The Editor and Editing

Writing is fun; then comes the hard work - the editing. It's difficult to cut pieces from your baby, the story or article you slaved over for so long, but it must be done. It's easy to fall in love with your prose, with that sweetly constructed sentence, but if it doesn't belong in that story, it has to come out. You don't have to throw it away; file it somewhere and use it in another story or article.

The creative side of writing is best done when you are rested. I write early in the morning and edit in the late afternoons or evenings. When I first began to write, I had a lot of trouble with my editor, who wanted to be present for every word. I soon learnt to banish her from the room when I was in creative mode. In the late afternoons, when I begin to run out of steam, I invite my editor back in and let her go to work. She slashes and cuts and moves things around and leaves some suggestions for when I start back in the next morning.

When the work is, in my view, finished, usually after about the 3rd or 4th draft, I put the manuscript away to rest and begin on the next. Only when I have another work ready for resting, do I take the first manuscript out. I then let my editor read it with a fresh eye; I am no longer surprised when she finds mistakes, or more suggestions to improve the work. Time seems to put a distance between me and the story so that I can read it as my readers would. Only after I have finished this stage do I send my work out to find a home.