The biggest pain in the a$$ when it comes to publishing a book is editing it. Not even giving it a firm edit, that’s done by an experienced copyeditor later on, just editing a book down to a workable piece of fluid information that the editor can go through and make perfect is a lofty task.
I found myself editing a few chapters of my upcoming book Strange Business tonight, and even with a good helping of food breaks filled with fresh fruit and gourmet granola I couldn’t help but want to set my laptop on fire. Just burn it down, I need a new one anyways, my dog ate the number 3 key a few weeks ago, so it’s due to be retired anyhow. But I persisted, I kept on, and of course it seems as if every page I edit comes drastic writing, and rewriting. The distributing thing is the chapters never get shorter; they only become longer with each edit. Isn’t the point of editing to rework and remove the useless stuff to begin with? Why do I find myself elaborating instead of slimming down each chapter?
At least I could honestly say I spent the evening doing some writing for my own purposes rather than for a client, which hasn’t been the case that much lately. It’s always good to do something for yourself now and again, it keeps things in perspective, that sometimes your words are best used to pursue your own argument, make your own case, or even write your own book.
No comments:
Post a Comment