Top ten things NOT to do when editing a manuscript
by Christine Kling
I read recently that the best way to get traffic to your blog is to be sure that you offer valuable information to your readers. In the light of that finding, I’m offering to you the wisdom I have acquired during the past week in the form of this list of the top ten things not to do when trying to edit a 530-page book on deadline.
10. Don’t decide to print out your entire manuscript on your boat with your portable printer that prints 5 ppm and has a 50 sheet feed. Five hours later you will remember, Kinko’s is your friend.
9. Don’t decide that this is a good time to give up caffeine. Wine is not the beverage of choice for these projects that require you to actually be awake.
8. Don’t allow yourself to obsess over one word out of 148,000. For example, in one scene set in 1942 on board a submarine, I have a character talk about washing the stink of the sub out of his clothes. My first editor told me to change the pronoun “he” to “they” because he was an officer and surely he wouldn’t wash his own clothes. Now my new editor says nobody on the sub would wash his clothes for him. So, I’ve been doing research and posting on forums asking if anyone knows if he would have hired someone or done it himself. Note to self: Move on.
7. Don’t make any major changes to the plot in chapter 3 that will have ramifications in chapters 17, 43, 66, 67 and 80. It will give you a killer migraine.
6. Don’t turn on the TV (yeah, Mike, it will render your brain useless).
5. Don’t tell yourself “This is going to be easy,” when you decide you must make your manuscript shorter –– especially when your editor keeps asking you to explain things. Granted, as an English major, math is NOT my strongest subject, but even I know that cutting 1,000 words here and then adding 1,200 words there does not add up to a shorter book.
4. Don’t decide that this is a great time to get a new computer and spend the first three days of your editing week moving files from one computer to another and deciding to completely reorganize your digital life. This comes under the heading of procrastination.
3. Don’t decide to take a break by doing a little dog training. You will only make yourself feel totally inept in two areas of your life.
2. Don’t then try to distract your new puppy with a Kong toy stuffed full of peanut butter. Remember, peanut butter contains sugar! Be prepared to have slimy toys dropped into your lap for the next four hours as what was once a cute little puppy turns into a Tasmanian Devil.
And finally, the last one that will make everything else I’ve written here make complete sense ––
1. Don’t let a blog deadline fall on the night before your manuscript deadline!
Fair winds!
Christine
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