Editing. It is the bane of my life.
I have to edit my clothes each season, to remove those that are damaged, no longer fit or I have not worn all season. The wearable rejects go to the Salvos or Goodwill. Summer is coming and I have done a recent inventory of my summer clothes. After last years editing, I actually need to acquire (or more likely make) some summer skirts.
I have recently editing my Facebook account. I am usually selective with my friends list and do not accept all requests. I don’t FB ‘friend’ work colleagues. I friend only those I have personally met or know via other avenues and have similar pass times. I have actually met some wonderful people via social media. However individuals can creep into my friend list that need eventual editing. They are negative, trollish or bullies. Thankfully I don’t have many of these but it is still an unpleasant editing task.
Then there is the more onerous task of editing my writing. This can be a wretched task; at other times it is very satisfying. I am currently in the midst of editing two short stories for competitions; this is my task for the next few days. Today (Friday) is my writing group. I am hoping to get some constructive feedback to finalise the editing.
My first edit is usually done when typing up my handwritten draft. This is usually quite easy. Sometimes I wonder ‘what on earth was I thinking’ when I read over the first stream of words that are regurgitated onto the pages of my notebook. At other times, it is just a matter of changing a few words or sentences. On occasion, I even find a phrase that I absolutely adore. Next is the sorting out of loose ends, culling of duplicated words and extraneous commas. (I am inordinately fond of commas.)
Then I draw my breath and hand the story over to one of my (couple of trusted) proof readers who mark out any obvious mistakes that I have missed, point out any clues/plot threads that I have I have missed or not tied up and finally tell me if the story is absolute crap or not. At this stage I either get grumpy and start again, or steele myself for further rewrites and further editing rounds. Finally there is the spelling and grammar check (and sometimes there is the culling of more commas.)
No matter how many times that I ask myself ‘Why am I doing this?’, I stick to the task as, when each editing task is complete, there is the sense of fulfillment, of a job well done and the knowing smugness that I did that!