Writer = Editor

I'm a writer.

You already knew that.

I'm also an editor.

You probably knew that one too.

But did you know that most writers edit more than they write?

Strangely enough, it's true. The logistics of it make sense, but only when you really take the time to think about it.

Writers write. You hear that all the time. It's what we do most of the time, because it's what we love most to do. But a writer who only writes is a writer who will never be published, a writer who will never be read, and a writer who will never, ever, be taken seriously.

The truth is, we have to edit. We don't really have a choice in the matter. If we want to write, and we want to be known as writers, as people who write actual stories of actual importance, we have to edit. If we don't do it, no one will ever read our work.

Why?

Because if you don't edit your work (trust me on this) your work probably sucks.

There's always the one-in-a-million that doesn't completely suck, but that one-in-a-million is a literal ONE. And it won't completely suck, but parts of it will suck.

Trust me. I'm a writer, I'm an editor. I know.

BUT, there's more.

It's not just you who has to do the editing.

Why? Because you don't be able to catch all of your own mistakes. You never can. You know what your work is supposed to say, so your brain automatically reads it that way. An editor will be able to fix it for you, when your wording only makes sense in your own head.

That'll happen too. Trust me. 

And now, I have to get back to writing. So I can edit. So I can write some more (and edit some more).

[love]

{RD}