Seven Reasons Against Self-Editing a Book
Posted: September 12, 2017
Sometimes do-it-yourself isn't the best approach when it comes to editing a book. Most writers feel they have the necessary skills to see their project from conception to publishing, without any help. That may not always be the case - no matter how good you are. Some valid reasons exist for handing your book over to someone else to edit - these are a few.
Blake Atwood, contributor for The Write Life, explains the reasons to avoid editing your own book.
A few months ago, the handle to the diverter valve on my shower broke off.
What does shower repair have to do with writing? And what’s a diverter valve?
You’ll never guess what happened when this writer tried his hands at shower repair.
As I later told the plumber, “I tried to do-it-yourself, but it didn’t do-it-itself.”
Sure, I pried the other handles off. I bought a wife-approved handle replacement set. I even accepted that my plumbing work was likely going to be fraught with equal parts confusion and frustration. But I was determined to see the project through.
I’d barely begun when I realized what I’d bought wasn’t going to work with what I had. I didn’t want to admit defeat, but I had to. I didn’t have the skills to finish the work.
That’s only one of the reasons you can’t edit your own book.
1. You’re too emotionally connected
If you’ve ever called your book your “baby,” you’re guilty of every writer’s chief sin: love.
No, there’s nothing inherently wrong with liking, or even loving, what you’ve written. You should be proud of bringing forth meaning from a blank page. But that kind of unabashed love for what you’ve created has a dark side: Blindness.
Think about first dates and new love.
Read the entire article,
You Can’t Edit Your Own Book and Here are 7 Reasons Why, on
The Write Life.
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