A short note, I didn't realize it's been a few weeks since my last post. Hard to imagine being on the computer and not having the time to blog, but it's true. Editing is a process that requires a lot of time and focus, especially when you might have a lot of eyes on you watching for your first effort, even if it's a short story. I'm learning a lot about self editing, that is, taking your little baby as far up the writer's road as you can on your own, as tight as possible. For me, this piece is about redoing a lot of sentences and trimming it a little, and looking at my arc, etc. There's also symbolism and showing, not telling, in a piece like this - in 3rd. (POV)
Like you maybe, I read a lot. It's deceiving how the great writers today make it look so easy. Lean, evenly paced, well blended high end work that looks so simple it makes you think you can do it....like....today...then you write a few chapters, look it over and alarms go off somewhere in your writer brain and you can't figure out why till you go over the work in a elemental breakdown way. This is also part of the process....and for those of you further up the writer's road than me, you already know this....(it's okay to laugh now....) I don't want to sound too much like a beginner here because in some ways I'm not, I know this stuff from writing a blog that had readers all over the world and some in journalism on a major league level, friends, who let me know stuff.
Fiction is a horse of a different color, when it comes to writing. Mastery of this craft is a long road...one that I've been on for awhile, and I've discovered that only in our work can we tell where we're at. No amount of talking, thinking, hoping, dreaming, or self delusion can replace the mechanics and practice of writing, and it's all practice till you get to a commercially viable level, at least for me and in my view. I wish I had the desire and capacity to be a true literary type and writer, but I don't...Maybe it's the mutt in me....(now I'm laughing...).
As you know, I'm on Twitter and I hope you'll head over and look me up and zing a few tweets back and forth. All my social media links are in the sidebar here, even my Goodreads page. I'm not so much trying to plug my stuff as I am hoping you'll get involved for your own sake and on your own terms. Every author needs to take some responsibility for their own promotion.
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3 comments:
Yes, editing can take you away for a while. Good luck with it!
Editing is a monster and a tremendous time suck. That's why I do what I can, then forward the rest on to my editor. Without him I'd be wandering aimlessly. Good luck with yours.
A lot of what you said here resonates with where I am in my writing at the moment, particularly where you don't want to sound like a beginner, because the road is indeed long.
But I'm sure there's light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who persevere.
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