Indie Authors Living in the Real World (Editing)

The reason editing my novel is such a difficult task is that I have to work with what I've got; that is, the story is the story. It's done; complete.

Of course I can make minor changes to it, and I have. If that wasn't the case, why would I put myself through such an agonizing exercise? But major changes are out of the question. I'm not averse to moving things around if that would improve the story, but I won't start writing it again.

A developmental editor on Reddit pointed users to a comprehensive checklist he'd drawn up for authors who edit their own novels. He certainly didn't need to do it, but there are those generous people who enjoy sharing what they know. I don't know how generous I am, but when I was employed as a trainer, I liked sharing tips and tricks I'd developed. I didn't believe in hoarding information. Really, what good is knowledge if you're just going to keep it to yourself?

I took a look at his guidelines and shook my head. I can't possibly do all the things he says are necessary (which they are, of course). Do some authors write that first draft aiming for it to be bad? If so, why? My first draft is as honed as I can make it. That could be why I'm a slower writer than most, but if I just wrote crap to begin with, where's the fun in that? Writing is not simply spilling out the plot. It's everything that goes along with that. Plus, I'm hardly worried that if I don't commit the plot to paper, I'll forget it. Do these people have short-term memory loss? 

I'm not here to denigrate plotters. Plotters are far more successful than discovery writers like me. But I wonder if those horrible first drafts stem from following an outline. "First comes this, then if I look at 2B, it says I need to write this." Then, "I'll fill all the other stuff in when I edit." Just typing that sentence made me nauseous. Go back and write a bunch more? No!

I've come to the realization that I wouldn't want to hire an editor, even if I could afford to. Is he/she going to tell me I need to rewrite my story? Well, that would be money down the drain, because I just wouldn't do it.

In many ways I'm old-fashioned, I guess. To me, writing is about getting it right; not about getting it wrong and then needing someone to tell me what I need to do to "make it work". That's like telling a clueless person how to fold laundry. Figure it out, dumbass!

Writing is a process. I don't skip around and I don't do stupid things like writing the ending first. I don't employ any of the tricks. I just work hard.

If I don't follow the professional checklist, so be it.