I’m sure you’ve heard the biggest challenge to getting your book drafted is to actually get fingers to keyboard and get it out of your head. But did you know that this applies to revisions and editing as well?
And sometimes it can be even harder to get back to work because you convince yourself that you’re “letting it rest” or “letting it ferment” or whatever catchphrase you prefer.
To avoid this, don’t just set it aside for some arbitrary amount of time or until you feel like getting back to it. Set a specific rest time, whether it’s one day, one week, one month, or one year. And then schedule your revision and/or editing time on your calendar.
I have been reminded of this recently while revising my latest book. During NaNoWriMo, I wrote horrible, disjointed chunks of my original draft, so since then, I’ve been working on rearranging the scenes I’d written and filling in the huge holes. It kind of feels like I’m still drafting, but it’s really just a horrifically large revision.
A couple of weeks ago, I got tough with myself and decided I was going to create a schedule to get this thing DONE. And do you know what? Once I got my butt in my chair and started working, I finished what I set out to do in HALF THE TIME I envisioned.
At this point, all of my big gaps are filled, so I just need to fill in small gaps, plug any research holes, and do a couple of copy edits before sending my book to beta readers.
So, remember, “butt in chair” doesn’t just apply to drafting. It also applies to pretty much everything else, too. Resistance is the author’s biggest enemy.
I also learned the rules of academic publishing during my dissertation and was a stickler for form and format for many other documents having started out learning how to write a proper formal letter in typing class in my sophomore year of high school.
But, I make mistakes. The voice dictation system I use creates mistakes I never would make otherwise. I generally don't rewrite my work because my mind is organized enough so that my prose flows well and I don't have to go back and "fill in the gaps." I generally only go back to get my facts straight. Readers often remark about, "my excellent research." I have found a good proofer, but find that I have to reread and edit/proof my work about three times even before I post it here as a draft.
I don't find myself delaying editing or proofing because at that point I am very eager to publish and any delay in necessary rereading delays the publishing date. If anything, I speed up my work on the piece I'm working on.
Lately, however, I have picked up the habit of watching very badly written TV dramas and with some fakery, reality shows "on-demand," greatly cutting into my writing. Most of the writing for those is so trashy with fantasy, violence and idiocy that it's a relief to get back to my more, realistic writing.
Well, I had better get my butt in the chair and stop all this commenting on everybody else's work. ;-)
Ron