Monday, July 7, 2008

The Great Eyeglass Caper

Still drowsy, I glance in the mirror. Make-up applied, hair fluffed, teeth brushed. I'm ready to face a new day.

Dashing around the house before work, a detour for my glasses brings my mad rush to a halt. I search my memory bank. Now, what did I do with them? They're always on the desk. After rummaging through my handbag, I locate my specs. Reading is close to impossible without these babies.

With my glasses perched on the end of my nose, I head upstairs for some information on ordering vitamins. I look up and behold my reflection in the mirror. Horrors, how did that make-up get smudged? I take off the glasses. Magic. No splotches. Put them on again, they're back. With the necessary repairs made, off to work I go.

Later that evening, I pull out my work in progress and begin reading. Oops, there's a typo. Oh my, a little head-hopping between characters 1 and 2. How did I miss that when I wrote it? Hmm, I'll have to use a stronger verb in paragraph 5.

When blasting through my first draft, my "story eyes" are at work. If I stop to edit, I lose my creative flow, and productivity slows to a trickle. On the other hand, when my "editing eyes" are allowed to operate, the flaws leap off the page like an animated smiley face.

Often I labor over these posts, read, and publish them only to discover a mistake or formatting problem. I hit the Edit Post button. Sigh. Guess I was too hasty printing it.

We rarely have the luxury of hitting an edit button after sending our materials off to a publisher or agent. Before releasing that masterpiece into the wide, wide world, it's wisdom to put on "editing glasses" and make sure our submissions are clean and sparkly. Otherwise, our next great project may be entitled, "My Most Embarrassing Moment As A Writer."

2 comments:

Annie said...

Too true! Like you, I find it best to leave a piece of work alone and return later with my "story eyes".

Oh the things I'd miss otherwise!

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Annie -

I spent the evening working on several devotionals and a chapter of my book. At times, I can't believe how many things need correction or changes.

Blessings,
Susan :)