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Does Editing A Manuscript Help Get it Published? Part 11 of 12

Welcome to A Writer’s Life and to the last couple of days to this series. Editing has its joys and challenges but the goal is to be published. There are manuscripts that need to be published and manuscripts that need some work to get published.

I first have to thank Jennifer Roland for this little blog, she got me thinking about this when she wrote her article which came from another blog. it’s about owning your work. I’ll actually take it on step more. So my thoughts come next.

To be published is every writer’s dream and goal. No matter if we tell people that we write for fun or for whatever. Deep down if you write you want to be published. I won’t even get into the idea of fame and fortune, since with that non one wants to admit that is exactly what they’d like as well.

But a lot of people in my writing circle near my home talk a lot about publishing. At first I agreed with them it was hard to find an editor, it was hard to edit, it was hard to get a literary agent… you get the idea. So as a result many of us would use the time to think up ways of getting published without as much work as was needed. The rewrites the editing, the query letters and the all around hard work it takes to be a good author, and writer.

It’s not as if we couldn’t the goal was there it was written down, but the second part of putting butt to chair and typing wasn’t. What was I thinking? Then I started this blog… I made a commitment to write on it each day. First little while, I admit I didn’t I found more excuses each day than spot on a dalmatian.

It took some time, but it was worth it when i decided that what was needed was a bit of a mental kick on my part, the “get this work done and done now. So, I do my blog everyday. Sometimes twice a day. It sounds better than what it did. I owned it, it is mine.

Same thing goes for writing and publishing. If didn’t apply butt to chair I’m sure that my manuscript wouldn’t even be where it is today on a second edit, but not much rewriting. Just a bit of editing. This is for my non-fiction book by the way.

My goal that I’m making and that you can call me on is that I’ll have this book reedited by the fifteenth of June.

My question today is: What is stopping you from your goal?

10 Comments

  • AmberInGlass

    Your posts are so inspirational. Sometimes it is really hard to make yourself sit in that chair and write. For me, just like you said, excuses have been coming easily, not so much for my own blog, but for working on my current novel. Reading this post really helped. It reminded me that I'm not alone, despite how often I might feel like I am and it has me telling myself stop making excuses. To quote a certain shoe company here "Just do it." Thank you much.

  • jenniferroland

    Much as I hate to admit it, I am the only thing stopping myself from reaching my goals.

    I could blame those darn editors and agents for not giving me a chance. I could blame my husband for wanting to spend time with me when my laptop isn't glued to me. I could blame my dog for keeping me up at night with his barking. (Well, I do blame him for making me break the coffee carafe this morning. If he hadn't insisted on barking at every random noise last night, I wouldn't have needed coffee this morning.)

    But I have complete control over how I structure my time, how polished my writing is, and how well I keep track of what has been submitted where, what needs a follow-up, and what needs to be re-polished and submitted elsewhere.

    That is why I made some tough decisions this month about what I would do to further my writing career.

    Jennifer

  • Alissa

    I think writers are natural procrastinators, but procrastinating never got anyone anywhere (well, someone out there will probably come up with an example to prove me wrong). Anyway, if I find myself saying that I am not in the mood to work on a particular project then I just force myself to work on something else. Coming up with a schedule that works might be the best way around procratination. I'm still not completely there, but I am getting a little bit better every day.

  • Johanna

    My goal is currently to find an agent. What is standing in my way? Fear. For sure it is fear. You see, I've made an exhaustive list of agents that I plan to query, I've drafted and redrafted my query until it is raw (but I think good and persuasive…) So ask me why I haven't sent more than 8 out…fear. Somehow to send it out and get rejections feels worse than to say I'm going to submit to agents…

    Thanks to your post…I'm going to send 4 today…and 4 more next week. Thanks!

  • Marnie Elizabeth

    I left a comment earlier, but it never showed up, so I apologize if this comes up twice- what can I say, computers and I are not friends either.

    Maybe I am the exception, but I thrive on editing – to the point that I have to cut myself off. My question is about editing while in a good mood. I like the idea of coming back to a piece with a fresh set of eyes, but I get worried that these edits will disrupt the rhythm and mood of my writing that I felt at the time. Thoughts?

  • Jan Mader

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and linking. I'll be linking to yours too…you have a great site.

    Your post today made me think about myself. I always thought I'd be published…never thought I wouldn't be. I think it's just my personality…I'm a glass half full person.

    At any rate, the only thing that stops me from not being published more is that I dread the submission process….I'm just lazy when it comes to that!

    My goal needs to be to SUBMIT more frequently!

  • Rob

    The thing that is stopping me from my goal is my constant writer's block. I guess it's just one of those things that goes with the territory.