Questions: on editing

Vicki asks:

Do you normally write everyday or most days until you hit the end before you edit? Or do you pick one day each week to go back and edit what you’ve written?

Actually, Vicki knows the answer to this, since she’s on a writing loop with me where we check in with our progress everyday, and she knows i don’t always check in.

No, I don’t write everyday. I wish I did. I wish I were more disciplined. I’m a “work to the deadline” kind of girl. I’m trying to change that, but life keeps getting in teh way. Like this summer: first it was a family emergency, then I had to chuck a whole bunch of plot and restart, then I was out of town for five weekends straight.

Regarding the writing/editing divide, I edit as I go. Always have. Just my process. As a result, I don’t usually have a whole bunch of drafts. I hear this can be a problem for many writers, since they keep working and working on making the beginning “perfect” and never move forward, but that was never a problem for me. I also like regularly re-reading the book up to the current point (I write in order) so as to keep the pacing solid and the one consistent.

However, it’s easier to do this when you aren’t on deadline, and since I’ve been writing to very firm deadlines I’ve started training myself to move on even if I know I’m going to have to go back and edit a bunch of stuff later. Using this technique is pretty much a work in progress. It’s definitely not my favorite way of doing things, but if this were fun all the time it wouldn’t be a job, right?

I know others who are all about the drafting process, though. There’s no right way.