Editing- Lessons From Snowdrifts

I LOVE snow. I start praying in August that there will be record breaking snowfall in December. I run in it, sled in it, and even eat it! There is just one thing I don’t like about snow… backing up in it. I am terrible at backing up. My five foot frame makes it hard to see, and I tend to avoid it.  When giant snowdrifts are added to the mix, I can hardly get out of my driveway. I move a few inches back, a few inches forward, a few inches back, a few inches forward.

I’ve spent my January shoveling snow, learning how to back out of my driveway, and editing. I’ve noticed editing can be a lot like backing up (or maybe it's just the snow making me crazy). Sometimes you have to move back to move forward, and sometimes you have to move forward so that you can go back. It seems like it can take forever to get anywhere!

The first time through a draft can be a toughie. When you finally hold that first freshly printed stack, you’re in awe that you finally did it-you finally finished your novel! When you start to edit that first draft you’re in awe that every sentence on every page could really be that bad. The work to get the words down suddenly seems easy compared to the work to remold the words and make them shine. It can even be more daunting than trying to back through two towering snowdrifts.

The secret is to take it inch by inch. Sit down and move forward a bit. If something isn’t going right, go back, make your corrections, and move forward. Inch by inch you’ll make it. The more practice you have, the better you’ll be at maneuvering through your manuscript. You’ll learn when you need to plow forward, when to back up, and when to give up and get some cocoa.