Hello, my friends and the occasional relative!

It was just a couple of things, honest.

I have opened the door to editing hell. I was just checking where the eyes were, none glued to anything inappropriate in the text, as can sometimes happen. I checked because I was reminded of Don McNair’s book on Editor-proofing your manuscript, and had a look. It is a great resource, but I’ve got to tell you that you can follow all the steps and still need an editor.

And I’ve had one look at the book, and he said the writing was in good shape. I just had to go and take a look under the hood, because I checked eyes, then felts, then saw, and then and then. I started checking prepositional phrases, and stopped after checking what felt like endless ‘of the’ instances. I know from previous experience that those are my worst offenders. 

Now my head is empty, and a weekend and more has gone by and the book has paraded before me in jumpy sequence multiple multiple times. I intended NOT to do this. I was trusting I had internalized Don’s lessons and so had not indulged in wordy voices to the extreme I once did as a newbie writer. But then I just had to be sure.

That is the road to editing hell.

I’ve stopped now, but not before I started checking the disposition of the word before. Because I know I’m fond of it too, in a strangely formal kind of way. But then my writing is strangely formal, so it works.

I was done. I copy edited and noticed none of this crap. I proofread and nothing leapt out at me. Now it needs another proof.

My wife, who proofs professionally, is going to rescue me from myself. She suggested I print off a single spaced small margined double sided copy of the manuscript, and we can both proof that, mark up what we see, and have it be done. This is an excellent idea, because not only will it get done, but proofing in a different format allows you to see stuff you’d miss when staring at the same lines on the same screen over and over. I was to be done, not trawl through editing hell again. I edited as I went along, remember? This is foolish perfectionism raising its ugly head.

I will say though, that all this happened after a Saturday in which I despaired of getting anything done at all, and was frozen by it. I snapped out of it Sunday and sorted out the crying issue mentioned last week, and a couple of other things, and then started in on Don’s advice – which I should have been incorporating sooner. (Note to self for next time: Do the 21 steps thoroughly on each chapter as you go. And don’t look again once everything is done – trust the process.)

The good thing is this was only three days, not three years. And I did finally fix a paragraph that never quite worked for me, (but was prepared to let go), and a couple of dubious (could be better and now are) sentences too. That did grant me quiet satisfaction. The rubik’s cube got rotated one more time and a clean face appeared, which is great.

I’m tired, and need to make a baked potato for work tomorrow then lie in front of the TV for a minute or five before bed calls.

Editing hell – it promises the paradise of a perfect book – but sucks your soul dry in the process. In the immortal words of corporal Hicks, “Remember, short controlled bursts.”  Let’s see if I stick to that advice.