Welcome once again writers! How are you all doing this Monday morning! I hope you’re ready to talk writing, because we’ve got a solid topic to discuss today. A reader request, in fact!

But first, let’s get what little news there is out of the way, shall we? Work has begun on The Phoenix, and it’s already moving along at a decent clip. In the meantime, Axtara – Magic and Mischief is waiting on a cover. And now that I’ve gotten settled into a decent groove, I can start working on the hardcover/print formatting as well.

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Now, I do have some somewhat unfortunate news to tie into things, related to the family disaster that took place a few months ago (here’s the link if you don’t know what I’m referring to, but I warn you that this is … heavy). Here’s the thing: Book sales run on inertia. If I stop posting for a week? I see a corresponding slump in my sales. I’m not nearly big enough that my sales have reached critical mass and are self-sustaining regardless of what I do.

Some of you are already connecting the dots to where this is headed, as I spent twelve weeks in Alaska during that disaster, disconnected and dealing with other stuff. My sales cratered during that time. Plus I missed the original release date for Magic and Mischief.

Ultimately, what this means is that my finances are now in pretty bad shape. My outcome is exceeding my income, no matter how hard I stretch it. And while my sales have recovered some of that inertia, they’ve yet to get back to where they were (recovering inertia is a lot harder than losing it).

Basically, I’m going to have to start looking for side work to make ends meet. Which means my writing time will take a hit.

“But Max,” some of you may say (because I’ve been in this scenario before), “surely you can do this without cutting into your writing time. How important, really, is having a social life? Or hobbies? You can cut those and still make the same quotas, right?”

I’m really not exaggerating there, guys. I’ve been in a financial tight spot before and had some really, shall we say, inhumane and self-centered responses to things.

But no. Been there cutting it all, done that. I spent several years some time ago having no social life, working six days a week putting in sometimes 14 hours or more a day. And what happened? First, this is America, so I really didn’t make any more money. And second I was miserable.

So yeah, things are going to have to slow down when this takes effect, even if only for a few months. And if you’d rather that not happen, well … I’m sorry. If you’d like to help, there are some options: become a Patreon Supporter, or spread the word about my books in hopes that things pick back up for me (tell friends, tell the web, post reviews, etc).

I realize this news sucks. And I know some of you may be upset or indignant about it (you would not believe some of the nasty messages I got the last time I was in a tight spot, including one that said it hoped I became homeless because it would be ‘a better for me as a person and would give me more time to write’). But there’s a real simple equation behind this: Income must be greater than outcome. Income>outcome.

Now, be aware I ain’t exactly living a high life, folks. I cook my own meals from scratch and even then I go “Oh, a sale on beans!”

This doesn’t mean Being a Better Writer will be slowing down. At least, not for now. Those I can get done in advance. But … It does mean my writing will have to take a hit until things recover. I’m not even sure what I’m going to be doing yet, I just see the writing on the wall for what it is, and what’s coming down the path if I can’t recover.

So yeah, sorry, bad news. But … I can’t avoid it. I knew during those twelve weeks that I was doing a ton of damage to my sales inertia, but stayed anyway because … well …

Oh, and if you’re one of those trollish folks who’s going to message me about how maybe I shouldn’t have stayed for those twelve weeks taking care of things because you want more writing to read right now … Don’t. Just don’t. Same if you’re going to talk about how “homelessness will be good for me” or some other crap like that. Don’t.

I’ve stretched things as far as I can, and done as much as I can regaining that lost momentum, but it’s not quite enough. So I’m looking for a good side income, and until I no longer need it, there will be a shift in content delivery around here. I don’t like it. I don’t want to do it … but I also need to be able to eat. And have a place to live.

Anyway, more on that as things get more concrete. I know it’s unwelcome news, but at the end of the day … Income>outcome. If it’s the other way around, something has to give.

All right. I apologize for taking up so much of the news post with that. If you’re upset that you had to read about my financial straits well … Tough. That’s the news. But we’re done talking about it now. News over. So now we can talk about today’s topic.

