It's the last day of 2014. I'm 50,000 words deep into my draft manuscript for Vortex. Seems like an appropriate time to pause and reflect.

What Vortex has taught me about my writing:

• I'm not the type that can write a first draft from start to finish prior to doing any edits
• Polished (read: edited) scenes/chapters increase my confidence in the new, ( Read more... )

This was an interesting discussion thread on a forum, which got me thinking.

When I wrap up a short story, I like to take a short break from it. At least one to two days, giving me a chance to sleep on it and letting my neurons replenish. Inevitably, the next time I read it, I find issues. Often those issues crop up on passages or dialogs that I ( Read more... )

Ever have a story you are quite content about except for one particular part? While that delinquent portion can appear anywhere, more often than not it turns up at the story's end. That parting shot and final note commands perfection and it's a high hurdle ( Read more... )

Habits are such insidious things. The bad ones sneak up on you and sink in. Good ones not only are hard to develop, you have to work your butt off to sustain them.

Which brings us to editing. On the one hand, it would be nice to rely upon your inner Editor Meister to tidy up all the thou shan'ts and just allow your creative spirit to flow unfettered ( Read more... )

 I posted a short review of Renni Browne and Dave King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers under my Amazon moniker.

The medical term is septoplasty. A couple of other nasty sounding ones rode shotgun with it. Basically, a day at a surgical center and a couple of hours of general anesthesia inspired unconsciousness left me with one very sore, continuously bloody nose. It took away a cyst that had sprouted in my sinus cavity as well as a leftward bend in my septum ( Read more... )

Back in the days of my critique group, my groupmates offered staunch praise for my first novel manuscript. Bless them. They'd schlepped along with me as the story evolved and morphed through 2 prior formats, beginning as a short story and transitioning into a screenplay before the novel form finally took hold. I think their investment in the tale ( Read more... )

"To be a better writer means being a better editor."

I have no idea if I should attribute someone for the above pithy-ism, but it's something I've known in my heart for a long, long time. Better yet, I've lived it. In my day job where nonfiction prevails (please no snide remarks about how marketing & sales copy paired with nonfiction is a classic ( Read more... )

One of my favorite, highly versatile quotes:
"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci

Change the word "Art" to "The revising process" and it pretty much sums up how editing works for most writers. If you have the ability to edit your work to total perfection and walk away utterly satisfied, please take a well deserved bow. ( Read more... )