Day 235: Thoughts on editing, perfection
I've been pretty disciplined today so far, which feels pretty good! I cleared the decks right away.
I didn’t want to get sucked into Facebook but I had to do some things today--some marketing commitments for the multi-author anthology I'm in. So I spent more time on Facebook than I would have otherwise (at least, I hope more than I would have otherwise, assuming I wasn't procrastinating) but I kept it down to about an hour total for email and Facebook, and I got done the marketing things I had to do.
Since I did all my editing yesterday, I don't have any editing to do today--just the scene I'm still working on. I tend to like to self-edit entire scenes rather than only partially editing the scene, then continuing to write it. There have been times I've cut huge chunks of a scene that I'd already spent time editing, so it's more efficient if I wait until the scene is done.
Many writing books and articles suggest not self-editing until you complete the book for just that reason--that it's inefficient to edit text that might just get cut later. There will sometimes be times when I still cut huge chunks of text from past scenes that I've already self-edited, but they're few and far between because I outline so rigorously and in so much detail.
In the past 15 books I've written, there have only been 2 times where I had a huge edit to do after the manuscript was completed and self-edited, and they were both because my editor at my publishing house changed their mind about how they wanted the story to unfold, even though they had approved the detailed synopsis I submitted and I had written exactly to synopsis. I've also had 1 time where I had a partial manuscript done that had been self-edited and I needed to revise huge chunks of it, but that was book two of my Regency series and it had been after I'd changed my mind about the entire direction of the series.
Since I had such a terrible problem procrastinating in self-editing book 1 in my Regency series after I'd finished it, I decided to not put myself in that situation again. So lately I've been self-editing each scene as they're completed. So far, this method has helped me not procrastinate my self-editing for the past two books--book 2 in my series, and my reader magnet, The Gentleman Thief.
So far, I only cut huge chunks of text in scenes if I'm in the middle of writing it and change some aspect of it, or switch around events in the middle of the scene (usually the ending of the scene is exactly where I'd outlined it to be). In waiting until the entire scene is done before I self-edit, I don't have to worry about editing something in an unfinished scene that I might end up cutting or revising after I complete the scene.
I guess I rambled a lot about editing today. All that to say, I'm going to dive into writing right now.
***
I finished the scene and was about to start a new one, but I ended up needing to do a little blocking before I started. My blocking notes were a mess and I hadn't cleaned them up before starting the manuscript. I really think I need to start cleaning up my blocking notes before I start writing a book.
***
I did the 3 hours of writing that I was aiming for (although some of that was blocking the one scene). My writing speed wasn't too bad, either. I took longer breaks than I wanted, though, because I had a lot of laundry to do today and so in my breaks I was doing that.
A part of me thought I should push to do more, but I'm feeling a little tired and I haven't done any reading today. After the burnout I had after Thanksgiving, I think I should take some time to read today. So I'm stopping for today.
After blogging above about my editing, I was thinking a bit about editing and perfection in books. I recently finished a science fiction series that was very entertaining, and quite excellent storytelling. Characterization was great, and plot moved quickly.
But the series, published by a major New York publisher, also suffered from a lot of repetition that could have been edited out, if not by the author then in suggestions by the editor.
I'm also listening to a thriller on audiobook, and while the story is really quite entertaining, there's also the same repetition that could have been edited out. And this book was also published by a major New York publisher.
As a self-publisher, I hear a lot about quality issues with other self-published books, and the need for good editing. While I don't discount that, I've also noticed recently in those books I read that even books published by major publishers, with highly paid editors, aren't perfect. And the books sell well despite those minor editing problems.
So even if my self-editing isn't perfect, and there are small problems in my books that get past both me and my proofreader, I think it's okay. If people enjoy my writing, that's all that matters. I'm not out to win a Pulitzer (I don't even like reading Pulitzer winning novels).
Well, I wrote a respectable amount today! The amount of actual work time seems rather small since I was doing house chores during my breaks, and in looking at my Toggl timer, I realized that I got distracted and wasted about an hour looking through photos for book covers for books I've planned on but haven't written yet. Still, I think only an hour of wasted time is rather good, considering I was lamenting procrastination yesterday.
Is there a way to snap me out of it when I start doing that kind of procrastination? In the past, I've tried using my Promodoro timer to time my breaks, but that never worked--I'd just keep wasting time after the timer went off.
Maybe an alarm? If I'm still doing something like house chores, I can snooze it, but if I'm wasting time it might remind me to get back to work. I can make alarms really easily using my Apple watch and Siri, so maybe that's an option. I can set an alarm when I start my break. I think I will try that tomorrow.
Blocking: time spent: 36 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 34 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 3484 words
Writing: Average speed: 1588 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 28 minutes
My takeaway for today: I need to start cleaning up my blocking notes before I start writing a book.
My second takeaway for today: To try to snap me out of it when I'm distracted and wasting time during my break, I will try setting an alarm on my Apple watch when I start my break. I can snooze it if I'm still doing a house chore, but it might remind me to get back to work if I'm just wasting time.