Editing as you go. And this topic? Well … It’s a tough one. Hit that jump, and let’s dig in.

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So here’s the thing. We’ve spoken about this before, though it’s been seven years. Additionally, we came at that from a slightly different angle, which is pretty clear from the term “Death Spiral.” And though we will reference that term once again today, we will be trying to come at this from the other side of things.

Because, as noted in our title today, we’re talking about editing as you go, and knowing when it needs to happen as well as when it needs to be let be.

Where to start, then? Well, I think we should start with the most common question (or rather, statement) that I’ve seen from new and young writers when approached by this problem. Before, at cons and other writing locations, I’ve watched as young, inexperienced writers come to a grinding, stunned halt when an author suggests moving on and leaving a paragraph unedited. I’ve heard all the exclamations against it as well, from “How could you leave it unedited?” to “But what if it’s not perfect?” to “But if I don’t edit it, then how can I move on? I’m a perfectionist!”

So, that last one? It’ll never be perfect. Just … accept that. Otherwise that “Death Spiral” noted above will take immediate effect.

But jumping to those other two comments I’ve routinely heard, I’m just going to be blunt: They’re flawed. I know, that sucks to hear, because I’ve watched expressions change to indignant defense the moment statements like this have been dropped on those protesting about the perfect paragraph or the inability to move on. But it’s the truth.

How can one move on? They just do. An author learns that no, a paragraph isn’t going to be perfect. That’s for the editing pass. It’s not going to be perfect the first time. And that’s okay.

Now, some young writers I’ve seen have defended making the “perfect paragraph” by arguing that editing now is the same as editing later. But here’s the thing, it’s not. Let me give you a real life example.

I once was in a writing forum with a number of people, including a few who had this problem with “editing every paragraph as they wrote it to be perfect.” And they refused to be dissuaded. What happened?

None of them ever published anything. They spent all their time editing. And I saw the inevitable occur. One of these writers had spent the entire day writing, and managed only a few paragraphs. Something like ten, maybe. They were really proud of it.

The next day they sadly reported that they’d erased all of it, because the eleventh paragraph had contained something that made those prior ten irrelevant. They lamented that their entire free day of writing had been worthless, and spent a good chunk of the day in chat despairing over how hard writing was, and how difficult it was to get anywhere.

Truth was, they were making it far more difficult than it needed to be. All that editing, that entire day, to produce “nearly perfect” paragraphs … and the next paragraphs in line had erased it.

That is why authors don’t concentrate on the “perfect paragraph,” but on pressing forward. Because we don’t know if that paragraph is going to be there tomorrow. Sands, it might not even be there five minutes from now. Yesterday, as I was working on The Phoenix, there were a couple of moments where I went “Oh wait, that’s not right for the direction” and backtracked about three to five paragraphs. By which I mean I erased them so that the story could go on a slightly different vector.

This happens all the time when writing. Already today, I have plans to go back and change a prior paragraph to update it with new information that took shape later in the process. Frequently when writing, the story takes a new tack and we need to adjust what came before. This is how the writing process just is.

Which means if we spend a ton of time slaving over a single paragraph as we go, refining it and tweaking it until its “perfect” we’re not only stalling all our writing while we do so (see the above example with someone spending an entire day writing and producing ten paragraphs), but we run the risk of making all that time wasted when a few paragraphs later we think “Oh wait, I need to change that.”

Oops.

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Now, here’s the thing. Despite everything I wrote above, authors still do edit as they go. If I write out a sentence, and I notice that I missed a word or misspelled something, I’ll go back and fix it. It’s quick and easy to do so, and I do. Sometimes I’ll linger for a bit, switching up a sentence so that it’s a bit punchier or more direct.

So yes, we do edit. We do want that paragraph to land right. The trick is deciding between landing right and landing just right.

Not every paragraph needs to land just right. A transitional paragraph tying two scenes together so that the characters can get from A to B? If it works, it works. Onwards!

Yeah, sometimes I spend a few minutes, maybe even ten, fiddling with a single very important paragraph because it’s the crux of several chapters, or even a whole book. But that’s rare.

