How crazy is editing, anyway? Does it ever end? In the spoken word, we may occasionally edit our words by, “Oh, that wasn’t the right word. I really meant…” sometimes this is followed by awkwardness, or nervous laughter, especially if it is followed by an apology.
But EDITING a novel, or short story is the “real” never-ending story. I just deleted a whole chapter and may very well have to delete the one after that. I’ve had a shift in thinking about the action, the goal, the tense…who knows. But this can go on forever. The difficult part is that I truly believe every editing moment has improved my work.
I thought that by the end of this month my novel, which started as Greyhound Gracie (a short story), but eventually was titled Gracie and Marge: Kicking The Bucket Together, would be ready to put out there, share with the world, as surely everyone will love my characters as much as I do. But, will you? Not unless I can make it absolutely perfect. Makes sense.
But truly, it must all stop sometime. I don’t think anyone really knows when it is perfect, but I am hoping the NEED to shift things around comes soon. I’ve been hanging out with this group of characters for quite some time now…enjoying most every minute…but, nevertheless, ready to move on to other ideas before I forget them.
