05 December 2010

Deep in the Forest of Edits and Paper

Mood: Tired (dreading the Monday dragon - it's peeking around the corner)
On TV: Bama Belles (Help me - I have a reality TV addiction!) 

The halls at Casa de Cowsert are completely decked, the tree shelters a nice pile of gifts awaiting a visit from the gift wrapping fairy and I'm hip deep in the editing process.

Once upon a time I thought of the editing process as something akin to slapping a fresh coat of paint on an already gorgeous wall. You know, something that looks good already but just needs a little pizazz to send it right over the edge? This? Was because I used to over think and over edit as I wrote - which basically meant that I would rarely ever finish a draft of anything because I was too focused on achieving perfection the first time around.

So up until now, my edits have resembled a project something like this:



Thankfully I learned to let go of that obsessive need to be perfect during the writing process. I was all "Yay! first drafts are supposed to suck and I suck so yay me!!!"

Now, however, I'm faced with the aftermath of a sucky first draft. Instead of just slapping a fresh coat of paint on a perfectly smooth and primed wall I'm left with something that looks more like this:



It has great bones, a solid structure and with a LOT of TLC it could be really amazing but I'm going to need a sledge hammer, not a paint brush to get me there.


Photobucket