Why You Hate Editing

Have you ever experienced the mysticism of a complete book. Where words flow off the page and you can't wait for the next part. The writing captivates and resonates a hidden part of you. Your left feeling inspired, motivated, and ready to take on the world as a small part of you wishes there was more.

Where does that magic come from?

Lots of hard, boring, monotonous, and tedious work. Let me introduce you to editing. Every masterpiece or work that moved you to tears would be a shriveled up pile of disappointment without it.

Editing is where we turn the hot garbage of a first draft into the perfectly sculpted artwork we envisioned.

For all it's worth and practicality, I loathe editing. I would rather write an entire novel before doing it, which I've done before. Productive procrastination aside, why do we avoid the magic?

To understand the why we need to break the writing process down. It ultimately follows in two paths. Either the emotional or the logical.

If you love coming up with fun ideas, brilliant concepts, and innovative possibilities then you fall into the emotional side. You love the dream of being a “creative” and hate it when you have to think about math and logistics.

Inversely, if you love graphs, charts, and organizing then you fall into the logical side. You are book smart and get excited about data or science. Life is a series of tests waiting to be executed.

Editing, falls into both. There will be a part of the process that you hate.

It's equal parts creative and intelligent. I break it down in more details in later articles.

Logically, you have to be know grammar, formatting, sentences structures, software (besides spell check), and all the technical parts of your subject matter.

Emotionally you need to understand the feeling the words give, the right context, what the tone or vibe is, and if it's an enjoyable experience.

If your a fellow ambivert, which is rare, you understand my pain. We love the exciting experience we can provide while also understanding the joy of completing a calculating project. Unfortunately, we get both negative sides of the coin.

While editing we daydream about new ideas. While writing we think about the structures of the words we are putting down. There's no win for us.

There is one for you, I've experienced both sides so I can help share the magic with you.

For now, take solace in knowing your not alone in the process. Someone is rage quitting at the same place, with the same emotions, and the same negativity. It's normal, welcome to the group.

For now, I'll return to my lair to perform my magic and see if I can turn a hot mess into a golden opportunity.