My Editing Education
When I was beginning to write I have to confess I didn't give much thought to editing. In college, I mostly wrote off the top of my head and when done, briefly glanced through my finished product, then handed it in hoping for the best. And I did pretty well.
When I began to write the manuscript for my book, editing didn't even enter my mind. It was only after I had finished and after reading a book on publishing and self-publishing that it began to dawn on me that I needed an editor. The book I read kept saying over and over... edit, edit, then edit again.
To be honest, I took it in casually. At that point and time I thought, "Sure, a couple of edits will work but, I really don't think it will go beyond that." But first things first, I had to find a good editor, an editor I could work with, someone who identified with my work, who connected with me on the same wavelength, someone who would work with me on a good personal level not just treat my work like it was one of the stack to get through.
So, I researched. And I researched more. After contacting a few people I thought were a good fit and interviewing them, I finally found someone. It took quite a while, a good few weeks of diligent everyday work... all day.
But my editor and I connected and after the usual and proper legalities, we dove in.
I quickly realized that I had been naive. My editor told me his policy. We would toss the manuscript back and forth as many times as needed, no matter how long it took... what he called "rinse and repeat." And it took a while. It took months of back and forth, many discussions... many rinses until we could both sit back and smile.
It was the best experience I had had in a long time and he taught me a lot, the whole process taught me a lot.
I realized that no matter how good you think you are as a writer, there is always room for improvement, there is always another edit to be made. Even to this day, I can flip through that book and still find things I would like to edit... and still find errors. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many times you go through a given work, there is always something more to do.
Editing doesn't end.
And in order to produce a professional product, I think you need to go through this editing process. For me, writing a book is more than the writing, it is only the beginning. For me, editing is the bigger aspect. What I mean is that you can scribble anything down but, where it's really at is the editing. That's the key.
I'd be willing to bet there are other writers out there that have felt as I did, that their work doesn't need a lot of editing. But I would tell anyone, "Never underestimate editing. You can never have enough polish. So, grab your rag and start making your work shine."
Goodnight world.
When I began to write the manuscript for my book, editing didn't even enter my mind. It was only after I had finished and after reading a book on publishing and self-publishing that it began to dawn on me that I needed an editor. The book I read kept saying over and over... edit, edit, then edit again.
To be honest, I took it in casually. At that point and time I thought, "Sure, a couple of edits will work but, I really don't think it will go beyond that." But first things first, I had to find a good editor, an editor I could work with, someone who identified with my work, who connected with me on the same wavelength, someone who would work with me on a good personal level not just treat my work like it was one of the stack to get through.
So, I researched. And I researched more. After contacting a few people I thought were a good fit and interviewing them, I finally found someone. It took quite a while, a good few weeks of diligent everyday work... all day.
But my editor and I connected and after the usual and proper legalities, we dove in.
I quickly realized that I had been naive. My editor told me his policy. We would toss the manuscript back and forth as many times as needed, no matter how long it took... what he called "rinse and repeat." And it took a while. It took months of back and forth, many discussions... many rinses until we could both sit back and smile.
It was the best experience I had had in a long time and he taught me a lot, the whole process taught me a lot.
I realized that no matter how good you think you are as a writer, there is always room for improvement, there is always another edit to be made. Even to this day, I can flip through that book and still find things I would like to edit... and still find errors. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many times you go through a given work, there is always something more to do.
Editing doesn't end.
And in order to produce a professional product, I think you need to go through this editing process. For me, writing a book is more than the writing, it is only the beginning. For me, editing is the bigger aspect. What I mean is that you can scribble anything down but, where it's really at is the editing. That's the key.
I'd be willing to bet there are other writers out there that have felt as I did, that their work doesn't need a lot of editing. But I would tell anyone, "Never underestimate editing. You can never have enough polish. So, grab your rag and start making your work shine."
Goodnight world.
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