I didn’t want to get sucked into Facebook but I had to do some things today--some marketing commitments for the multi-author anthology I'm in. So I spent more time on Facebook than I would have otherwise (at least, I hope more than I would have otherwise, assuming I wasn't procrastinating) but I kept it down to about an hour total for email and Facebook, and I got done the marketing things I had to do.
Since I did all my editing yesterday, I don't have any editing to do today--just the scene I'm still working on. I tend to like to self-edit entire scenes rather than only partially editing the scene, then continuing to write it. There have been times I've cut huge chunks of a scene that I'd already spent time editing, so it's more efficient if I wait until the scene is done.
Many writing books and articles suggest not self-editing until you complete the book for just that reason--that it's inefficient to edit text that might just get cut later. There will sometimes be times when I still cut huge chunks of text from past scenes that I've already self-edited, but they're few and far between because I outline so rigorously and in so much detail.
In the past 15 books I've written, there have only been 2 times where I had a huge edit to do after the manuscript was completed and self-edited, and they were both because my editor at my publishing house changed their mind about how they wanted the story to unfold, even though they had approved the detailed synopsis I submitted and I had written exactly to synopsis. I've also had 1 time where I had a partial manuscript done that had been self-edited and I needed to revise huge chunks of it, but that was book two of my Regency series and it had been after I'd changed my mind about the entire direction of the series.
Since I had such a terrible problem procrastinating in self-editing book 1 in my Regency series after I'd finished it, I decided to not put myself in that situation again. So lately I've been self-editing each scene as they're completed. So far, this method has helped me not procrastinate my self-editing for the past two books--book 2 in my series, and my reader magnet, The Gentleman Thief.
So far, I only cut huge chunks of text in scenes if I'm in the middle of writing it and change some aspect of it, or switch around events in the middle of the scene (usually the ending of the scene is exactly where I'd outlined it to be). In waiting until the entire scene is done before I self-edit, I don't have to worry about editing something in an unfinished scene that I might end up cutting or revising after I complete the scene.
I guess I rambled a lot about editing today. All that to say, I'm going to dive into writing right now.
***
I finished the scene and was about to start a new one, but I ended up needing to do a little blocking before I started. My blocking notes were a mess and I hadn't cleaned them up before starting the manuscript. I really think I need to start cleaning up my blocking notes before I start writing a book.
***
I did the 3 hours of writing that I was aiming for (although some of that was blocking the one scene). My writing speed wasn't too bad, either. I took longer breaks than I wanted, though, because I had a lot of laundry to do today and so in my breaks I was doing that.
A part of me thought I should push to do more, but I'm feeling a little tired and I haven't done any reading today. After the burnout I had after Thanksgiving, I think I should take some time to read today. So I'm stopping for today.
After blogging above about my editing, I was thinking a bit about editing and perfection in books. I recently finished a science fiction series that was very entertaining, and quite excellent storytelling. Characterization was great, and plot moved quickly.
But the series, published by a major New York publisher, also suffered from a lot of repetition that could have been edited out, if not by the author then in suggestions by the editor.
I'm also listening to a thriller on audiobook, and while the story is really quite entertaining, there's also the same repetition that could have been edited out. And this book was also published by a major New York publisher.
As a self-publisher, I hear a lot about quality issues with other self-published books, and the need for good editing. While I don't discount that, I've also noticed recently in those books I read that even books published by major publishers, with highly paid editors, aren't perfect. And the books sell well despite those minor editing problems.
So even if my self-editing isn't perfect, and there are small problems in my books that get past both me and my proofreader, I think it's okay. If people enjoy my writing, that's all that matters. I'm not out to win a Pulitzer (I don't even like reading Pulitzer winning novels).
Well, I wrote a respectable amount today! The amount of actual work time seems rather small since I was doing house chores during my breaks, and in looking at my Toggl timer, I realized that I got distracted and wasted about an hour looking through photos for book covers for books I've planned on but haven't written yet. Still, I think only an hour of wasted time is rather good, considering I was lamenting procrastination yesterday.
Is there a way to snap me out of it when I start doing that kind of procrastination? In the past, I've tried using my Promodoro timer to time my breaks, but that never worked--I'd just keep wasting time after the timer went off.
Maybe an alarm? If I'm still doing something like house chores, I can snooze it, but if I'm wasting time it might remind me to get back to work. I can make alarms really easily using my Apple watch and Siri, so maybe that's an option. I can set an alarm when I start my break. I think I will try that tomorrow.
Blocking: time spent: 36 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 34 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 3484 words
Writing: Average speed: 1588 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 28 minutes
My takeaway for today: I need to start cleaning up my blocking notes before I start writing a book.
My second takeaway for today: To try to snap me out of it when I'm distracted and wasting time during my break, I will try setting an alarm on my Apple watch when I start my break. I can snooze it if I'm still doing a house chore, but it might remind me to get back to work if I'm just wasting time.
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