Knowing When to Stop

Hi all! :) If you read my post on editing, you might have noticed that I made a big mistake. I talked about methods of self-editing, but I completely neglected one very important factor when it comes to editing. This important little element is a huge part of editing and if ignored, your writing will become an endless cycle of writing, editing, re-writing, editing and on and on. Guessed it? It's knowing when to stop. You can write and re-write all you want, your writing will never be perfectly perfect. You'll always want to change something, so here's a "Knowing When to Stop 101 class" :)

Ever write something and when you finish you're like "My goodness, it's perfect!" Then you look at it again in a couple days and are like "This sucks...I need to redo this..."? I've done this so many times, I've almost lost count. I know in my post about self-editing I said it's very easy for a writer to miss his or her own mistakes, but the opposite holds true (yes we live in a paradoxical world), it is very easy for writers to see their mistakes and mistakes only. Writers are their own worst critics (unless you have Simon Cowell reading your writing, in which case all my sympathy to you), but like I was saying, sometimes it's simply too easy for writers to tear down their own work. A really important thing to learn how to do is just put it down and leave it alone. Sometimes we change our writing because of one line that a character says, because when looked at in hindsight seems cheesy as opposed to the smoldering romance you were aiming for. And you know what? It's okay. Sometimes you just need to gloss over it, because some readers may be really into that (I have a friend who's the cheesiest romantic I ever met and I personally dismiss a lot of romance as hyperbolic depictions of fairy tales). Your audience will have differing opinions and one line will not make them toss your book aside and be like "I'm not reading this." Give your writing some breathing room, let your words flow naturally, it's like industry. Your writing starts off wonderfully whole and organic, but if you keep screwing with it, it loses that naturalness that it had and becomes processed and robotic. Everyone has a unique voice, find your own and embrace it :)

Think I hit a bull's eye or I missed the target completely? Let me know in the comments below! :)