Right now I’m under a couple of tight deadlines and a little less clingy to my works-in-progress. But last year, I fiddled with my manuscript just about every waking hour (this would be the book that’s being released in August.) I couldn’t decide when it was done. I mean, editing and rewriting are completely necessary and a vital part of writing. But when do you know that you’re done? When do you know when you’ve finally dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s and are ready to send your baby off into the big, bad world?
I don’t really have an answer to that question. Now I think that when my deadline day comes then, obviously, I need to have something ready to send in that is as perfect as I can possibly make it.
I think, also, that I got to the point last year where my rewrites were actually making things worse and not better. Do you know what I’m talking about? It seemed like I’d just starched some darned scene and ironed it out flat. Grammatically beautiful but I’d lost the soul of what I’d originally written. That’s when I printed the manuscript and sent it off. But it would have been nice to have known before that point that I was done.
I was thinking today about how I broke my children of their pacifier habit. I know this seems like a complete non sequitur, but bear with me. They were determined little suckers (oooh, I’m punny today) and slept with the darned binkies. Actually, they did everything with them but eat with them in their mouths. So one day we went to the party supply store and got a bunch of helium balloons. A lot of helium balloons. I tied every one of their little binkies onto them and we went out to a park. There we stood in the middle of the park and I handed my children the balloons. They let them go and it was a spectacular sight, let me tell you. The balloons were a vivid splash against the blue skies and they soared off. My children waved at the balloons as they left. They didn’t ask for them that night at bedtime because they KNEW the pacifiers were gone. They were off in space, as far as they could tell. And they had a nice toy in their place.
I’m thinking this is how I need to approach my writing. I need still need to rewrite ad nauseum, but now I’m approaching it differently. I need to move on after I’ve submitted. When the edits come in, I’ll work on them, but then get back to my work-in-progress. I need to figuratively attach that submission to a bunch of balloons and move on. Work on the next story. Not have empty-nest syndrome over the end of that project or get too wound up in the reviews that come out later. To remember that I’ve done my best.
Quality topic — When to let go? It’s a conversation I’ve had with both writers and non-writers. But so far I haven’t struggled with it. Something in me just KNOWS when a piece is done, when it’s had enough reviewers and edits. And if I’m sending it to an editor, I know it’s going to be tinkered with anyways. Which brings me to another lesson learned: Never get too attached to my words!
I’m kinda like Alexis, I sorta get a feeling that a section is ready as is. What does happen, however, is a week later, a re-read will disclose problems in that same section. So, was it *really* ready?
My former office job had a huge problem with re-writes and never did understand that there was indeed a point of diminishing returns where the one additional change started an inexorable and unrecoverable quality decline. Enough is enough. I’ve past that point in this comment. Thanks.
Best Regards, Galen.
http://www.galenkindley.com
Thanks, Elizabeth.
Now I know what I’m going to do with my first drafts.
Tie them to some helium balloons and watch them sail off into the sunset.
Maybe I’ll even set them on fire first!
Oh….good idea for the first drafts, Alan! I’ve got one I’d like to torch, too…
Elizabeth
That’s a wonderful story about your kids, and it’s great advice too. I find myself clinging to the old, familiar work and not spending enough time with the new one…which isn’t going to write me a book!
Elle Parker
http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/
Great idea with the balloons!
How do you know when your work is finally ready? How can you let it go?
Perfection is never something we can attain – that is God’s domain. So, we have to settle for something less, like it or not. So, this thought helps me, anything worth doing is worth doing imperfectly. Sure, you’ll probably want to change it later, but if we hold onto our work, it will never see the light of day, ever. If it is worth publishing, it is worth publishing imperfectly. Someone will still get something from it.
What a great blog – it is so hard to know. I find myself over-thinking and over-tweaking my work too.
LOL, Alan – great idea!
Nancy
http://nasharpe.blogspot.com
I have a hard time knowing when enough is enough. I don’t think I can ever read though a manuscript without changing something. I now tell myself that when then changes I make are all minor and have no effect on the story itself it is time to move on.
Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
I read somewhere that you’re never finished, but at some point you have to be done. BTW, I’m really enjoying your artistic touches to your blog.