Thoughts on Editing

I love writing.  Really I do.  Editing on the other hand...  Bleh.

Yeah yeah, I know...  I should never admit that in public.  90% of writing is editing.  Getting the story on paper is the easy part.  Editing is the work part.  blah blah blah

As I've said before, I'm terminally lazy.  I'd much rather just do the easy part.  Been this way since I was a kid...

And you know something?  I don't really even hate editing.  I do love the part of editing where I'm picking just the right words so that my thoughts shine through.  What I hate is the second-guessing part where I'm not sure if this scene is the right one or that scene would work better.  Which would make this more grabby and thus more sellable?

Anyway, I know the progress meter still hasn't moved.  I'm still stuck*.  So, what I did was the tried and true method of thinking my way through this stumbling block.  I took out my yarn, sat on the couch and crocheted while I watched football.  (Or listened to football, since I have to look at my hands while I'm crocheting.)  As I went through the automatic steps of a single-chain crochet - over and over and over - I thought about the story.

Since I've actually got three different beginnings written for this story, I have three paths to choose from.  On the last round of edits, I snipped the other two scenes and tucked them away in a file for safe-keeping.  Today I'm planning on pulling those out of storage, seeing how they read, and whether I've started in the wrong place again.  If neither of those work, I'll rewrite the entirety of Chapter One.

I know where I have to go and what I want to accomplish with this opening.  Now I just have to make it interesting for the reader.

Wish me luck.  I know I'll need it today. 

On the bright side, if I don't get past this, I should have another blanket done by Christmas.

*I knew if I just wrote a post about it, I'd shake the damn thing loose.  I'll explain what I did tomorrow - if I still think it works by then.