Do Edits ever end?

Sassy3421 · Aug 29, 2010

Okay, so I'm almost finished with edits on my first mystery. Now, I say "almost" hesitantly because it seems like the job of editing never ends. Even when I'm finished making some changes, I'll be printing it off for another read through.

Now, it's possible there's other similar threads out there but what keeps you going when you're tired of working on one book?

Now don't take it the wrong way, I love my novel and I trust there's a great story in there others will enjoy reading....but when it comes down to the discipline to just get it finished, I freeze. For example, here I am with only about 100 pgs or less to review from a beta reader. There is nothing major to change, but I'm procrastinating (heck, here I am on AW making a thread, and I'll probably opt for an afternoon nap afterwards)...What I want to know is:

What keeps you going despite procrastination and other distractions?

Maybe I just have to work on self-discipline...

Greeble · Aug 29, 2010

Sassy3421 said:
What keeps you going despite procrastination and other distractions?

Money. And Provigil.

ebennet68 · Aug 29, 2010

My desire gets renewed to go back to a piece I've read several times over when I give it a rest for a period of time and then go back and make the necessary edits. This last time I gave it six weeks before picking it up again.

whimsical rabbit · Aug 29, 2010

Sassy3421 said:
What keeps you going despite procrastination and other distractions?

The fear that one day I'm going to walk out my front door, and won't check both sides of the road, and get run over by a car, without ever having been able to finish the damn thing.

arcane · Aug 29, 2010

I actually have the same problem with edits. I'm on the fourth draft of my WIP and it gets really tough to motivate myself to come back to it again. What usually works for motivation is imagining that moment where I'll say it's Finished (as terrifying as that can be) and can move onto new projects without looking back at this one.

timewaster · Aug 29, 2010

I think the thought that it is my name on the cover and that I don't want to be responsible for something that is less than my best. By then I have gone way past the liking them stage. Once they are accepted there are editorial edits, desk edits, copy edits, page proofs and actual proofs: they kill the love so what you have left is doggedness and professionalism.

Becky Black · Aug 29, 2010

Once I'd sooner stab myself in the eyes with a rusty nail file than read that chapter again, I decide it's time to move on to the next one.

Once I get to the point where I can't say for sure if an edit was an improvement or just a change for change's sake. There is a point where you get to diminishing returns.

Oh and now I've gone through edits with my actual editor, I have to say that's a motivator to get it back to her!

It's possible to tinker with it forever, but it will never be entirely perfect. I just try to keep in mind the maxim that "no work of art is ever finished, merely abandonded" and try to find the right moment to abandon it out in the world.

jallenecs · Aug 29, 2010

What keeps me going? I have had several short stories and dozens of nonfiction articles published. More than once, I have read the published piece, IN THE MAGAZINE, and seen an error, or a sentence I wish I had rephrased. Every time, I just want to sit down and cry in embarrassment.

I never want to have that feeling again. THAT'S what keeps me going when my energy is flagging on rewrites.

Sassy3421 · Aug 29, 2010

thank you guys for your responses. I definately look at money as a motivator lol but I also want to be able to say, "I wrote this", and be proud of it. hopefully that will be the case when I give this book one final read through.

I'm printing it now and to see almost an entire ream of paper...no wonder I was feeling overwhelmed. I edited all of this with the help of a beta reader in 1 week! (and that's while working full-time)...time for a glass of wine

Chasing the Horizon · Aug 29, 2010

Well, they'll certainly never end at this rate. *pokes editing pile with a stick*

Sassy3421 said:
I edited all of this with the help of a beta reader in 1 week! (and that's while working full-time)...time for a glass of wine

Wow. I think I hate you.

geardrops · Aug 29, 2010

Sassy3421 said:
Now, it's possible there's other similar threads out there but what keeps you going when you're tired of working on one book?

Depends on the level of tired.

If it's the "oh my god if I read another word of this book I will puke" tired... I take a break and write something else, maybe for a day, maybe for a week, maybe for a few months. Sometimes you hit a point where you have to flush your head out and start with fresh eyes.

If it's the "ugh I just want to watch HGTV and eat oreos" well... that's when you find out if you're disciplined or not. And I'm pretty good at shaming myself into doing work I know I should be doing.

