I wish someone had told me how many times I would read and edit my own work. I started writing when I was thirteen, and back then, no one I knew could have told me that. Back then, when I finished writing something, I was done. I never read it again, I never edited, I just finished and praised myself.
I started writing again in college after some good words from a dear professor who has helped me immensely. If it wasn't for him, I would never have started up again, and I wouldn't have short stories in several books or a publishing contract with Ed Greenwood (one of my idols). But he never talked about how many times editing had to happen. I joined a handful of writing groups on Facebook, and maybe I just dismissed it any time I saw it, maybe I never noticed it, but I never picked it up from them that I would need to do the amount of work that goes on after your write The End.
When I finally finished my first solo project during NaNoWriMo of 2014, I did a quick scan for certain key grammar issues, and set it aside.
When my co-author left without warning and decided he was done, thus ending our writing together before it was finished, I moped. Then I picked up the book and started over. That's when I learned how hard it is to get a novel from first draft to finished. I already detailed my editing process, but I wish someone had told me then how long and how hard I would work to get it to a place where it was actually ready. Writing is a hard process, it takes a lot of work, sleepless nights, headaches, research, so much. I wouldn't trade it for anything though. I love all that hard work, and I can't explain the joy when my book is finished, really finished.
What do you wish you'd known before you started writing? Leave a comment. :)
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