October 1, 2011

Writing is fun, editing not so much

I have spent the last three weeks editing my book based on feedback from proofreaders. It hasn't been fun. Unlike writing, which I enjoy doing, I find editing to be more like work than like fun. Part of the reason is that I'm tired of going over the manuscript so many times. Since starting on the first draft, I've worked on the entire story seven times already, and I expect to go over it all at least once more. I've written and re-written some parts of it more than ten times, probably more than twenty! There are only so many times that I can stare at the same words without getting bored or going crazy! The other reason why I don't like editing is because every time I go through the manuscript, I find something to tweak. Maybe I'm being a perfectionist, or maybe I'm just indecisive. Either way, I feel like I'll never be done. To draw the line somewhere, I've decided to put a limit to my editing: if I go through the manuscript and change 1% or less of the text, then I will consider myself done.I hope I get to that stage soon.

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