It’s true. There are four reviews on Amazon for my book. So far, people are responding very well. They’re responding even better in person. I really can’t believe the overwhelming response I am getting from my first release. It almost encourages a person to continue writing.

In fact, that’s what I have been up to this week. I submitted an entry to the 2014 Write Michigan competition. 3000 words (ok, 2991) in which I had to trim out more than 400 of them to meet the criteria. When I write, I tend to only think in stories: the story I’m writing, the story I want to write, the story I should have written last year… or maybe last night, when I made the executive decision to remain in bed and choose sleep instead (that story would have been amazing, for certain). When I write, I am focused on the task. When I edit though…

“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.” —Quotes by Stephen King, “The Horror Writer Market and the Ten Bears,” November 1973 WD

When I edit, I am nowhere near the work if I can help it. Revise, yes of course, certainly. Changing words, rearranging structure, fine fine. Edit? Don’t make me do it. Yes, I know it will be better for it, but those words were a part of my soul. I breathed life into that thing, and now I am supposed to simply cut it to pieces? I… I… I don’t want to.

I think the important words that King left out of that statement is that it’s not just ‘like murdering children’. It’s like murdering your own children. Or at least mutilating them so the will be better accepted by society.

But whatever it is that I am doing, I seem to do it well. At least I can take comfort in the fact that, should I have children, society will delight in the ways I mutilate them.