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what's up my friend Abbi here and welcome back to writers life wednesdays today we are in a different location what do you know we're sitting on my desk because today we are going to be editing editing I felt like really hard to say or is it just me so a few weeks ago I posted this video which is about like sort of the introduction to editing and and what I do to edit a first draft of a novel but I couldn't it fit like all the editing things into that one 10-minute video or however long it does I mean I think it's ten minutes long I realized that I had to like do something way better than that I'm going to show you side-by-side comparisons of a page from my debut novel 100 days of sunlight the before and after so the first draft a page from the first draft unedited and a page from the final draft which is in this book ready let's go so before we get into this whole editing thing before I dive into it on my computer I want to tell you kind of a little bit more about my personal editing process and what it looks like for me so for the sake of my eyes I prefer not to edit all the time on my computer obviously it eventually has to all go into the digital manuscript on the computer but I prefer to print off my manuscripts and bind them in giant white three-ring binders so that I can scribble all over them and write on them with highlighters and pens and all other kinds of fun writing gear what this process looks like for me is I finish a book I distance myself from it you've heard me talk about that before I give myself pretty much 3 to 6 months 6 months is like the long end of the spectrum but sometimes it literally is 6 months before I pick up that book again and read it and I can go back into it with a fresh mind so the first time I go through it I'll probably read it on the computer just to catch any big developmental things and then I will print it all off put it into a three-ring binder and read it and mark it up more intensely than I have ever before I also like to create sort of a code key thing with my highlighters so I'll highlight passive voice or shallow point-of-view or weak words or weak sentences or continuity errors all of these things I like to have a specific color code for them so that when I'm leafing through my manuscript that's marked up I can easily see from a glance how much of each topic of each issue I'm going to have to address in the manuscript so after that's done I will take my written in manuscript and take my computer and sit down and put all the edits into my computer so that's usually how I do this process so let's move on to my example that I told you earlier that I would show you a snippet of 100 days of sunlight my debut novel which is coming out August 7th and I know I feel like kind of I'm kind of like freaking out that I'm gonna give you like a sneeze peak but it's just one page from the first chapter and a lot of you have already read the bug because a lot of you signed up to be a RC readers and I love you guys thank you so much for being a part of the launch by the way just sneaking that little bit of gratitude in there you're awesome so let's get up that file so let's open both of these and we're gonna compare them side by side and I'm gonna kind of show you what went into editing this from the first draft to the final draft that made it to the actual book now I do want to add that this is post my editor so I sent this I send my books to a professional editor after I'm done editing them like three or four times I'll edit the first time like I said developmental just catching the big things then I print it off I get super detailed put all that in there print it off again have my mom read it who is amazing editor like bonus she's incredible at everything but she's also an incredible editor and is super honest with me it's so great to have a person like that in your life so definitely look for one you might have one you just don't know it so after she gives me her feedback and edits I put all that into the book I might read it again one more time and then I'll send it off to my editor who is a professional editor and she will copy it the whole thing and give me feedback as well so this hundred days of sunlight went through all those processes plus I read it like probably I don't know like seven or eight or nine or ten times it's like people are like so let's compare the first draft a page from the first draft with a page from the final draft it's the same page obviously what a strange feeling that was to awaken in the hospital and not see a thing just hear beeps and clicks and footsteps and voices I thought I was dreaming I must have been dreaming but then I heard grandma I felt her holding my hand I knew I wasn't dreaming and I started to cry so this is when Tessa is remembering waking up in the hospital after the accident that render her blonde mm-hmm so let's look at that same sentence after it went through went through the wood chipper of editing what a strange feeling that was to awaken in the hospital and not see a thing just hear beeps and clicks and footsteps and voices I thought I was dreaming but then I heard grandma I felt her holding my hand I realized I wasn't dreaming and I started to cry so it's not much different the only thing that was taken out I think was I must have been dreaming because that's confusing as heck they said it was blunt head trauma severe enough to cause a cerebral contusion whatever that meant there was a bruise on my brain and it was swelling enough to malfunction my visual cortex enough to cause blindness post-traumatic transient cortical blindness they said both sides of the brain were damaged because of the way I hit the door they said I would likely regain my sight but they didn't say when they didn't know when so that's like very messy huh okay it