Editing

I love writing. I think I'll wither away and die if I couldn't write. I've written on pieces of paper, envelopes, napkins, gum wrappers, etc. But editing. Editing I hate. There is no end to editing. You can always find one more way to phrase something you've already changed many times over.

I've been editing my first book once again and I hate all the cutting I have to do. It's already at almost 400 pages and I have to cut it back to 300, add more material to make it almost 400, then cut it back to about 350. So, there's a lot of work to do. But after about two weeks of doing this, I think I'm getting pretty good at it, but more importantly, it doesn't pain me as much as it used to.

I remember when I was working with an editor to cut my manuscript down, my editor told me to shorten 50 page scene where a woman is dying. She's a minor character, but a very important one. My editor sends me an email saying - I bet you can do it in 5. I thought 5 what? 5 tries? Then my heart dropped. 5 pages? Finally, although we've pretty much communicated solely via email, I called her. She answered, then said, "I was wrong." I thought. Thank goodness. She's got to be reasonable about this. Then she continued, "I think you can do it in 3." Yikes! Well the thing is, as painful as that was, I did get it done in 4 pages. It was painful to cut out the 50 pages (my editor agreed that they were beautifully written 50 pages, but they were ultimately cut), but it saved me 46 pages. So, I try to remember this lesson and keep cutting.

Things are slowly progressing on the marketing and sales front, but what I need is a miracle. A miracle like the one that Christopher Paolini had when a random 15 year old boy picked up Eragon, read it and told his father what a wonderful book it was. The boy's father was either an agent or a publisher. Christopher Paolini was still going from a library to library and bookstore to a bookstore doing readings (dressed in costumes) when this miracle happened. So, I'm praying for a miracle. The thing is I believe in miracles and my life is full of them. Hopefully, chances are good.

I truly believe that no one ever goes into writing for money (there are hundreds of better ways) but for the love of it. Well, the love it, weighed against the reality of having children, saving for college & retirement, etc., could run out enough to get me back into the work force. If that does happen anytime soon, I'll just have to do it part, part, part, part-time. In the mean time, I'm praying desperately for a miracle.