Inner Editor?

There are many advantages to writing quickly, and for me, one of the best is not having time to edit as I go. If I wrote and edited at the same time I doubt I would ever get a book finished.

As a result, my NaNo project is riddled with triple question marks and highlighted text. When I start questioning a detail or piece of dialogue, I make a note to myself and move on. Triple question marks are a habit I picked up when working as an editor for an educational publisher. We flagged sections with ??? when we needed to find out information, had a question for the author, etc. Then, before we signed off on each document, we did a search for ???.

This NaNo, my kids are writing their books alongside me, with the help of the Young Writer’s Program. They get pep talks and videos, just like the grownups. But one thing is different for my kids. When the pep talker mentions things like “suck” and feeling down about your work, my kids look at me and ask, “What are they talking about?” And it’s not just because we don’t use the word “suck” at our house except when in reference to drinking straws, it’s because they don’t understand the concept of self-doubt.

“Mom, read this!”

You see, as my kids are writing, they are giggling away at something funny they wrote. Or they will let out a surprised gasp when something unexpected happens. They are eager to share their brilliant stories. And the oldest wants to know how to go about getting his book published. Extrapolating from my young writers, I’d say most other kids are just as confident in their stories. They are living in the story world and the story world is good.

Writing the first draft is about getting caught up in the moment. That first love of your story. Don’t try to analyze its faults yet. They won’t be all that clear right now anyway. Come January? You’ll see that huge plot hole that mysteriously developed while you were out skiing (or for you warm climate folks, off at the beach) clearing your mind of the NaNo craziness.