hi! it’s been a while since i’ve done an actual advice post, so here are some quick tips on dealing with your inner editor.

what is your inner editor? it’s the little voice in your head that says ‘ew, your writing is awful! go rewrite that chapter now.’ oftentimes, it won’t let you move on and keeps you editing the same scene over and over again.

so: for short term edits (a sentence, a paragraph or two) i use a variety of tactics:

 i bargain with myself (’if i can write another 150 words i can go back and fix it’)

i use placeholders (and then she said [INSERT SPEECH HERE])

i start the next bit on a new page so i don’t have to see it

etc., etc.

what i find most people have trouble with are long term edits (scenes, chapters, concepts). for these, i have a list called ‘revisions’ on a separate doc. whenever i feel the urge to go back and rewrite a scene, i make a note of it on that doc instead. i try to focus on more useful things, like ‘the party scene has too much dialogue’ rather than ‘the party scene sucks, fix it later’.

For one chapter at a time, I recommend a week. Finish the chapter completely, and then after the chapter is finished wait a full week before making any edits. What do you do in the meantime? I recommend the next chapter. But really, It’s up to you how you spend your time.

Editing a scene instead of a chapter? No problem, just wait a few days. Do you want to re-write the whole chapter? Wait a month. Doing an edit on a single line? Forget it! You should be doing all your line editing as part of your chapter edit.

Every time you’re lying in bed and you get an idea for your work and you tell yourself “I’ll remember to add that in the morning”

Stop lying to yourself.

No, you won’t. Keep a journal open on the nightstand, a document on your phone, something so you can lean over and jot it down. You aren’t going to remember it on your own.

You’re welcome,

It’s not done yet. You still have plenty of time to clean it up.

Good question!

How to find writer friends for a writing club

First, ask around among your other friends, because I turned out to have more (aspiring) writer friends than I thought. But then, most of my bookwriting friends were bookreading friends, so that’s not a weird connection.

Check on Facebook if there’s already a writer group near you. Maybe they are aspiring writers, maybe they are professional freelance writers looking for some company. Don’t be intimidated by professional writers. If they say the writing session is open for anyone, you can join them.

If you can hang notifications in your local library, that’s also a good spot to look for fellow writers. Check for places where writers hang out (bookish cafe? bookstore?) and ask if you can hang a note next to the till.

If you really can’t find any other writers, find other creators. Do you have a friend who likes to paint, knit, origami…? Maybe they want to join you in a Shut Up and Create session. Hopefully they are interested in discussing your story, and otherwise you at least get the benefit of the collective concentration.

Speaking of collective concentration: what also works for me if none of my writing friends can join me on a particular session, is to go to the study hall of my city library. The room is so silent and filled with concentrating people that it actively refrains me from taking out my phone and scroll.