Why I love editing

True confession time:

I’m an erotica writer, and I love editing. I gobble it up.

Now, before you go saying, ‘Ewww, she’s so twisted!’ here are my reasons:

1. I like correcting people. Even myself. Because then I’m right.
2. I like bossing people around, even when the ‘people’ is me.
3. I will edit the hell out of a piece to procrastinate from writing more, especially when my characters are being stubborn.
4. As a kid, I used to love getting to wash dishes at Grandma’s house, but my mom couldn’t beat me hard enough to make me wash dishes at home. Cleaning up someone else’s mess is immensely satisfying, cathartic even.

Still, no matter how well I edit my own work, typos get through. Like, I bet there’s at least one typo in this short post, and I read it half a dozen times before hitting the Publish button.

As the inimitable Mintie Price put it so very, very well:

Readers may have looser expectations for the [erotica] genre if they have love in their hearts, but no author wants to be caught with a typo in their story. It just makes the whole thing look sad, diminished. The author you love falls a little bit in your esteem. The sky darkens.

-Excerpted from Mintie’s post, I Just Plain Stink at Editing

Moral of the story: it’s difficult to effectively edit one’s own work. One should seek help, to the extent that one’s budget allows.

And now, for one final confession: Yes, it’s immoral, but I still do my own editing. I’m arrogant enough to think I’m good at it. (C’mon, are you that surprised? See items 1 and 2 above.) So if you spot a typo, let me know. Then laugh fiendishly as you think of me writhing in the hellish discomfort engendered by not being right for once.

---

Mintie Price’s post, “I Just Plain Stink at Editing” inspired this response. You should really, really, really read it, because (a) smiling burns more calories than frowning, (b) laughing is known to decrease the risk of certain diseases, (c) you want to understand the context for the expression “Death’s warm kissy embrace,” and (d) I agree with everything she said, except the parts about not liking to edit. 

---

Image of the twisted red pencil is courtesy of Thaikrit at FreeDigitalPhotos.net