The Editing Stage

I remember with my first book, Into the Canyon, how nervous I was for the editing to start. I had no idea how my writing would come across to others. I had a lot of imposter syndrome. I felt like a tiny speck in a world of authors who all knew what they were doing, and there I was. I had no idea what I was doing. 

Gradually, that changed. The editing piece became more enlightening than anxiety provoking. It can still be stressful, but it is always helpful and extremely eye opening. I never realized how many times I could miss typing quotation marks. I also learned really quickly that spell check would not catch my missing the E in the word “one” because “on” is a word too. 

I also learned quickly to accept constructive criticism. Whoever says they like constructive criticism is probably not 100% honest. It can be a little (or a lot) hurtful. 

For example, something I think is an amazing part of the story does not make sense to the person editing. I want to snap back with, “Yes it does!” Then I read it and realize it really could use some tweaking, and sometimes it needs a full makeover!  

The best part about the editing stage is how close we are getting to the finished product. It is all worth it! 

Many thanks to those editing for me! You know who you are. I love each of you!