M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 03/16/15

I’ve been trying to do more of my edits without actually printing the page out and writing on it. Part of me thinks this most save time because I’m not writing down the changes and then typing be them into the computer. Each time I try this, I keep being wrong, however. Somtimes you just have to print the thing out and write out your changes first.

I don’t know why this is. I think it has to do with how my brain classifies what I’m reading. On a computer screen I can’t accurately judge where I am, how far I’ve gone, etc. The physical paper helpse get a better feel for the manuscript. I can page back and forth, redo edits, make sure what I thought sounded good at the beginning still sounds good when I reach the end…

Last night, I had to divide a chapter of dialogue across four chapters. (Yes I’m still on chapter four.) I spent all Sunday trying to do it in my head and on the computer screen, and it just wasn’t working. I printed the chapters in question out, figuratively ripped them to shreds with a pen, and saw exactly what needed to be moved and where. It probably took twenty minutes. Tonight I’ll put everything in the computer.

The point: old school works for very good reasons.

How about you? Do you print out and write or do you edit straight on the screen?

Toodles!