Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Blog Chain - Words of Wisdom





It's blog chain time again, and Cole chose a topic that's a game as well! She asked her fellow bloggers to pretend that we are adressing a crowd of aspiring authors eager to soak up our words of knowledge. But the catch is this: we only have one sentence (no more than twenty words) to share and we are only allowed to elaborate or address questions in the comments section of our blogs. Take a look at Kate's advice before mine, and Terri's tomorrow! Here are my words of wisdom for aspiring authors:




"Edit, edit, edit, and when you're sure your manuscript is polished, edit one more time."



19 comments:

Cole Gibsen said...

I couldn't agree more.

Michelle McLean said...

oooo good one! And particularly meaningful to me at the moment as I have jumped head first into edits on my YA :D

Amanda Bonilla said...

Thanks! I learned this lesson the hard way with my first book! Not only was it about 70,000 words too long, but it just wasn't up to querying standards. I have a pile of rejections to show for my lack of editing!

Tana said...

Editing is what I am avoiding at this very moment!

Tere Kirkland said...

I couldn't agree more.
Querying too soon is probably part of the reason the inboxes of literary agents are so clogged, but it's easy to get excited about the story and send before you've done the best you can to hone your craft. Resist!
I have a hard time resisting, and I know my craft and my chances of publication have suffered for it.

Great post!

Christine Fonseca said...

ABSOLUTELY brilliant advice!!! (Man, what on earth am I going to say....must stew, must stew...)

Unknown said...

Good advice. Just when you think it's done. Nope, here comes another round of revisions. And you have to be willing to accept that.

B.J. Anderson said...

I couldn't have said it any better. Great advice!

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

Great advice! I've been on my "last" round of edits, for my last three rounds or so;P

Windy said...

Your first experience sounds just like mine! But, yeah, the last part is the best, when you think you're done . . . you're really not. Thanks for the reminder!

Rebecca Knight said...

SUCH invaluable advice! I'm editing now for the "last" (ahahahaha) time, and then am going to send it to critters, then editing a final time after that.

It's a long process, but so worth it! :)

Shaun Hutchinson said...

Great advice. The revising is NEVER done.

Rebecca Knight said...

Amen, Sister! I'm there right now, and I have promised myself to never rush the editing. Already learned this the hard way ;).

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

Waht due u maen I hvea two eidt?
:-)

Amy DeTrempe said...

I don't think editing is ever done. Excellent advice.

Amanda Bonilla said...

I'm actually facing the edit crunch right now. I've only sent a query for my new WIP to ONE agent and that agent requested a full. Her response came faster than I had expected and now I'm worrying over every last period. I'm overhauling one last time before I send the MS off, because it has to be Absolutely. Perfect.

Unknown said...

So true! I agree completely (and have my own pile of rejections to show for it, too).

Anonymous said...

Ah, the never ending process of editing...

Annie Louden said...

Indeed.