Trying not to tinker too much.

This I know.  Line by line editing helps my book.

This I also know.  I run out of steam really fast.  To me, this is the grunt work of writing.  Linda says that every time I'm say, "I hate rewriting," that I'm just reinforcing this negative thought.  But...it's true.

All my writing can benefit from a little extrapolation, a little fleshing out. A little more description and detail.  Not a lot, but a little doesn't hurt.

I've tried to come up with some work processes that make it tolerable.  Little spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine go down.

For instance, I've discovered that line by line editing doesn't need to be done in sequence.  I can drop anywhere in a manuscript and do that. I've discovered that I can do about 5 pages at a time, give or take a few pages, before my attention starts to wander. Letting some time pass between tries is also beneficial.

I've kind of worked some of it out.  Whenever I'm writing I do a little spot checking here and there, and make those kinds of line edits. Then when I'm done, I go through the entire manuscript, five pages at a time.  Takes a couple of days.  Often it is hard for me to get to the end.

Then I send it off to my editor, who takes a month or two.  When she sends me back her editing, I have a chance to go through and do a little more, with a little more perspective.

I wonder sometimes if I was really diligent if I couldn't improve my books.  But to tell the truth, I'm worried about ruining my books.  If I do too much, I get the word-jumble and I can never enjoy the book again.

So I try to go right up the the word-jumble barrier and not cross.

Problem books become something different.  I'm coming up on my fourth year with Faerylander.  It required all kinds of rewriting.  Not just the line-editing, but an entire makeover -- several times.  I'm long past the word jumble with this book, so I'm not worried about making it worse.  I can only make it better.

But when a "fast" book comes out of me, like Tuskers, like The Last Fedora, and now like The Magic Pixie Dream Girl Murders, I really don't want to tinker too much.