Only recently have I begun to seriously edit my book, and for the first time, I’m beginning to appreciate what is meant by the phrase, “Writing is easy, editing is hard.” I say seriously because all of the editing I’ve done up until now has been minor, on-the-fly stuff. When I wrote my first draft, I kicked out a few pages every hour. Now that I’m editing, it takes between one and two hours to get through a single page. This means a typical day of editing sees me through four or five pages.
Since this is my first book, I’m finding the process to be quite a learning experience. Not only is it a learning experience about writing and editing, it’s also a learning experience about myself. I’m beginning to recognize my tendencies and patterns and the way I think and feel about various aspects of the process. I’m also becoming acutely aware of how environmental factors and my mood can help or hinder productivity.
After I completed the first draft of my book, it sat shelved for nearly nine months. While I’m not sure I’d let that much time pass before beginning the editing process again, I believe it’s helped me view it from a more-objective perspective. For example, there are times when I will delete an entire paragraph or more. There’s no way I would have done that several months ago. It would have crushed me to delete anything immediately after completing the first draft.
During the nine months my book sat shelved, part of me wanted to begin editing it and another part wanted nothing more than to start a new book. I hadn’t expected to feel torn between what I really wanted to do (start a new project) and what I knew I must do (begin editing). It was like being forced to choose one child over another. Sure, I could have let it continue sitting on the shelf but since this is my first book, there was no way I could seriously consider moving on before seeing it through. Whether it was the desire to complete my first book or the desire to begin a new one, it provided the motivation I needed to get back to editing.
Currently, I’m up to my neck in editing it. Any thoughts or ideas I previously had about the editing process, have long since flown the coop. It’s exhausting, frustrating, enjoyable, surprising, mind-numbing, and rewarding. It’s also damned hard work. Some days I’m very productive and others feel like I’m taking two steps back for every one forward. It’s a process I’m learning to embrace because I’m fully aware that once I finish this first, full-edit of my book, I will have to rinse and repeat until I’m 100% certain it’s ready to be released upon the world all on its own. Well, maybe 99%. 🙂
James
Following yesterday’s inauguration of Phil Murphy as the 56th Governor of New Jersey, I’ve experienced an unexpected sense of relief. Since it just happened yesterday, I haven’t had time to think about why this might be. I expect the relief I’m experiencing has to do with the fact that Chris Christie is no longer my governor and that Governor Murphy seems like someone who thinks before he speaks or acts and who brings a much broader, world-perspective to the Governor’s office given his former role as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany.