Too Much of a Good Thing is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Sometimes, one ends up with too much of a good thing and has to trim the cupboards so things don’t get rank, forgotten, or go to waste.

As we speak (write and read), I have ten tubs of ice cream in the freezer. Woot! And this is after finishing off two. Darn those grocery people putting the good stuff on sale all winter! I’m buying it faster than I can eat it! And the problem is that some of it is getting a bit, well, ice crystally. And you CAN’T let ice cream go to waste! So, what to do? Eat!

This ice-cream cone has nothing on me!

On the career side of things, I have a similar problem. Currently, I have many first drafts kicking around waiting to be edited as well as stories half-written and abandoned. See, the problem is that while editing stories, I need a break. So what do I do? I treat myself to writing a new story. (Or I have this brilliant story idea and HAVE to write it RIGHT NOW!) But then life intercedes, or I go back to the edits and the story ends up sitting. So, over the past few years, I’ve ended up with many beloved stories that aren’t ‘quite there’ yet.

And instead of a freezer full of ice-creamy goodness, I have a hard drive full of storyline goodness. All very, very tempting. But you can’t be a story pig, because there is only so much time in the day. So what do you do?

That’s where I am right now. I’m ready to dive back into my stories… but which one!?

Do I work on the one that is ‘most ready’ and get it up to snuff? Do I continue working on the story that is in the literary agent showcase over in WEbook’s Page to Fame contest in case anyone wants to see it? Do I play with the kids’ story I was working on a few months ago?

Choices… choices.

Edits As a Form of Self-Abuse

That’s right. I said it.

Editing your own writing can be like a form of self-abuse. Seriously. Stop and think about it. What are you doing when you edit your work? You are sitting there, knowing what you have written needs work. Knowing it isn’t as good as it could be. Knowing you’ve made mistakes. Knowing there are places that fall flat. Knowing, knowing, knowing.

So you have your nitpicking glasses on and your internal editor is fully caffeinated and ready to go.

All you see are your faults sitting on that page. All you do for hours is fix, fix, fix.

And then when you have reached the end, you turn around and go through the manuscript/article/what-have-you and do it again. And maybe even again. And every time you find something that could be better. Something that can be tightened, removed, or fixed.

It’s no wonder that some writers hate their work by the time they are done editing. It’s no wonder they are wondering if this writing thing is really for them. Writing is a part of you. And to pick apart your writing is to pick apart a piece of yourself. Over and over again.

No pressure…

But then… sometimes you surprise yourself. You get to the end and you feel refreshed, inspired, happy, and ready to climb any mountain. Why? Because you rock. You accomplished something. You didn’t just write all that, but you made it EVEN BETTER!

So next time you edit, go easy on yourself. If you are feeling that anvil of self-doubt dangling above your head about to drop at any moment and crush your very being… step back. Take a deep breath. Go do something you enjoy. Refresh your batteries. Write something new. Go for a walk. Then, when you are feeling more hopeful, come back and tackle it again. And for heaven’s sake, don’t try to fix everything in one go. Take several editing passes. The first one for the big stuff, the next one for smaller issues, and the final one for things like punctuation. Otherwise, it will take you forever and you will feel such agony that when your head inevitably crash lands on your keyboard, you won’t be able to lift it again.

So, when editing, be kind to yourself. Take it easy. Otherwise, either your manuscript or your self confidence is going to take a bad beating. And we don’t want that.

Trim, Trim, Trim Challenge: Update 4086

Hi.

While I try not to burn supper (fabulous breakfast-supper), I bring you this update. Hang on, gotta stir the scrambled eggs…okay. I am down to 23 single-spaced words to edit through. I am also down to…stir the hashbrowns. Rescue toast…93,485 words. At this point, I’m thinking about 92,500 could be a nice resting place with the manuscript. Turn off eggs. Honey on toast. In a few days, we’ll see how close. Salt hashbrowns. Unwrap bacon. Head to watch ‘My Little Pony movie’.

‘Til then…yours in editing,

Jean

Trim, Trim, Trim Challenge: Update 11

Still plugging away. I’ve had a headful of snot crowding the language lobe in my brain. So, I’ve been a little slow. However, I am pleased to mention that I am now down to 94, 533 words. That’s over 10,000 words I will likely never miss cut and released into the great world of binaries.

Separate note: Crispy Minis are no longer my friend. My daughter is trying to eat through a stack of 4 or 5. Imagine the crumbs. Then imagine some more. See how wide spread they are? Yes, it is amazing. Please note that I have no aspirations of attaining Domestic Goddess status. Now, imagine those crumbs again. Imagine my pain. Now, imagine the cooling relief of owning a Dustbuster and teaching a youngster how to use it.

Trim, Trim, Trim Challenge: Update 2

Well, it’s the long weekend, so not a lot of editing is getting done…however, I did manage to knock 50 words off the old ms yesterday. Editing will resume in earnest on Tuesday.

Trim, Trim, Trim Challenge: Update 1

Well, my eyes are officially crossed from edits. I hope this isn’t a permanent condition.

Today I started at 102, 872 and am now down to 101, 989. At the beginning of the challenge I was at 103, 669. That means I am already down by 1680 words. Wow. And I’m about 1/7th of the way through. At this average, I could theoretically cut 11K words, simply by removing the things that go without saying, or extra description that gets in the way.

We’ll see what I have left when I get done!

“Some”

This is the next victim in my manuscript. “Some”. “Some” what? Come on, can’t I be more specific?

Here’s what I found: Beth stared at some motes of dust lingering in the air before turning back to the group behind her.

Ignoring the fact that I have that annoying ‘stared’ in there which is telling and not showing and could be left out to make the sentence so much stronger and create a deeper character point of view… “some”. “Some” motes of dust. Okay now. How does “some” add anything? It doesn’t. It just sits there dragging those motes down onto the bookshelves and coffee table.

Soooo…I am going to attack “some”. I’ve been attacking it in other places like my non-fiction manuscript where I say things like “grab some paper” or “you will need some markers”. I could say, “grab 2 sheets of paper” or “you will need markers”. Trim it up. Eliminate those words that slow down your readers. Be specific!

I’m going on ‘search’ and destroy mode. Aka: Find and replace.

Oh yeah, and I’m thinking of changing the above sentence to this: Motes of dust lingered in the air, distracting Beth. Finally she turned back to the group.

What do you think?

Redreaming the Scene Dream

I’ve been editing the first three scenes of my manuscript based on critiques that I’ve received. In fact, one scene is totally new and I really like it. However, I feel as though the first scene will never be quite right. And the now-third scene is puke-a-rific. I am still not satisfied with it. I think I’m going to have to delete it and rewrite it completely. It’s got some good stuff going on, but there is something not quite right–maybe it is the setting. Redream the dream, right Mr. Frey?

Anyway with some of it, I like the pared down, simplified version. But in some ways, it kills me to slice out bits that I really liked or that my crit partner said was funny. I want funny to stay, but it isn’t helping move the story forward. I am so emotionally committed to some of these descriptions or backstory bits that I don’t want to give them up. But I must. It is for the good of the whole. My god, it sounds like I’m operating on cancer or making war-like sacrifices.

So I am redreaming the dream and hopefully I can make the voice stronger, keep the story unique, move the plot forward in a smoother manner and keep my story standing above the others.