Editing those beautifully strung together words

Editing. You’re finally finished writing your manuscript and it is in a word, a masterpiece; but you’re faced with that dreadful moment when you must part with your words. All those beautifully strung together words that you labored over tirelessly now have to meet their demise. Word to the wise. Don’t fall so in love with your words that you’re not willing to part with them when necessary. This just draws out the inevitable. Regardless of if it’s in the best interest of meeting word count quotas or in tightening up your story, editing is a necessary evil. Self-editing can actually be pretty enjoyable if you allow yourself to *gasp* dare I say, perfect “perfection.”

While I realize that we all embody in our own minds, all that is perfect in this writer’s world, we’re not judged by what we think we know, but rather what we present to readers and writers alike. In order to take the necessary steps forward in being a successful writer, whether it is fiction or nonfiction you must first realize that any well written piece can become an excellent work if you simply allow yourself to edit and be edited.

As a beat writer, a desk editor and now as an aspiring author I have had my own struggles with being edited by others. There is nothing worse in my mind than seeing your work in print and not recognizing it as your own. If your editor gives a 5,000 wc and you decided that 7,000 really tells the story, don’t be surprised, upset or disillusioned about why your favorite scene was cut out and the story was mangled beyond recognition. It only took once, maybe twice for this to happen in college before I learned my lesson. I’m a perfection therefore I always strive to edit myself constantly to avoid having others do it for me. I’m my own worst critic and I’ve always felt that no one could be harder on me than myself. With that said, when you are too close to your work which is usually the case then it’s possible that you may miss some of the small details. In short, when you’ve finished your last rounds of edits and feel that you’ve finished yet another award-winning masterpiece, edit some more.