Help me I’m editing and I can’t stop!

There comes a time when enough is enough. Right? But exactly when is that? Here lately I think it might be when they pry my cold dead hands off my manuscript. Am I having separation anxiety, I wondered? Then I realized, “Duh,” you have to “separate” before you can have that condition. Or possibly, I have some form of neurotic-perfectionism . . .  is that even a thing?

Maybe it is normal to edit and rewrite, and rewrite and rewrite . . . then edit some more. Maybe. Listen, I’m all for perfecting your manuscript, polishing it and making it shine but there comes a point when you just shouldn’t change another word. Back away from the keyboard, and no one will get hurt. Although I will say if you are a “seat of the pants” writer sometimes, it is to your advantage to edit/rewrite because a better story develops.

Still, there comes that time when we have to let go and let the powers that be help us with our manuscripts. They are like doctors or midwives that step in when it’s time to give birth. Sometimes we need to push . . . at other times, it is time just to breathe through it and edit some more.

So, where are you in the process? Me, I just finished all the edits and rewrites I could possibly handle and mailed my precious “baby” off to my editor. I paused at the post office door, held the package tightly saying a little prayer and took a deep breath. Then, not wanting to make a scene I handed it to the postmaster . . .  reluctantly. His smile was evil as he ripped it from my hands. He then without mercy took a hammer like stamp and wacked it across the front and threw it into a dirty bin. I stood stunned. Again he smiled leaning toward me, “You did want to mail that package,” he said snapping me out of my stupor. I was speechless, I nodded and paid the postage and glanced one last time at the dirty bin as I walked away traumatized.

Well, there you have it. What’s done is done. I cannot change another word and I don’t have another opportunity to make my editor proud of me, to wow her, at least not this go round. Now I wait, and hope, and pray, and . . .   

Again, there comes a time when enough is enough. Right?

Right. So, keep on doing the write thing children,

 

Guyanne

And the Winner Is . . .

The winner of the "First 20 Pages Critique Giveaway” is, drum roll please . . . Barbara Meyers Underhill, with her MG manuscript The Beatles Fan.


Congrats goes to Barbara. I am sure she is thrilled and thank you DearEditor for the contest. But wait there's more . . . THE GIVING ISN’T OVER! Two e-book editions of Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies are being given away today at The Writing Nut. Click over and enter: http://bit.ly/p7NXAz hurry don't delay.


Oh, and keep on doing the write thing children,

 

Guyanne

NEWSFLASH!

“Free First 20 Pages Critique” Giveaway!

Check out DearEditor.com. The Editor is celebrating the premier of her book trailer WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES. Hello! They are giving away a FREE CRITIQUE OF THE FIRST 20 PAGES OF YOUR FICTION MANUSCRIPT. Wow! What an opportunity. This is an awesome site. Can you believe it, I mean... free a 20 page critique. Oh, yeah!

 You can see the book trailer and get the all rules to enter at DearEditor.com.

 Oh, and keep on doing the write thing children,

 

Guyanne

KICKN’ IT . . . The writing habit

The writing habit, the addiction — the overwhelming desire to put words on paper . . . Do we kick it? The habit? That part of us that cries out to be heard. I think not! Some of us have it too badly. A professional editor or publisher must step in to intervene, at the very least a good critique partner or group can help talk us off the ledge from time to time.

It starts innocently enough. A thought, an essay, a poem and before you know it — Bam! You’re hooked. A blog, a novel, you are writing and you can’t stop. You have stopped interacting with coworkers, friends and family and started making excuses to stay at home to write. Your personal relationships have begun to suffer for the sake of the craft.

You read everything you can get your hands on about writing and when you do talk to other people . . . that is all you talk about — writing or what you want to write. Even the movies you watch are about some lonely quirky writer or killer writer. Yeah you’re hooked all right, you got it bad. And, you don’t even care! (Sigh)

So, now that we have identified the culprit — the writing bug (a self-inflicted monkey on our back as it were) how does one go about managing such a condition? Write. Write with free abandonment. Write until you fall over. Write until you get it right. Write until it feels good. Just write. Let the words flow and dance and then wrestle them onto the page if necessary. Do it every day, write something, anything and refuse to give up. Write it right — one beautiful word at a time.

Keep on doing the write thing children,

Guyanne