When to Stop Editing & NaNoWriMo
The benefit of self-publishing is that you can take all the time you need to edit.
The detriment to self-publishing is that you can take all the time you need to edit.
When do you stop? When do you say enough is enough?
I’m still editing my first novel trying to figure out the answer to these questions. I completed it at a bit over 85,000 words, and it’s now at nearly 98,000 words. So, I’ve added more than three chapters of prose. And I’m still adding. It’s getting to the point that it’s difficult to read the novel without falling asleep though - not because I don’t enjoy it, but because I’ve probably read it at least a hundred times, if not more.
It was comical when I had readers providing feedback early on, identifying a sentence and telling me where it was in the manuscript. In most cases, I already knew exactly where it was — yeah, I’ve read it entirely too much. But, here’s the kicker: I’m still improving it. Objectively.
Not only was my beta reader feedback immensely helpful, but I know the characters and locations far better now than when I started. So, I’m filling in details everywhere. Plus, I’m learning more all the time, becoming a better writer, and often going back to revise scenes with newly learned techniques. I’ve also outlined books two and three, and half of book four, so I know where things are headed, which has resulted in some changes and additions to book one as well.
But November is fast approaching and that means it’s NaNoWriMo time. For non-writers, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, a period where many authors set a goal of writing an entire manuscript in a month. Sane people try to write a 30,000 to 50,000 page manuscript. I expect my next novel to be as long as the first, so my goal is an 80,000 to 85,000 word first draft. In other words, it would seem I’m not all that sane.
I’m sure this will come as a shock, but I like words more than numbers, so I failed to do the math when I first set this idiotic goal. If I try to do this, it means I have to write 2,600 to 2,800 words a day. Now, I’m a pretty prolific writer. I can easily drop a 2,800 word scene in a couple hours — when I know exactly what I’m going to be writing, when I’ve played the scene in my head like a movie for a month or two before writing it. But to write 2,800 words cold, every day, for 30 days straight? I must be out of my mind. Not to mention Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating the last week of the month. Yeah, I’ve completely lost it.
I’m not going to change that monumental goal though, even knowing I probably won’t achieve it. No, I’m going to keep it in place and try to push myself and see how it goes. That said, I absolutely will not force the story. I’m not going to write crap just to put words on paper. I’m going to craft the story as it’s meant to be crafted, regardless of the deadline; because, in the end, the quality of it is more important than completing it at lightening speed. Of course, if magic happens and I’m somehow able to whip out 2,800 words a day and I do manage to complete it in a month, I won’t complain.
