Editing and other strange hobbies

If you have never written a full length manuscript or even begun to write one, you may not comprehend the enormity of the task. 

When I first started my novel I had an idea that tugged at me write it down.  Putting the words to paper was the easy part.  At least it seems so now when I look back!  As I worked through the beginning I learned that an outline was a good idea.  That  job was fairly easy since I knew where I wanted my character to go.  Finally I finished the novel and then came the query process to find an agent.  Which, although incredibly time consuming, is not too daunting a task.

What does take up my time these days?  Editing, editing and more editing.  I wish I could say that I wrote it perfectly the first time.  That would be a lie.  Despite having read it myself from cover to cover at least one hundred times, I still find issues every time I read it again.  This is dismaying because I seem able to find the one mistake in someone else's novel on the very first read.

If your goal is to write a best selling novel or even if you are writing a one paragraph email, editing may be the single most important part.  How many times have you whipped off a reply to someone only to realize you made what could amount to a vital mistake? 

The moral of this story - take the time to slow down and edit your work.  I believe you will find the extra effort well worth the time spent.

As for the "other strange hobbies" mentioned in the subject of this post, I suppose I'll save those for another day after I edit this blog post (for the third time).

Leslie



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