Hi. My name is Sara and I’m a recovering perfectionist.
The funny thing is that I never thought of myself as a perfectionist when I was younger because I couldn’t do anything perfectly. I saw all the flaws and mistakes in everything I did and in some sense wished I was a perfectionist so I could stop screwing things up.
*cough*
Well, it took me way too long to put 2 and 2 together on that one but it is the reason why I wanted to write this particular blog today–I just had a major AHA! moment in my writing journey that made my perfectionist heart skip multiple beats.
I sent my writing to be professionally edited.
Scariest thing I have done so far. You may laugh at that but as someone who fears failure, does not take criticism well and wants nothing more than to be a good author, this step was terrifying. I was catastrophizing the editor’s response, wondering if they would be laughing at my work, red pen flailing over every line. Maybe this step would prove, once and for all, that I can’t do it.
But of course, none of that happened. Maybe I just luckily picked a good editor but she came back to me with some reassuring compliments on my writing and, most importantly, pointed out the areas where I could make the story better. For me, that was the AHA! moment. As I read through her comments I saw quite clearly how I could take a story that I wrote and that I knew wasn’t exactly how I wanted it, and make it sing. It was the letting go of the belief that if I just keep working at it, I’ll make it perfect eventually. No, I needed a different set of eyes and a different set of skills to look at it and say, this is where you could improve. It’s the acceptance that my stubbornly independent arse cannot do this on my own. And that’s ok. Because I am not a shitty writer, I’m just new at this. The things my editor suggested got right at the points of my story that I knew weren’t right but I didn’t know how to make them better. And now I do.
Writing is not a solitary journey. I think we usually picture authors hermited away in their cottages, bent over typewriters with a steaming cup of coffee at their elbow, working feverishly on their next great work. But in reality, at least for those of us new to the game, it will take a team of people to get from a first draft to a published piece.
And now, I’m ok with that.
For anyone interested, I found my editor through Reedsy. I had read conflicting reviews of the service but I have to say I had an excellent experience. It was easy to filter through the available editors to find someone who would work on a short story and the process of connecting with her was quick and easy. Now, I only sent in a flash fiction (1000 word) piece so I’m not sure I would feel comfortable starting from scratch with a full-length novel. But I am realizing that sending short stories to different editors would be a good way to find someone that works for you without the major commitment.
Happy Writing 🙂