When this post publishes, my husband and I will be on our way to pick up our daughter at Brownie camp. She was only gone for two nights, but since she’s 7, we thought the short stay would prove a good introduction to resident camp. The idea was that she’d go there, love it, not be homesick at all, and then would want to graduate to a weeklong camp next summer.
As luck would have it (okay, it was careful planning), her two-night camp coincided with our son’s weeklong camp.
So my husband and I happily made arrangements to stay at a historic mountain inn in Highlands, North Carolina.
When we arrived at the inn, we were suddenly just us again—no children. Just like when we first married. The inn was picturesque and, when we checked in, we discovered that we were the only guests staying in the entire guest house. Our room had a balcony with rocking chairs. We had a bottle of wine, already chilled. We smiled.
Then my cell phone rang. “Mrs. Craig? It’s the camp nurse. No, no, she’s fine, really. Fine. Don’t worry. It’s just…well. Her braces? They fell out of her mouth during supper. What should I do?”
So…you got it. I’m now 100% thinking about my daughter. Was she upset the braces fell out? Is she okay? How did the darn things come out, anyway?
I immediately had my Mom hat back on. My husband looked completely horrified at the sudden manifestation of the Mom hat. But then I took it off. It was 7:00 p.m. She was three hours away from me. Really, there was nothing I could immediately do. So I made a list of what I should do tomorrow: email my daughter and tell her everything was fine and that—upside!—she now got to eat anything she wanted, and call the dentist and get them to reinstall the appliance as soon as she gets back from camp. For free.
I had to stop myself from wearing the Mom hat.
When I’m writing, I have to stop myself from wearing the editor hat. My tendency is to write for a few pages, stop, frown, and say, “This stinks.”
For me, editing as I go completely messes with my creative flow. I know some folks can write and edit simultaneously, but I’m not one of them.
Ways to get rid of the editor hat (until it’s time to edit):
Highlight the section of the page that’s bothering me so I can find it later.
Jot down ideas for changing the story’s path or the character’s personality. Maybe I don’t like the way John has behaved in the story up to that point. Change it for future text and then edit the previous problem during revisions. Make a note of where in the WIP I took the character or story on a new path.
Don’t read what I’ve already written.
At the end of a writing session, jot down a paragraph-long brief outline of where I want to pick up the next day and how I plan the scene to go. This eliminates the need to read previously-written text to see where I left off (and keeps me from picking it to death.)
Relax. Take a deep breath. Shut up my inner critic. Move on with writing.
Oh, this is one I need to observe…”Don’t read what I’ve already written.” That’s a sure fire way to get me changing and tweaking this and that. I can spend hours doing this. Really, it’s much better to come back a day or so later, then, the errors and boneheaded missteps are much more obvious…Not that I ever find any, of course. (Grin)
Best Regards, Galen
This must be “favorite post” day for me. THis is excellent advice. I am copying and pasting this as soon as I’m done commenting. My inner critic can really grab hold and it is deadly for writing flow, as you said. Thank you, Elizabeth. Oh, and so glad you were able to set aside your mom hat. Hope you and your hubby enjoyed your alone time together.
karen
Those are some good ideas. Here’s another one that I sometimes use, especially when I’m feeling a little pokey.
Set a really high daily word goal. Then you won’t have time to go back and edit–you’ve got to keep charging forward or you’ll never reach your goal.
Oh dear….I’m not so sure I’m capable of doing that….I might try it, but I’m not making any promises :D
I find that now that I can wear the ” me ” hat 90% of the time, my writing is so much better!
There are some things about the “rusty years”
that I like, this is one of them!
I never knew braces could fall out!
The Inn sounds like my kind of get a way!
I like your editing plan. It keeps you writing, yet lets you know where you want to take a closer look when you do get back to editing.
Hope you’re having fun on your “vacation.”
Helen
Straight From Hel
Love your advice. With my latest WIP I had to force myself to not edit as I went along and it flowed so much better.
Another excellent analogy, Elizabeth. My “Mom hat” – lol, love it. :)
The Old silly
Right now I’m editing my tush off and forging ahead full speed. I don’t edit as I write so when I do set to it, I’m not distracted by having done a gazillion drafts before. Seems to work better for me this way. Thanks for the reassurance!
I wear the editor hat as I write. I figure that even though it will take longer to write my article, when I am done it will be done. But your idea is probably better. Get it written then go back. I do find that sometimes the creative idea slips away before I can finish, so the editor hat may be more of a hindrance than I’ve realized.
To comment on your story about your little girl – sounds to me like you are a good mom. That is exactly how Cheryl (my wife) would have responded, and in fact still does, and our kids are 24, 21 and 16. She is a good mom.
I was wondering how you were going to tie camp and a romantic setting into a writing lesson but what a good job you did! I highlight areas I want to go back to when I’m writing but I like your other ideas, as well.
What excellent advice! I try not to reread anything until after I’m finished with the rough draft.
Marybeth–It’s hard. Sometimes I don’t follow my own advice, either.
Carol: Oh, I’m looking forward to those years. :)
Helen–It was fun, thanks.
Galen:No, you wouldn’t, I’m sure!
Karen–Thanks so much! We sure did.
Terri–It’s amazing how fast the ideas come when you’re not picking apart your manuscript.
Alan–I’ll have to give that a go.
Marvin: Thanks. The Mom hat isn’t very pretty, sometimes. :)
Karen–Good luck with your edits.
Jane–Good to know a fellow highlighter!
Warren–Cheryl sounds like a great mom!
Katie–But it’s hard, isn’t it?
Elizabeth
Glad everything is okay – when we moms hear any hint of problems with our kids we can’t help but answer the call. Glad everything is okay, I had no idea braces could fall out!
It is so true about the ever lovin’ editor’s hat. It can really slow down the creative process and have you continuously tweat this and change that. Great post, as always!
Nancy, from Realms of Thought…
Thanks, Nancy!
Yes, who knew? These are special braces, though–for a cross-bite. I guess ‘special’ equals ‘falls out’. :(
Elizabeth
Oh, I just blogged about this. You list some great ideas. I especially like the “don’t read what I’ve written” and jotting down where you want to go next time when you start writing again.
Thanks for stopping by, Carolyn. Yes, I think it’s good to just give myself a little direction at the end of the writing day. Otherwise, if I read the text I wrote the day before, I get into editing mode again.
Elizabeth