What I’m getting at here is that these young writers are making a couple of errors. First, they’re spending too much time on each individual paragraph and forgetting the goal is the overarching story. But second, they’re also not weighing the importance of each paragraph and are thusly treating every single one as the most important one in the story. This causes them to bog down.

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So … how does a new writer overcome these mistakes in judgement? Don’t get me wrong, both are coming from a good place. It’s just that taken to such extremes, they start to get in the way of the ultimate goal.

Remembering that ultimate goal is the first step in figuring out when to edit and when to move on. Because what is the ultimate goal? To tell a story. And you can’t do that if the story is never finished.

Perspective is how we keep ourselves moving forward. Maybe that paragraph isn’t perfect, but that’s what the editing pass is for. And it’s much more important that we move on, away from a paragraph talking about something that is only a side-note to the total story, in service of getting that total story out there.

So yes, part of figuring out when to move on is learning to have the perspective of “If it is important I can fix it later.” Which … can be hard for new writers. To that end, I recommend keeping your eyes on the end of the story. On getting it done rather than making sure every word is properly placed. The edit will come, but for now? Focus on reaching the end. Even if it’s not perfect—and it won’t be—a whole product that is flawed before edits will always be superior to a perfect product that is never going to be done.

Now, with that said, the second thing I would advise new writers to work on is understanding the importance of these paragraphs as they write over them. A transitional paragraph, to use the above example, letting the audience know that the characters made it from point A to point B? That’s probably not super vital to the story.

But the moment one character learns that another has betrayed them, in a crucial twist to the story? Well, that paragraph and the paragraphs around it are pretty important. So it stands to reason that maybe someone working on that scene could spend a little time on it to make sure that it’s landing properly before moving on toward the end.

What is the weight and impact of the paragraph that’s being worked on. I’ve seen novice writers claim that “all paragraphs are just as important” and frankly … No, that’s not right. Yes, everything is going to be edited, but there’s a difference between something that’s transitional and could be worded strangely while still getting the point across—something the edit pass can focus on—and a key moment of the entire story’s plot needing to land just right.

One of those things is more important than the other. So yes, keep your eye on the ending, but also don’t forget that for moments that you are certain need that extra layer of attention … give it. Just don’t let it stall you to the point that everything grinds to a halt.

Now, to some who are new reading this, I realize that this can sound daunting. But there’s a third bit to this that does make things a bit easier. In an ironic fashion, it also only comes via a method those who forever stumble in these elements and don’t progress won’t see: Experience. Yup, getting stories done, time after time, will help you start to assign weight to your edits. Experience will teach you “Hey, this bit really matters, let me touch that up” or “Eh, I can fix that in the edit pass, time to move on!”

However, that experience only comes from doing. If you never finish anything, or avoid having to make such decisions? Well … then how can you have learned anything?

Now, ultimately this isn’t a topic where I can just say “spend X seconds and move on.” Everyone is going to be a little different. But that’s why that experience is needed. If you find yourself struggling to know when to edit and when to let it go, keep going. Move on. Then, when the story is done, and you go back to edit, you’ll start to gain that experience. Sands, you’ll have gained it in the act of moving on.

Ultimately, that experience is going to be what tells you when to edit, and when to move on.

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Okay, I’m running the risk of repeating myself, so we’ll stop there. Again, don’t misunderstand. Editing as you go is something that every writer does. But it needs to be efficient, and not something that keeps us from ever finishing our story.

Sometimes, we let it go because it’s not worth dealing with in the moment. Experience is the best teacher there. If you find yourself struggling with getting caught in edit loops, let go. Finish your story. Then, edit it. With the next story you write, you’ll find it easier to judge where to spend your time lingering … and when to move on.

And look, if after all this you’re still hung up and hesitant, then try this: Don’t edit at all while writing, and just finish something. Then go back and do the edits.

I know, that sounds awful. But you’ll be better for having finished something and seen the overarching issues and the edits they made than you will be for not finishing anything and being caught in a loop. Trust me. Keep your eye on the end, not on the spot you just passed.

Good luck. Now get writing.

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