editing – Andrew Careaga

On ‘wrediting’

‘Write first, edit later’ is common advice. But how does it work in the real world?

I have a confession: Try as I might to follow the writer’s maxim to “write first, edit later,” I just can’t seem to stick with it.

“Write first, edit later” is one of the more common ground rules for writers. If you want to be a great writer, you’ve got to create that first draft without inhibition. Just vomit those ideas out on the page. Don’t even think about editing, fixing grammatical errors or problems with syntax, or other stylistic issues. Just write. Just “give your creativity free rein” as you create your first draft, knowing you can go back and fix it later.

Friday Five: Q&A with Inventing Reality’s Rob Bignell

‘Allow yourself to write “poorly.” Later … you can edit out the junk.’

Photo of Rob Bignall, Inventing Reality Editing Services — Rob Bignall

What better way to start the new year than with some writing advice from a seasoned professional? Rob Bignell is the man behind Inventing Reality Editing Services and the author of over 80 books, including fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, and several guidebooks for writers.

Bignell’s company name, as he explains on his website, “is a play on British author J.G. Ballard’s quotation, ‘The writer’s task is to invent the reality.’ That is, writers must create a fictional dream and in doing so, show the truth via their art.” For writers wanting to increase sales, it also means “taking the fulfillment of your dreams into your own hands, that is, turning your dream into a reality through your own hard work.” Read on for more of Bignell’s thoughts about writing, self-publishing, and marketing your work.

Some writing advice about writing advice

In which a Substacker advises writers to ignore writing advice. Come again?

I had to snicker at the title of this post from Henry Oliver on his Common Reader Substack: Writing advice is a lie.

From there, Oliver offers some advice of his own. He tells us to ignore all that writing advice you see floating around Substack and in books. (Excluding his own, presumably.)

“Almost all of it is wrong,. Flat wrong. Plain wrong. Waste-of-time wrong,” he writes.

Innovation, communication, and the Errors Tour

An important lesson: sometimes our efforts to connect with an audience fall flat.

It was great to be back on the Missouri S&T campus earlier this week to give the keynote talk for the university’s first Innovative Communication Conference. (Huge thanks to Dr. Jossalyn M. Gale, director of S&T’s Writing and Communication Center, for inviting me to speak.)

In my talk, I wanted to expand on the idea of the conference theme — “Innovation Requires Communication” — to emphasize the importance or storytelling in communication and innovation. I also wanted to impress on students the importance of embracing failure, and I needed a catchy title, something that would resonate with the mainly Gen Z audience, so I decided to borrow from 2023’s biggest pop culture event, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and call my presentation “The Errors Tour (Andy’s Version).”

Reactions to my cover slide were mixed. The older folks in the audience (read: faculty and staff) appreciated the wordplay. The students either smiled politely or remained expressionless. It seems they were over 2023 and all things Swift.

But …

Is it ready yet?

I wish there were a surefire way of knowing when a piece was finished.

I’ve been working on — and reworking — an essay over the past two months, and I’m reaching the point of frustration with the effort. Mostly, I’m getting frustrated with myself for the constant tweaking I’ve been doing with it. I feel like I’ve been working it over more than I should, but I still don’t feel the piece is ready yet.

If only there were a surefire way of knowing when a piece was finished. Maybe a writer’s version of the pop-up thermometer used to determine when the Thanksgiving turkey is ready to take out of the oven. Could someone please invent that for me?

In the meantime, I took to the internet to ask some writers for their take on how to know when a piece is done.