to pieces with a red ink sword, not unlike Fido here in this cartoon. My confidence was the second shredded casualty, and I don’t like admitting that I lost five years in that stuck place when they wer just doing their job. My inner poet calls it the paralysis of analysis and an affair with despair.
I have since found courage and inspiration in the journey. The book “The Noel Letters” by Richard Paul Evans is a Christmas novel about a hurting editor who receives anonymous, mysterious letters that give her the strength to write the book already inside her.
It is a worthwhile fiction read any time of the year, in my opinion, even for one who does not like Christmas movies in July. Every chapter starts with a quote about writing. Here are some of my favorites that make me feel less alone in this solitary profession:
A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~Thomas Mann
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. ~Ernest Hemingway
I went for years not finishing. Because, of course, when you finish something, you can be judged. ~Erica Jong
Half my life is an act of revision. ~John Irving
A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God. ~Sidney Sheldon
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. ~Douglas Adams
Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything good. ~William Faulkner
The best counsel I have read as I set out on this next self-editing stage is from the book “Intuitive Editing” by Tiffany Yates Martin. Here’s the first gem I marked in the margin with a “VIP” for “Very Important Point,” with a smiley face by it because it made me giggle:
“Write like a dog; edit like a cat - meaning it’s okay to get all wonderfully slobbery and over-excited when you’re drafting. When you edit, you’ll take on that cool feline calculation.”
This is the second gem: “Beating yourself up for failing to fully achieve your artistic vision on your first swing shuts down the very part of you that can achieve it.” Yup -for five years, maybe?
Here’s sparkly gem three: “Be gentle with your artistic soul. Nurture your talent and inspiration and skill. If you planted a seed in the ground, you wouldn’t stomp out the first tendrils that unfurl because they aren’t a flower yet. Be kind to yourself friends, and respect and admire the rich turf you’ve sown and that first beautiful green shoot. Now it’s time to grow.”
No matter your passion and calling in life, I think the same editing principles apply. All work requires tweaking, fixing, learning, and picking yourself up after you’ve fallen to go at it again, and again, and again. Martin’s last quote in this psyche section of her editing book counsels us for anything, I believe, and I offer it to you, my friends:
“So be your own champion, always. Take yourself seriously and own your talent, but also know that the other part of the equation - often the major part - is hard work and practice.”
Happy life editing!
