What To Post When You're Brain Dead

Today was a work day. By that I mean my children, at great monetary expense, were both out of the house at the same time and I wrote like a fiend. I did not clean, I did not bathe, I did not answer the phone, I did not check the mail, I did not check the email (more than a few times), I did not eat (more than twice), I did not get out of my chair (except to eat and go to the bathroom). I wrote. All day. And ignored even the cats, who did long for my attention.

As a result, by the end of a day like that, I am as dead headed as a flower out of season and unfortunately mine won't grow back stronger and prettier if you cut it off. In lieu of a creative and thought provoking blog post today like Bianca's recent one about urban fantasy and violence, I'm going to post a list of links to articles about self-editing, something near and dear to my heart. In fact, incessant self editing is why I only wrote 2000 words today instead of 4000.

But they're 2000 really pretty words.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/self_editing.htm

http://www.eclectics.com/articles/selfediting.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~jdc24/selfEdit.htm

http://www.notrain-nogain.com/Train/Res/Write/rev.asp

http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/cut-to-the-chase-in-your-writing.php

http://www.webpronews.com/ebusiness/smallbusiness/wpn-2-20020504SelfEditingYourWriting.html

http://writing-world.com/fiction/mistakes.shtml

http://www.googobits.com/articles/326-selfediting-and-revising-your-fiction.html

http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/selfedit.html

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/polish-your-writing-to-professionalism-three-tips-for-self-editing.html

http://www.gkbledsoe.com/articles/process/editing.html

http://www.suite101.com/blog/lima101/better_writing_101_tips_for_selfediting

What are your favorite self editing tips and tricks? I like to reread my text when I'm supposed to be writing new words. Well, I don't LIKE it but I sure as hell do it enough. I also like to use Word's "search" function a lot, though I've learned not to be heavy handed with "replace". That way lies madness.

Jody W.
www.jodywallace.com