I've got the self-editor blues...

[dirk2024]

Damnit.

So based on a prompt that was posted here in AH, I wrote a short story. I enjoyed it. I think I spent a week on it. I even gave it a day or two to marinate before I re-read it in an effort to self-edit the damn thing.

Then I submited the story and after three days it was published last night! (yeay)

Then I re-read it.

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

Happens to us all. Don't sweat the old story, make the next one better. Either that, or slow down the rush to publish. I don't do that, my rolling edit process means I don't need to, but if you're suffering from premature submission syndrome, there's only one cure: take your time.

 

[dirk2024]

but if you're suffering from premature submission syndrome, there's only one cure: take your time.

 

[TheLobster]

Did you give it a pass with TTS? Even the dull robotic one lets you hear odd word choices and phrasing, not to mention just plain old typos and similar mistakes.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Self editing is so difficult. The reason I think is.
Self editing is just another pass by the same set of eyes.
Miss it once, and you probably miss it every time..

Cagivagurl

 

[dirk2024]

Did you give it a pass with TTS? Even the dull robotic one lets you hear odd word choices and phrasing, not to mention just plain old typos and similar mistakes.

I want to say yes, but now I'm not sure. I have Read Aloud on Word. I know I used it for my Summertime submission, so I assumed I had used it for this one, but now I have doubts.

As EB said, I was in too much of a hurry to publish. It just gets exciting the closer I get to being done.

 

[dirk2024]

Self editing is so difficult. The reason I think is.
Self editing is just another pass by the same set of eyes.
Miss it once, and you probably miss it every time..

Cagivagurl

Yeah. That's why I let it sit a day or two while I worked on some other stories. Perhaps I need a week to reset my eyes.

 

[dirk2024]

And this is with short stories...6k to 10k range. I can't imagine having to do this on a 25k-50k story.

 

[Lorelei907]

I’ll proof read my stories a hundred times before submitting it then horrified at the things I find once it’s published. Like embarrassingly horrified. Luckily you can make the corrections and resubmit.

 

[iwatchus]

When I was a reader thinking about writing. I swore I would make sure every story was typo free. I am still waiting to write my first one. I just reread a few stories from my series this morning, checking something for a spin-off. I found three more significant typos in the two stories I read. Including one where the wrong person is having sex.

 

[Lorelei907]

I think it’s just the nature of the beast.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Damnit.

So based on a prompt that was posted here in AH, I wrote a short story. I enjoyed it. I think I spent a week on it. I even gave it a day or two to marinate before I re-read it in an effort to self-edit the damn thing.

Then I submited the story and after three days it was published last night! (yeay)

Then I re-read it.

Fuck me, how did I miss all those little things? I think the spelling is all okay, it was the word choices I made. One word here, one word there...enough that I was annoyed with myself by the time I was halfway through. So I went through it another time and just submitted a re-edited version. It's done now. Whatever is there is there for posterity, including any remaining mistakes.

I've corrected a published story once in a while. If it's one of two typos, I let it go. Occasionally, I've rewritten a story and published it elsewhere. Or I've published it here and replaced the original, maybe with a new title. Sometimes it takes months or years before I decide to do that.

Posterity, or until the grid goes down. Then we'll be writing on cave walls again.