By Kirsten Lamb:
Editing is essential for crafting a superlative story. We clip away the excess, delete the superfluous and prune away the detritus to reveal the art. Yet, editing is something we’re wise to handle with care.
While lack of ANY editing is a major problem today, editing too much, too soon is just as big of a problem. Perhaps an even a bigger one.
For clarity, not all ‘editing’ is the same.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
This post is like manna from the gods. I’ve been stuck in my opening scene perfection-rut for a while now and felt tempted to abandon the project. Then, just this morning, I skipped ahead a few scenes and let my subconscious do the talking (or the gardening). Suddenly I felt things begin to flow. Then I read this wonderful advice and — wow! Feeling giddy. Merci mille fois!
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Glad it helped you, Mel 😀
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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This is a good article and I agree with most of it. However I do take issue with ‘make time’ – sorry there are only 24 hrs in a day you can’t turn a day into one of 25 or 30, nor can you ‘find’ time (if anyone has ‘found’ time hiding behind a bush let me know). It is how we ‘manage’ time that matters.
And while I totally agree with not deleting anything before it is finished leaving it in situ can be distracting. I favour moving it to the end of the document, if just a paragraph or a page, or to a separate document if several pages.
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Reblogged this on Just Can't Help Writing and commented:
This a long piece, but it is so on the mark! I find Kristen’s advice especially good for those of us involved in critique groups. It’s so tempting to try to fix every little thing some (wonderful and much appreciated) reader suggests. NO! That way lies madness. Keep the critiques and come back to them when you have a sense of how the whole book played out with your group. And you will read your work very differently after a long interval of absence. So check out this advice and let me know what you think!
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Glad you found it useful, Virginia 😃
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That’s a good point. Thanks Chris & Kirsten. Hugs.
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🤗❤️🤗
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