Steam&Ink · Aug 29, 2010

Sassy3421 said:
...time for a glass of wine

Also a good motivation - "fifteen more pages, then a glass of Sav Blanc"

Devil Ledbetter · Aug 29, 2010

No they do not. Just ask the novel I've been editing since 2007.

FOTSGreg · Aug 29, 2010

When you start to hate going back to the ragged thing and making a few changes here or there for the sheer sake of "this might sound better".

When editing an old work becomes more work than it's worth or because a beta reader suggested the changes.

When you dread opening the stupid file simply because you're sick and tired of the raggedy old bitch.

When editing takes you away from wiring on a new WIP for little or no good purpose.

When you're just tired of the whole slogging process with that particular work.

When you have it in front of a publisher who seems to be taking an awfully long time to make a buy or deny decision.

FOTSGreg · Aug 29, 2010

Oh, yeah, one more -when you just want to kick the silly bitch to the curb and get her to start making you some money -that's when to stop editing.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 29, 2010

I edit once. That's enough. Finish the first draft, read thorugh once, fix problems I see, stop right there. I'd go out of my mind if I had to keep making pass after pass.

LOG · Aug 29, 2010

There is no such thing as a final manuscript, only a final draft.

IceCreamEmpress · Aug 29, 2010

There can be a point at which one edits too much.

I try not to do more than two edits myself.

zpeteman · Aug 29, 2010

What gets me going and makes me get it done? A deadline. I have no problem disappointing myself but I refuse to disappoint others.

Greeble · Aug 30, 2010

zpeteman said:
I refuse to disappoint others.

The fear of disappointing others is the reason I still haven't finished my WIP.

KTC · Aug 30, 2010

Sassy3421 said:
Okay, so I'm almost finished with edits on my first mystery. Now, I say "almost" hesitantly because it seems like the job of editing never ends. Even when I'm finished making some changes, I'll be printing it off for another read through.

Now, it's possible there's other similar threads out there but what keeps you going when you're tired of working on one book?

Now don't take it the wrong way, I love my novel and I trust there's a great story in there others will enjoy reading....but when it comes down to the discipline to just get it finished, I freeze. For example, here I am with only about 100 pgs or less to review from a beta reader. There is nothing major to change, but I'm procrastinating (heck, here I am on AW making a thread, and I'll probably opt for an afternoon nap afterwards)...What I want to know is:

What keeps you going despite procrastination and other distractions?

Maybe I just have to work on self-discipline...

They end when the book hits the shelf...unless, of course, there are edits between the first run and the second. (-; I know an author who had a change between hard cover and trade...so I imagine it's not completely unheard of and it may even be common.

I know what you mean...by the time I get to the end I pretty much hate my book. I don't know what that says...it's just that you DO get tired of it. It's natural. What keeps me going...the possibility of readership, I suppose. And the knowledge that that won't happen unless I beat it into readership worthy shape.

Just make sure you don't over-edit.

Leasie · Aug 30, 2010

Mhmm i crashed a creative writing course and my lecturer had a friend that had been editing his book for 17 years, its been published about 6 different times in between those 17 years though

Eddyz Aquila · Aug 30, 2010

Well, for me, they are never ending...

I've been procrastinating so much it's not even funny.

After 1st of September I wrote down and signed an oath of fidelity to my book, to finish it once and for all and submit it.

TheWordQueen · Aug 30, 2010

Procrastinating when writing and editing is something that all writers are guilty of. The trick is to think what would happen if you died without anyone having rwad your book. That usually does the trick

izanobu · Aug 30, 2010

I used to never stop editing. And I hated it. It made me not want to write anymore because the editing seemed to take over everything.

Then I stopped. And writing was fun again. So now I do the once-over after my first readers have given me comments and fix whatever I notice/they've pointed out that I agree with and I'm done. Endlessly editing doesn't get work out the door to people who can buy it. I'm much happier now that I just follow Heinlein's Rules, and my work is actually getting published as opposed to sitting on my computer.

Do Edits ever end?

Plotting murder..most of the time

Avoids editing by procrastinating

Bunned

a matter of time

present

Writing my way off the B Ark

Searching for Wonderland

Plotting murder..most of the time

Blowing in the Wind

Good thing I like my day job

sekrit superhero

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Today is your last day.

Today is your last day.

Lagrangian

Hapless Virago

Natural born...

Stand in the Place Where You Live

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