The Pesky Internal Editor

This is what I mean by killing my editor: I like to write so much that I keep tearing my current manuscript apart.

The internal editor can be a friend or a foe. What drives me to tear the back half of a manscript off and start over? What insidious thing makes me chuck an entire book ten days before deadline, call my editor to tell her the book was no good, but that I'll give her greater things?

The internal editor. That person inside my head who reads my work and says, "Not good enough. More plot. Better pace. Deeper characterization."

The book I threw away and wrote again in ten days received 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times. (CATCHING CALHOUN) Maybe I just need to pre-write all my books!

But is it possible to learn how to do the book better the first time, so that the internal editor isn't such a pain in the rump?

With LAST'S TEMPTATION, I tried really hard to focus on that goal. I only wrote it once. I did tear off part of it at one point, told my editor everything was fine (knowing that her editor antennae had picked up another mass re-do), and promised her she would be happy. Tried to give her daily updates.

Continuing with my new goal of trying to be more pleasing to my internal editor the first time, I channeled the great writers, the classics, who wrote everything by quill, and begged them to give me better wordsmithing. Plot that my readers would love. LAST was finished, I loved him, and my editor does, too. I hope all the readers will find him worth keeping.

Now I'll see if I can do it again. Maybe my I.E. doesn't need to be completely fired; maybe she just needs more excitement in her own life so she can leave mine alone! I'll give her a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book to read--that ought to make her happy. Mmm, good reading!

Currently listening to : Joel Olsteen
Currently reading: AIN'T SHE SWEET? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (so good)!
Currently cooking: Turkey sandwiches, with blueberries on the side
Current rave: The new long skirts, watching Mary Poppins (again)! with my kids
Word of The Day: VITAL

Also, another word which comes to mind is WISTFUL. My daughter is starting eleventh grade. I have taken hold of this summer and squeezed it like grapes for wine, and forced her to go on a family vacation with us. Forced myself to send her to my father's so that he could drag her around to colleges in the East, knowing I must turn loose of her.