Good Grief

Hemingway said one should edit sober. I'm starting to think he knew what he was talking about.

A certain blindness takes over an author, once a story is told. Well, once it's written down. Case in point... a client wrote a book with the premise being a treasure discovered. After delving into the book for many chapters, I turned to her and asked, "Where's the treasure?" She'd forgotten it. In the details of the book. She's not alone.

The other night, I was reading a chapter of 'Sings' to a friend and realized the chapter was redundant. I've read the chapter ten times before, at the very least. Yet, I didn't realize that Chapter Two and Chapter 12 were the exact same chapter. Different characters, different scenario, but same message, told in almost the same way. Good grief.

As stated in an earlier post, I'd deleted Chapter Two and therefore, Chapter 12 was no longer redundant. Thankfully. In fact, I delighted in the fact that things that I thought were deleted but still wanted known were there -- in all their glory.

I, also, hoped to show the strength of my main character. I thought I'd lost it when I deleted Chapter Three. As I read Chapter 11, I realized that I showed a different sort of strength in my main character. A subtle, yet stronger, strength. This was fun.

Editing can be fun. I'm learning that by these twists and turns that my book is taking. I must confess, I have more fun editing other people's works, which is why I do it for a living, but, because of these new discoveries, I realize that editing my own works is fun, too.

So -- have fun with your editing. Share it with friends. You know I've suggested this before, but it's true. You can't see the forest for the trees, most times. Hopefully, your friends/editor can.

Blessings,
Sharron