Shameful

I've written books. I've written a lot of books, sixteen to be exact. So far, I've published three, am editing four right now, and have seven more I want to write. It's a lot to wrap my head around at times. Yet, this doesn't make me a good writer, though someday I believe I will be one. Right now, my problem is not with writing. It's with editing. I hate it. I'm not good at it. To spend time doing it really unnerves me. It is, however, my biggest weakness. Because I know I'm bad at it, I've been practicing writing better so the editing isn't so bad. Irregardless, that hasn't worked either (just read one of my last blogs concerning Burden to understand this viewpoint).

A few month ago I thought to publish a book or two on my own. I edited, re-edited, re-edited some more, and finally said enough's enough. They had to be pretty decent considering all the time I put into them, so I was about to make a go of it on my own. Then, perchance, I got an editing offer I couldn't refuse and took it. Sure, it'd delay me a month or two, but it'd be worth it. AND, because I've already edited the hell out of these books already, it shouldn't take that long. I have a single word to describe my editing after receiving my fully edited novels back; shameful. Thanks to the new editor, hundreds of mistakes I overlooked were found.  Just how this was possible, I don't know, though I've formulated an opinion on my editing ability: I suck!

Anyway, I've updated one of the two books I've received back and am working on the second, which I hope to finish within the week. Then both will be edited again and my changes gone over. Maybe then I'll call them good, but for now I can only say an author can only edit his work to a point before all is lost. This is my realization. No matter how much I may try to edit, another set of eyes will always find mistakes. Hopefully, I can limit those mistakes in the books to come.

And for those who've read Jeremiah Stone, Limbus, and Azazel; I'm working on those also so please don't think all my books will contain so many grammatical mistakes. After all, it takes time to be good at something, so I'm spending some time at editing. Wish me luck.