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I’ve decided I’m going to analyze my writing week (every week) and share the motto that best fits what I experienced.
This week, editing was a primary focus. Not because I was busy with editing clients, but because one of my novels had an editor I wasn’t happy with, and it finally caught up to me.
I got a review on Amazon saying the book was enjoyable, but it had editing errors. And while I hated hearing that, I agreed. I’ve always felt that way. But it’s not a self-published book, so I was at the mercy of my editor (who is no longer with my publisher, so that’s a relief).
The moral of the story?
I’m an editor. My clients tell me I’m a darn good one. I’ve got both the degrees and the experience (I’ve been editing for years) to back up that claim.
But I cannot (and I can’t stress this enough), absolutely CANNOT, edit my own work. And I doubt many people can self-edit.
So please, take the time to polish and revise and rewrite until you’re satisfied with your work. Only then should you send it—your very best effort—to an editor. (Hopefully to a qualified, talented editor.) That’s the only way you can guarantee your work will shine.
Organized links. Get it?
Okay. Enough said about that. I had another busy week. But what else is new, right? Here are the links to this week’s sites/posts I made or am affiliated with. I hope you find something useful.
- Monday, Harmony Kent discussed harvesting and cultivating ideas when writing. You can read that Story Empire post by clicking here.
- Tuesday, I posted some details about the Medici Protectorate series. You can find those updates here.
- Wednesday, Joan Hall wrote about attracting fans. Find her thoughts at the Story Empire site by clicking here.
- Thursday, K. E. Lane continued her series on writing better manuscripts. Read her AIW Press post by clicking here.
- Friday, today, in addition to my summary here, you can find a list of writing industry links over at Story Empire. You can access the curated content by clicking here. (I highly encourage you to check out this post. There are some really helpful articles assembled for you.)
Wishing you a happy and relaxing weekend!
I love this – I think it’s important that you have excellent editors, as well as a good manuscript that is submitted to start with. Looking forward to following Story Empire, as well. Thanks for the links!
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Thanks, Krista! Much appreciated!
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I agree about editing your own work – after going through my book more times than I can count, there were still errors. Will be getting an editor for the next one!
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For a self-edited book, SARAH was quite clean. But I always advocate for another set of eyes. (And I can’t wait to see your next story!)
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I agree. You should not be your own editor. Horn and craft your work to the best it possibly can be then send it to your editor. Great post, Staci.
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Darn autocorrect. Horn should be hone.
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Thanks, Michele. LOL on horn/hone. 😉
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I always enjoy your posts, Staci. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thank you, Natalie. You made my day!
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P.S. Love that writing quote from C. J. Cherryh.
My cat Arafel was named for one of her characters.
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That’s awesome!
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I love your Friday wrap posts. It’s an excellent idea.
I thoroughly agree that it’s impossible to edit your own work. Polish yes, but that final step with a professional editor is a necessity in my opinion. And I’ll back up what Joan said–you are a darn good editor!
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The daily reblogs were starting to overwhelm me, since I have weekly commitments for three sites plus a guest at Romance University sometimes. (And other guest posts, too.) But when I only did the links list, the post seemed a little skimpy. I think I’m going to try this for a while. I kind of like to end the week on a recap/inspiration quote. We’ll see how it is received, I guess.
And thank you (about the editing). But it didn’t help me on that particular novel.
And though I talked about it above and you echoed it here, I simply can’t say it or stress it enough: It doesn’t matter how good you are at editing; you can’t edit your own work.
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I’ve been missing reposting a lot of the Monday and Wednesday posts for SE, and I never did the Friday post on my blog, so I might give a reacap a try. It would make life a lot easier, LOL
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Okay, you probably won’t believe this (we’ll you probably will). I did a wrap-up post this week and had also considered doing a Friday wrap-up. Great minds…
Now I just need to write original content on my blog!
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I had to simplify. It was getting to be too much, especially now that I’m doing the drip campaigns, too. We’ll see how this goes…
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It’s so hard to look at our own work objectively. You are right a good editor is a must (and I think I have a darn good one!) 😉 Thanks for sharing the links, Staci.
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Looks like Mae revealed your editor’s identity. LOL I’m glad you like working with me. I enjoy editing your work. Your initial writing efforts make my job easy.
Glad to share all these links. Everyone has been working so hard at creating useful content; I want to do my part at promoting those blogging efforts.
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Thanks, Staci! One day I might show you the original convoluted mess of Unseen Motives. 🙂
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I’d love to see it, but consider doing a post with excerpts of the messy first concept versus the final result, explaining the process it took you to get there. I think burgeoning writers would love a post like that.
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Now that’s an idea. Maybe for my next AIW or SE post.
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