I keep wondering, "Why is this?" It feels like I'm doing a lot, and therefore should theoretically have lots to talk about. But noooooo...instead, silenzio.
As I was mulling this over and cursing my lack of enlightening/witty/fabulous comments, it occurred to me that the reason is that the process of editing--where I currently am, and have been for an entire year
Writing is showy. It can be fast and furious. Frustrating. Too Easy. Plentiful. Stubbornly elusive. But in the end, it's tangible. You can say, "Yup, wrote 3,000 words today!" or, "Wrote two chapters today!" or even, "Dude! Could not get that %*& part right!" But at least you're talking about something measurable.
Editing? Not so much. It's more like, "Yeah...spent 8 hours today and still not sure what I accomplished, but holy shiza, my brain's mush and I feel tired."
I find it impossible to convey how I'm paring back or beefing up or cutting down or reworking the minutiae of any given part. And even if I can manage to describe it, it never sounds like it should've taken 8 hours...or 2 days...or a week. Or however long it took.
And yet it did take that long. Even without quantifiable results, or results so subtle as to seem unimpressive, change is taking place. Transformation is happening. Growth is in the works.
And in that way, editing is like the practice of yoga. It's internal and in that way, invisible. No visible progress is made daily or weekly or even monthly.
Until one day, it is. You have a different practice. You're a bit stronger. A bit more flexible. You can do something you couldn't do before.
And in that same vein, so too is your book one day better, stronger, something that it wasn't before.
Lesson learned: Just keep plugging away and keep faith that transformation is happening, even if we can't see it.
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