By Jude Urbanski
“Oh, no!”
Do you know how long it takes to decorate a
Christmas tree, much less redecorate?
Finishing touches had barely slid from my fingertips when
the wayward tree lights played roles of dead soldiers. I felt deceived, because
I had checked the lights. Dreams of sipping morning coffee and basking in the
lights of my beautiful tree vaporized. I hung my head, dreading the
redecorating toil.
However, it wasn’t long before the saving analogy hit. A
writing-related analogy. So, maybe all wasn’t for naught. This tree, refusing
to shine, reminded me of my latest novel and the job of editing said novel.
I had pulled my story together, sat back and smiled. My
story was bright, fresh and ready for a home. Surely, any editor would drool.
Fantasies of advances, marketing, and success pirouetted beautifully across my
mind, but, truth is, my book still languishes in my computer.
My crazy tree needed redoing, redecorating and rewiring. A
dreaded task the second time around, but maybe my book needed a similar
overhaul. As with my tree, I dwelt on whether to start my book all over. Just
as I had to remove ornaments from the tree, maybe I needed to switch scenes, to
begin in the middle or even change points of view of my story. Perhaps that
nice-but-adds-nothing tinsel needs cutting, which equates to throwing out
superfluous backstory.
I grieved to lose my original designs, both of tree and
book, but knew change was necessary. I don’t have to ask whether you
understand. I know you do. We’ve all been there.
The good news is editing usually isn’t required to be as
drastic as my tree saving measures, but the bad news is writers must be open to
editing.
