Wednesday, August 29, 2012

08/29/2012 Writing Wednesday!

Hello everyone! I hope the week has been trying you well. I firmly believe that August went by too bloody quick, mostly because every time I look at a calendar I am convinced that the date it still like a week away, but nope, it's not! It's not that there's anything wrong with September (there's not, and I would like to believe it's the best month EVER) I just wasn't quite ready for it.

With 'The Light Rises' officially at the halfway point of Phase 1 Reread, I have been thinking a lot about editing lately. Especially since one it is done I have another story I have to dive into, and 'Rending the Seal' is longer. Editing is a time consuming process that everyone must do no matter how much they wish it would magically do itself. The problem is figuring out when your story is done being editing and ready for the world. I am learning now this is possibly something only robots know the answer to.

Going back through something I've already published is a humbling experience to say the least. It helps me see just how much I've grown as a writer, and since I published it myself I have the chance to make it better. I think this is a blessing that not all authors get, since if they want to do a new edition that isn't necessarily something they get to decide. Right now I'm just hoping that once Phase 1 is complete (which I'm hoping will be next week, maybe, we'll see) that Phase 2 goes quickly and smoothly. That's the thing with editing though; it never takes as long as you want it to, so I have to factor in NANOWRIMO into my plans just to be safe.

I know I've said it before, but I do recommend having a printed copy of your work to read from when editing. Especially if it's a longer story. I know that with the magic of technology you can use the Editing Tool in Word or whatever the Mac equivalent is, but it is seriously helpful to have a copy you can carry around with you (not in a laptop) that you can work from, and not just because a lot of jobs don't necessarily like you having your computer open all day while at work. Maybe part of it is the tactile sensation of working with your hands, or it could be because everything you've done is right in front of you (not that it isn't with a computer), I honestly don't know, but it makes everything so much easier. Maybe you forget to hit save on your document, or your computer decides it needs to update without your permission and now you need to figure out where you were before. There's no searching and possibly accidental page skipping when you are doing it by hand. That could just be me though, and everyone here knows that there are certain things I'm bias toward.

Right now though I am working on editing one story and preparing to jump into another. Sure it's tough, and I wish I was rich enough to have someone do it for me, but it will be incredibly satisfying once it's all done. I'm sorry to have done two things on editing in a row, but it has been what I've been focusing on for the last several weeks. I'm not sure how helpful it's been, but at the very least I hope you are all seeing how the process works.

Thanks for stopping by again. I'll like always be back on Friday with the weekly review. After that it will be off to enjoy my long weekend. Until then I hope everyone has a great rest of their week and I'll see you back here soon.

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