Reading, Writing, and Arith...Editing

A little something about me you may not know: I recently went on hiatus from publishing my literary journal, The Centrifugal Eye, so that I could write and edit full-time. I’ve been planning this break from publishing since 2014, and I’m excited that it’s finally here. It means I get to spend more time being creative — writing poetry and science fiction, even essays, reviews, and interviews here on this blog when the mood strikes, and definitely spending as much time in my art studio as I want. I’m eager to see how much writing, editing, and painting I can get done over the next couple of years. I’m also looking forward to getting to freelance edit a lot more poetry and prose manuscripts from new clients.

You know, maybe the thing that I’m looking forward to most of all is reading. A lot. I used to be a voracious reader, both as a kid and young adult — of many genres, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction — and I’ve gotten so far behind on my reading list over the past decade that I could probably stack a library throughout my house and still not get all the items on my list to fit in. I’m eager to try.

I doubt you’re surprised that I’ve missed reading solely for pleasure as much as I have; I read tons for work — poetry submissions, collection manuscripts, reviews and essays, but the editorial process is different from reading at leisure. The connections made in the brain seem to me to shift with discrete fashion. These are distinct types of reading. And I believe editors and writers read in both ways. Well, they should. Not only is reading many styles of material both entertaining and educating, it’s a way to gather free information about writing and editing. And lack of editing, sometimes. Reading bad writing, or just unpolished writing, can teach us what not to do and how to be better writers and editors ourselves.

This topic comes up now as I recently downloaded — and then deleted — 2 novels each that I couldn’t get beyond more than the first chapter. These books were riddled with errors that yelled, “Look at me!” in the very opening pages. I couldn’t concentrate on the stories at all. The positive spin is that I could see clearly what wasn’t working for these authors and I filed the mental notes that will keep me from repeating these issues in my own and my clients’ writing.

Yes, it’s a bit of a drag to get focused on the mechanics of writing when I’d prefer to just fall into a good story and then travel along with the characters as they seize the moment. Even though I slip into editor mode easily when the writing is poor, I can just as easily read for pleasure when the writing does its job.

Fortunately, the third book I downloaded was rather promptly devoured (I’m hungry for great stories), yet there were still a few glaring spots that told me even this good writer’s book would have benefited from closer editing. It's true, I do complain a lot when I read unedited books that have been published anyway, despite their raw conditions. It’s particularly annoying because I enjoy staying immersed in what I’m reading, and that’s impossible when I keep stumbling over awkward paragraphs, inconsistent information, and unbelievable storylines. I understand those conditions when they crop up in unpublished manuscripts, because none of us are perfect. Sometimes we’re too close to our work to catch the types of things I just mentioned. That’s what hiring a good editor does for us. Finding these mistakes in published books, however, just reflects poorly on authors and publishers. It makes readers ask, “Who wasn’t doing their best jobs?”

Writers often assume their publishers will employ editors, but that’s not always the case. Lately, it seems like it’s seldom the case. If you don’t take your own steps to have your work professionally copyedited, or at least to thoroughly revise and edit it yourself, you may be disappointed to find your work published in many venues with all the mistakes intact.

That’s why I care about what I do, as an editor, for other authors. I’m a partner in their desire to make their writing better. I help them look for the things that don’t seem so big a deal in manuscript form that look glaringly silly or downright idiotic when they stare back in print. I listen to their intentions and show them ways to make sure they’ve honored those intentions in the clearest ways possible. And best of all for me, I also benefit by learning something new from every author, with each piece of writing I read or edit.

As a hands-on, collaborative writer/editor with 30+ years of professional, creative experience, I’ve picked up a lot of methods and processes for writing and editing that I’m happy to talk about and share with other writers. If you’d like to pick up some of those techniques and ideas, I hope you’ll come by to visit me here often. I plan to post a weekly blog that I now think of as Feature Friday. And I’m eager to hear about your experiences as a writer or editor, too.

Reading, writing, editing: it’s a powerhouse win/win combination for all of us.

#editingyourmanuscript #reading #poetry #library #revision