One Edit Is Not Enough

Today I reached a milestone: I finished my first full edit/rewrite of my book. The words that I might use to describe this moment are:

• gleeful
• exciting
• satisfying
• happy
• proud
• giddy

I also sorta think I'm a total badass. But I think anyone who finishes their first full edit of a 67,500 page book might feel like quite the badass. The only thing that made me feel like more of a badass was when I finished the first draft.

So I've ridden the wave of that feeling for the entire afternoon. I'm still feeling giddy and happy and all those other words I mentioned above. But I'm also aware that I still have a long way to go.

I think a big mistake a lot of writers make is believing that one edit is enough. Unless you're doing stream of consciousness writing with the goal of vomiting on the page without regard to readability, everything you write needs to be edited - and everything needs to be edited more than once.

I like to think of the first round of edits as the "glaring problems cleanup round." When you do your first edit, you catch stuff like:

• Totally incoherent sentences
• Grammatical oopsies
• Glaring flow problems
• Big story/plot inconsistencies
• Readability problems
• Pacing problems

The first edit is, I think, the most work. Because you're taking what may have been stream of consciousness writing and making it into something that makes sense and is worth reading.

So pat yourself on the back when you get through your first edit. But don't consider your work ready to publish.

I think most writing needs at least two or three rounds of edits to be worth reading, and I think four or five rounds is even better. Everything I write (including these blog posts) goes through no less than three rounds of edits before it's released to the world. I shudder to think about my first drafts. Sometimes they're awesome, but more often they're lacking in multiple ways. And you won't spot them all on the first round.

So to all my fellow writers out there, resist the temptation to say "I'm finished!" when you've completed your first round of edits. Give it at least one more round, or two, before you call it ready. And then...well, it's still not done. Then it goes to a professional editor. ;)