Editing is Writing with a Scalpel

A lot of writers, it seems, hate the editing process. They find it tedious and unrewarding. I take the opposite view.

To me, editing/revising is just another stage in the writing process. When I edit, I'm still writing. I'm making the work stronger by rewording sentences, adding sentences, cutting things out, reshaping the text. It gives me additional chances to "get it right," if you will. I have a sharply critical eye, and I'm not afraid to stand up to my own work and do surgery on it, because I know that what emerges will be better than it was.

There's a memorable moment in the film "Amadeus," where Salieri leafs through the working draft of one of Mozart's compositions and finds no corrections or changes. He is astounded that the man's final product came out complete on the first try.

We probably all wish we could be that innately talented, but we know we aren't. So multiple drafts and repeated edits are the norm for our written works. And if that's true, you might as well embrace it and try to enjoy it. Editing is not a chore, it's just writing...with a scalpel.