Editing When You Don't Feel Like It

 

In my last post, I wrote a bit about the new stage of my writing journey: editing.

 

And, no. Editing has not become in any way easier for me, but I'm making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

 

Someone commented on that  post saying, "I believe, as with writing, editing also needs you in the right 'mood' that you enjoy what you are doing."

 

I agree with this comment. It is a whole lot easier to get work done on a project when you are in the right 'mood,' but what if you aren't? Or, simply, what if you don't have time? There are only so many hours in a day. I don't have a choice of whether I'm in the right 'mood' or not. I simply just have to do it. Here are three different tricks I used to get myself into the 'editing mood' the reader was talking about.

 

 

 1. Look upon your work positively.

 

You can look upon everything with different angles. Take photography for example. Often taking pictures from new 'angles' can make it look a lot more interesting and artistic.

With editing, you can do the same thing. Once sitting down to start editing you can say, "I'm only a couple chapters into my novel. This is going to take forever. How am I ever going to finish?"

 

But take a new angle on it. I can look at the five chapters I have edited so far and compare them to the original copy. They've improved. I'm making my story better. There are less adverbs, more description, and I took out the mindless dialogue. I look upon it with hope, and not discouragement.

 

2. Music.

 

Music is totally motivational. When my dad does projects he always turns on music and has taught me to do the same. Music can take the boring out of a situation and replace it with a new and exciting vibe. Suddenly doing dishes is a lot more interesting when putting it to an epic movie score.

One website I like to use for different music moods is http://soundfuel.blogspot.com/. They have a vast array of themes that you can use for writing. "Dystopian, motivational, steampunk, and battle scores," are a few of them. The categories have been great for involving me in the emotion of my scenes.

 

3. Giving Yourself Goals

 

By the end of the day, I should have a half an hour of editing completed. ...Should. 

 

It's hard to keep up daily goals, though, because some days are a lot busier than others. So now what? But you see, I also have this monthly goal for January: 930 minutes. Then, like NaNoWriMo, I can catch up on the days I fell behind.

Having a goal to keep me on track is a must. Without a goal, there is nothing to strive for and nothing to achieve. It's very easy to just give up and state, "Oh, I'll work on it another day." (Procrastination is never the key. *says the girl who does it all the time*)

 

And then, when you make your goal, CELEBRATE! This is the time to drag out the confetti and bake loads of cookies. (Or cake. Or brownies. Or pizza. Whatever food seems to help you celebrate best.)

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Get excited about the work you're completing. If you're using Microsoft Word, use the 'track changes' feature so you can see all the awesome changes your making, and to keep the old work if you decide what you're doing is not such a great idea. Turn off the internet, reward yourself with chocolate --- do whatever it takes to get yourself in the 'editing mood' and attacking that document. (Please attack it gently, though. There's some good in your document, dear reader, and it's worth keeping.)

 

Byeeeeee!
- Katie Grace

 

How do you get yourself in the 'editing mood?'

 

 

 

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