The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,

When it comes to editing, I do it long hand. I print out my manuscript and take the dreaded red pen to it.

I don’t know why I do it that way, but it was a habit I have picked up, and one I continue to refine. I figure that to change it now would just be a waste of time and of good habits that I have formed by following such a regime.

The other day, as I was editing a collection of short stories that I wrote a long (long) time ago, I began to grow a little disenchanted with the amount of red pen that I saw marching over the page.

Granted, I was not only highlighting errors, but also sections that needed to be re-addressed and new ideas that came to me. As these stories have sat for about 18 months, it is understandable that I have grown enough as a writer to see my errors and correct them. Still, it is never nice to see so many corrections, even when advised by my own hand.

A brain wave struck, and it made me wonder if other writers to this also.

Editing it primarily about removing the bad, it is about polishing and shaping the lump of (word)clay we have thrown onto the table, and fashioning something from it that people want to read, cherish and adore.

However, what about if we also pick out the bits we like. What I plan on doing in the future, is to take the dreaded red pen to my errors and areas of improvement, but to use a highlights to pick out the lines, or sections that I really like. The strong sentences, phrases that make me smile or that I think really make the page stand out.

Maybe by doing this, introducing a little color and vibrancy to proceedings, editing will lose the daunting edge.

Is it possible that by highlighting what is good and what we love, we will also, in return develop a sharper eye for the things we dislike.

Personally, I would like to believe it would work that way. It would certainly lift my mood a little, when typing up the re-writes to see a page with positive things pointed out.

What do you think?