Writing is Fun. Editing is Not.

I remember from the ages of 12 to 17 it was all about the writing. I was writing every summer between school. It was enjoyable and cathartic. It didn't feel like work; it felt like expression. 

The only problem with writing twelve novels by the age of 17 is now I have to edit them. I wish I could write "Dear 12-year-old self, Learn to edit after you write." But then I was 12. I would probably have to edit again even if I had edited back then. 

A college professor whom I deeply respect once told me: "Editing is never finished. Things can always be perfected." It is a true and very hopeless notion. I know my work doesn't touch perfection, but if I feel it has to be overhauled now at the age of 24, what will I think of that same work at the age of 50? 

The troubles of a young writer! 

Right now my red pen is bleeding through the pages as I edit Volume 2 of The Elementals trilogy. 

I sit with my red pen and my notebook because if there is one good thing that comes from editing it's new ideas. It can also be a problem as the book grows and grows and grows. Sometimes you just want to deal with what is there. But other times I am very grateful. I've never had writer's block. 

Editing is a pain. 

My First Book

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New Blog!

This is the first post of my new blog. I just finished my first book, The Elementals. The editing was by far the hardest and most time-consuming thing I've ever done, except law school maybe. But the funny thing is, I enjoyed the process, even the hard parts. I'm just passionate about writing, and I guess when you're passionate about something, ever the hard stuff becomes exciting or even fulfilling.

My journey with this book began when I was seventeen. It wasn't my first book (I wrote my first book when I was 12, and though my dad and a few of his friends swear it was great, I have my doubts). This book was actually my fourth but there's something about it that draws me in more than any of my other books. It's probably because the heroine is drawn into a path that she didn't choose, but later she decides to go against the odds and forge her own path.

For just about 7 years, I sat on this book and did nothing about it, and then when I went though my first year of law school, I realized life is short and I'm almost 24, and I've done a lot of great things that other people praise me for, but I needed something to praise myself for.

I've had lots of ambitions, but I feel like this one, writing, is the only one that is truly mine and no one else's. I spent a lot of time struggling with that and I don't really know why.

At my breaking point, I wrote to one of my professors from undergrad and told him that I felt that I was not pursuing my passion in life. He told me that I have to pursue my passion as he did. He juggled with the idea of becoming a dentist for some time, but said that he wouldn't trade his courses or his students for the world.

It's a funny thing. Sometimes a person gives you advice that you already know in your heart to be true, but it wasn't really until that person said it that you decide to act on it. That's how it worked for me.

I was in a slump, and then my eyes were opened. I can't thank that professor enough for that.