could have been worse mmm much better way to start that paragraph the only injury I suffered was something the doctors called a cerebral contusion which meant there is a bruise on my brain and it was swollen enough to affect my visual cortex swollen enough to cause blindness post-traumatic transient cortical blindness they said both sides of my brain were damaged and that with time I would most likely regain my sight but they didn't say for sure and they didn't say what that is so much more concise and I also took out the part that said both sides of my brain were damaged because of the way I hit the door like that is confusing because people will now be like how did she hit the door and that you don't want people who like backtracking and thinking about little details like that that do not matter so positioning things like that good just just just don't get into it they said the other driver was drunk and now arrested as if the damage hadn't been done he was unharmed saved by plenty of airbags they said our car was recalled for defects with the airbag system and it was technically our fault for not kidding it looked into but we had never been notified by the manufacturer so how are we supposed to know oh my god what a bunch of irrelevant information and not to mention like I don't think anybody would ever be like that like it's your fault it's your fault you got hurt and your gar accident because you were hit by a drunk driver but let's not talk about that part let's talk about how your airbags malfunction and you should have gotten it checked out like not only is that unrealistic but it's a bunch of information that we do not need to know so that was changed by me too one sentence the driver of the pickup truck was unharmed they arrested him but the damage was done I already mentioned earlier in this chapter that he was drunk grandma wasn't hurt except for a few minor bruises she stayed with me in the hospital for his lungs they kept me always by my side always apologizing to me I'm so sorry Tessa I'm so sorry but I felt like I was the one to blame I was everything I was the reason we went out I was bad timing I was fate I was the drunk driver it was all me it was all my fault so I that's very abstract I kind of know what I was thinking when I was writing that but it's confusing as heck so that got fixed into grandma wasn't hurt except for a few minor bruises she stayed with me in the hospital always by my side always apologizing to me I'm so sorry Tessa I'm so sorry but I felt like I was the one to blame I was the reason we went out I could have said another day grandma I could have done something differently something that could have prevented it all that makes more sense instead of her thinking fate bad timing like I didn't I appreciate the abstract ISM but I don't one week later a neurologist examined me her name was dr. Karl and I imagined she had blond hair and blue eyes in a narrow face she said the same thing that all the other doctors had said blunt trauma to the head cerebral contusion and cortical blindness but she said something different 12 to 14 weeks really I could hear the hope and grandma's voice I'm realistically optimistic said dr. Carter dr. Karl replied there's no such thing so that got cleaned up as well ensue after I came home from the hospital we went to see another neurologist her name was dr. Karl and I imagine she had blond hair and blue eyes in a narrow face she said the same thing that all the other doctors had said blunt trauma to the head cerebral contusion and cortical blindness then she said I don't believe this condition is permanent I expect we'll see improvement within - 14 weeks really grandma said hope shining through her voice I'm realistically optimistic dr. Karl dr. Karl replied there's no such thing much better much more realistic sounding much more dr. sounding 14 weeks is 98 days I asked Siri when I got home that afternoon and then I started counting down in my head today is the 21st day I don't think that changed much except I said that was when instead of then I started counting down in my head 14 weeks is 98 days I ask Siri when I got home that afternoon that was when I started counting down in my head today is the 21st day so that's kind of the basic process that I go through start to finish from the moment I finished the manuscript to the moment that I send it off to my editor so that's it I hope you enjoyed watching a little bit of my process kind of looking over my shoulder and seeing how I edit my work whether it's the messy first draft or a second draft or a third draft or the tenth time this manuscript the thing about editing is that you kind of have to decide to quit after a while because a work of art is never finished it is merely abandoned I have no idea who said that but I heard us I'm wearing a mic that's true so you really you could edit forever and you kind of have to decide when you're gonna be like that's good that is good I'm happy with that so I hope that this video has inspired you a little bit and maybe got you in the editing mood somebody you love editing and some of you hate it so comment below and tell me do you love editing do you hate it does your process look anything like mine do you like to print off your manuscripts actually hold them in your hands and write all over them and scribble and use highlighters do you have a color-coded highlighter key if you do I want to give you a waffle for being so awesome smash that like button if you like this video and be sure to subscribe to this channel if you haven't already because I post writing videos every single Wednesday and I would love to have you here in the community also be sure to hit that little bell icon next to the subscribe button if you to be the first one to know when I drop a new video until next week my friend rock on [Music] [Applause] [Music]