When to stop editing

Editing. It is very hard to argue that there is ever a time to stop. Deadlines arrive providing a cut point. But even pieces that have been published rarely stop getting scrutinized.

I've had a rather emotional week. Submitted two pieces, and neither provides a single laugh. The first was less than 600 words, fiction. But other than my frustration to move beyond the first four sentences, the writing and editing process went fine. The time to end was dictated by another deadline.

So I began with the next piece. The first rough draft written months ago and then...I couldn't anymore. A memoir. The topic was to write about one's mother. I wasn't entirely sure how my mother would feel about that. Actually, other than very small humans or the deceased, I'm never sure how anybody feels about being turned into the 'topic of the week' - even if the piece is flattering.

Thus, I didn't write about my mother, but my godmother. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is not a topic visited lightly. A wonderful woman. But the pain of her loss is still acute. There is much advice in the writing world that writer's can be too close to a subject. That writing what you know can, at times, be one's own undoing. I strongly suspected that I wasn't up to the task. Trying to cram the complexities of a relationship into 2,000 - 2,500 words is not easy. All those antidotes, visits, discussions and emotions - the significance of a person on your life - it doesn't fit.

Thankfully my kind writting bff was brave enough to wade through it all. We slowly edited the piece. She cut out tangents that didn't fit and guided the work until it found a graceful ebb and flow.

In the meantime, on top of everything else that is going on in my life, I was becoming a grouch. Writing is often touted as therapeutic. Perhaps in some cases it is. But this time I was snapping at my children, sleeping uneasily and found myself bursting into tears at the oddest things. Karate wasn't helping. In fact, Monday night I almost burst into tears in the middle of the matt. Imagine my sensi's surprise when, concerned I'd been hit too hard, she discovered the source of my upset was that I'd hit somebody else!

Um...you're supposed to do that.

Right.

I decided the piece needed to be done. Writing bff offered to wade through it once again. Husband usually takes one last look. Given all my writing quirks, the idea of sending something off without taking up generous offers of a free read through is practically unheard of in my life.

But it was done. It had to be. Too much.

 

Comments

[Damaria Senne]

Are you feeling a sense of relief now that the piece is done? They say those stories that are hardest to tell; those that come from deep inside our hearts, also have the greatest impact on our readers, do the greatest good. I hope that in your case, this will be true.

[tiah]

Damaria, Life has been rather chaotic and I feel better equipped to deal with it all without working on the piece. I still believe it deserved a final edit and would have pulled myself together if the deadline had been later (it was today).

That said, the editor has already written me a very thoughtful note in reply. No promise to publish as this was before all submission were in and there are other judges who will be reading over the next month. But it was nice to hear that the piece has already touched somebody else not connected to me.