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Roy A Higgins

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The Tinkerman
by Roy A Higgins   
Rated "G" by the Author.
     
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Roy A Higgins

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The problems of editing your own work.

Before retiring from the daily grind, my boss, who I unkindly referred to as The Tinkerman, would often ask me to write a progress report. After two days away from my desk it would return, a kaleidoscope of alterations in coloured ink. After re-submitting my report, typed and pristine, it would return, like a bad penny, covered with still more coloured daubing. Eventually nothing remained of my original report, but even so it would still be rejected by The Tinkerman, who had by this time, written the damn thing himself.
I thought the man was an idiot, but since writing novels I have, myself, turned into The Tinkerman.
After submitting my first novel to a print on demand publisher, who recommended professional editing but refused to fund it, I was forced, due to financial restraints, to give editing a go myself, even though I was rubbish at English grammar while at school, and have not progressed much in that regard in the last fifty-five years. I had little idea of what standard was required but after doing my very best it was finally published.

It received mixed reviews with most people agreeing that it was a page turner let down by poor editing, so I cancelled my publishing contract and self published. This meant I had editorial control and could tinker to my heart's content. I did just that, but every time I reached the end I found myself obligated to read through it just one more time, and every time I read it I found more editing to do. Perhaps the reason for this is because I'm becoming more adept at using my newly honed editing skills, or perhaps I have a serious mental disorder which requires urgent medical intervention in the form of a straight jacket and a padded room. I'm just off to the doctors to find out.


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Reviewed by E Phillips
Reviewed on February 6, 2015
It's the straight jacket and the padded room that prevent me from paying an editor $3,000 to edit a book that could never realize $3,000 in profits unless I was also willing to spend $50,000 in advertising costs, and years of my time in convincing others to buy it so they might actually read and appreciate my genius, or not, as the case may be. Meanwhile Sara Palin who can neither read nor write pays a ghost writer to make her $10 million while she laughs all the way to the Bank of Alaska.

Reviewed by Ronald Hull
Reviewed on February 3, 2015
Your article certainly resonated with me. Throughout my academic career I've run into tinkerers. They would play with an essay or an article forever before finally finishing it. A couple guys that I know took 10 years or more to write their dissertation.

I, on the other hand, have often rushed to publish to my embarrassment. My first POD publisher told me that he edited my work and I believed him. When I finally got to reading those first two books, I had to edit them myself and republish as second editions. The good news is, if I ever get famous, those earlier editions with all the mistakes will probably be worth more. ;-)

The problem with self editing is that we can't see the forest for the trees and continue to make the same mistakes (before Google, with me, it was spelling) over and over again without knowing it. ;-)

That's why I've edited a couple of books for others for free. Maybe karma will pay me back.

Ron

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