Writing Tip
The joy of editing can be discovered in finding new and better ways to say things you thought you had already said.
I always thought that I hated editing. That I hated second drafts. It turns out that I always moved from project to project so fast that I never really had the chance to sit down and work on a second draft. Well, I am now entrenched deeper in a second draft project than I have ever been before, and I have learned that, to my surprise . . . I actually really enjoy the editing phase! I am enjoying writing my second draft!
My disdain from editing as a younger writer always stemmed from pride and perfectionism. I didn’t like the idea of second drafts because I wanted to put the time and thought and care and creativity into saying it the right way from the very beginning. It turns out that even with such agony, a rough draft is never anything more than a rough draft.
In the years since, my opinions on “shitty first drafts” have reversed. My battles with writer’s block have convinced me that the only way to finish most drafts is to just put SOMETHING down until you reach the end, no matter how bad it is, and then suck it up and edit later. And let me tell you . . . I have had more fun editing my first draft and creating my second draft than I ever expected. And it’s because of this writing tip I am sharing today.
All that pride and perfectionism I used to agonize over in the rough draft, I am now discovering to greater effect in the second. I left almost an entire year between completing my shitty first draft and editing my second, and that distance allowed me to get my head out of the clouds and actually examine the writing critically. The result is that I have found so much unexpected joy in the process of reading old writing and then being struck with the thought, “You know what? A year ago, I wrote this because this is how I thought this scene was supposed to go, but now I see that it would be so much better if it went like THIS!” I have managed to find joy even in re-writing entire chapters because of the joy that I have found in discovering the better version of something you already wrote. I highly recommend it.
