Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Endless Editing

How is it possible that you can work through your manuscript dozens of times spread over years and still realize how much it benefits from editing.  I'm prone to verbosity, so eliminating wordiness probably shouldn't come as a surprise.  And, as an editor recently reminded me (something I told myself and my students for years), there are times you need to trust your reader to get what you are spending too much time detailing.  Then there are the filler words, like a freshman stumbling through the first speech.  Still I thought I'd caught it all.  I haven't.  You can't come close to the aggressiveness of editing the manuscript needs until you let go.  Give it to a near stranger who has nothing at stake.  She may not see the editing needs, but your psychology can change for having given it to her.  I did.  Again.  The book will be better for it, and that's what counts.

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