Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Voltaire was right

I'm trying to squeeze in some writing time while here with the family in chilly Nashville.  We've had a bit of snow, but nothing is sticking (yay!).  Between the Harry Potter marathons and gorging myself on French onion dip, I think I managed almost 700 words yesterday, which I consider a win.

As I work on my edits, I find myself getting a bit overwhelmed at times.  It's so easy to sink under and flail about unproductively, all because I'm focusing on the trees instead of the forest.  I keep telling myself to step back and look at the bigger picture--how do I need to update this scene to move the plot forward and to accommodate the changes in the story?

I also have to keep reminding myself that, as our old friend Voltaire first said, the perfect is the enemy of the good.  In fact, I should probably print this quote out and plaster it everywhere.  My book will not be perfect, and I'm only paralyzing myself if I think I can make it so.  That is not to say that I want to do a crappy job with my edits, but it's important to keep in mind that any words are better than no words, and I'm not chiseling these things into stone--they can be modified or erased at the click of a button.

Fellow authors, how are you faring during the holidays?  Making any progress?  How do you approach edits?

Stay safe! :)

2 comments:

  1. That's a great tip! And it helps me, as I think about getting back into the dreaded edits, after an unexpected two week hiatus...

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    Replies
    1. I hope it helps you. Feel free to pass along anything you learn during the process as well--I'll take all the help I can get! :)

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