The Dreaded "Final Edit"

As I stated in an earlier post, I am doing a Final Edit on my debut novel.  Being a workaholic and a perfectionist, I want my book to be the best it can be.  In light of the current changes in publishing, I want my book to be the best it can be--especially since I will be releasing it as an Indie-published e-book.  As an author, I want my book to be the best it can be because it carries not only my name but also my words, my thoughts, my philosophy on life.

But I was having no fun editing with all this pressure.

I had to remind myself of a very famous writer with her seven-book series whose later books show her growth as an author.

We should all show our growth as authors.

Yet, her books were published and enjoyed by millions before she reached increased levels of perfection.

Kind of like a physician's practice (emphasis on the word "practice") connotes a lifetime of learning his art, so does it with us creators using our imagination and words to tell a tale with the art of written communication.

Plus, isn't this daily road trip on my way to my goals supposed to be fun?

Here's the distillation of these random musings.  I am not perfect (Gasp!) and should relax a little--hard for us workaholics to do.  Instead of waiting to publish when I have studied and learned all that is out there, not to mention implementing the entirety of that knowledge, I have realized that I would never be published in my lifetime.  No one would with that criteria.  Obviously, this does not mean putting up slop to sell.  I take great pride in my work. 

Besides there are those brilliant authors who break the rules and win over the readers and critics alike, all the while presenting their storytelling in such a way so as to effectively share it with us all.

So why take decades to study these "rules" if you can be persuasive with the written word without them?  I'm reminded of that oft repeated axiom to stop the research, stop the studying, and just act.  Good advice.

I'm taking it.

Again, I'm not advocating to ignore the Web11 spellings and definitions of words, nor the standard English grammar usages that encourage the art of successful communication.  I am saying there is no "perfect" time and I will yet to be perfect myself, so we should take the sum of our knowledge AT THIS POINT and use it wisely.  Go for it!
 
And for those who are interested, I'm enjoying my process so much more now.  With my new improved mind-set (yes, this is the Webster's 11th Edition way to spell it), I have worked through the first fifty-four pages of my two-hundred-twenty-page novel.  I'm not sure how many rounds I will need to polish my work, but I'm feeling my way to finding out.  For this book.  I'm sure each one poses its own set of guidelines and needs.

After all, I am a work in progress myself, just like my books.