I hate editing

[SeaCat]

Gods how I hate editing. I've been sitting here for the past couple of hours working on a short story and I'm still not done.

Then again maybe it's because I not only edit but re-write as I go.

Oh well I suppose that's one of the joys of writing.

Cat

 

[SlickTony]

You hate editing, but still, you do it. Bless you. Editing is good.

 

[DeeZire]

Stephen King says to set aside your first draft for a while, (long enough to forget it) and then come back to it to write the second draft, cutting ten percent as you go. Then it goes to a reader, or editor.

I've tried that myself, but I usually end up adding twenty percent, instead of cutting ten. Then I go back a third, (or fourth, or ad infinitum) time and cut 3 percent. Let's see, that would be .03 times - oh crap. I need to go get my calculator. Seriously, I can easily go through a story ten times before it's even close to being finished. My goal is to be able to read the entire thing without stopping to fix something. My other goal is to sleep with Uma Thurman. Unfortunately, the likelihood of reaching either of these goals is about the same.

I read that Raymond Carver's editor routinely cut 70% out of his stories. Ouch!

The reason I'm here at the moment, posting, is because I have at least ten stories ready for rewrites and editing, and, I have discovered that spending time on the internet improves my word-crafting skills, which will make my editing/rewriting much easier, dontcha know.