Remember when I said I was going to try to post once a week? HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that totally happened…

Anyway…

A while back, I read an article about how physically printing out your manuscript to edit it is more beneficial than editing on a computer. I actually read a few articles on this, and watched authors I follow go through this process as well. Yet, I, myself, was uninterested in that mess.

Reasons I Was Reluctant To Edit on Paper:

1. I love Microsoft Word! I love how I can just highlight to delete and entire paragraph or just copy and paste things I want to move. And spell check! For an avid reader, I am a terrible speller. All in all, digitally editing a book is more convenient.
2. Printing a book would take up so much paper and ink! That stuff is expensive!
3. Editing with pen is messy. It’s not pretty to look at and my handwriting gets worse and worse the more I write.

Well, just like my post on going to the library, I’m going to counter each of these reservations to editing the old-fashioned way, because I’ve discovered once again that I was wrong!

Microsoft Word is Better

Microsoft Word is amazing. I love it. It is clearly the best word processing software out there. (I am not refuting my post from last year about the wonders of Scrivener. However, it serves a different function–mainly brainstorming and planning–so I’m not going to address that here.) Here’s the thing about Microsoft Word: it is a tool to getting your words on a page. While there are a lot of fun bells and whistles that help with editing, it does not automatically make your writing better. In fact, I’ve discovered that doing so much of my writing on Word has actually made me lazy. Instead of choosing my words carefully before I put them down, I just type, then go back and fix my sloppy writing a billion times, because it’s so easy to copy, cut, paste, delete, etc. It’s sad, I got so used to typing my writing that when I went to rewrite an entire paragraph on my printed copy, for a moment I froze with my pen in my hand, thinking, “Wait, how do I write with a pen? What is this?” Yeah, not a good trap to fall into…

Now that I’ve talked about why Word isn’t the best place to edit, let’s talk about why good old-fashioned paper and pen is so great. When I edited with a pen I was more capable of finding my mistakes. When you switch mediums, things pop out at you that you didn’t notice before. For example, changing the font and size before you print causes you to notice things your eyes would have skimmed over before.  This was definitely the case with me. I found mistakes I had missed on the computer and recognized sloppy writing when I came to it. Also, editing with a pen helps you to see what changes you’ve made. This is beneficial for a few reasons:

1) You can see the pages you’ve neglected, because there are no markings on them. 2) It’s a good visual of your progress. 3.) It feels good to see how much you’ve improved!

This is going to sound very silly, but to me one of the best things about editing with pen and paper is that it feels better. I have a tangible story in my hand. I can physically hold my words! I don’t know why I got so much satisfaction from that, but I couldn’t stop flipping through the pages of my manuscript and just carrying it around with me. There was a strange sense of pride that came with it. Not even holding my published book did that, because a book is a team effort. My manuscript is all me.

 

 

Printing a Book is Expensive

Okay, this one I can’t argue with. It is expensive. I can see why people are reluctant to print so many pages. I suppose you just have to weigh the benefits against the cost. If you’re really serious about your writing, you should know that creating a novel does not come for free, especially if you plan to self-publish. If you just write as a fun hobby, don’t bother printing up your book, because it won’t be worth it to you. If you intend to get your words out there in front of an audience, personally, I believe that there are sacrifices you must make in order to reach your goal. If you aren’t willing to make those sacrifices, maybe the end goal isn’t as important to you as you thought. That’s okay! In life we must prioritize. My writing is a priority to me, so the cost of printing my novel was worth it to me.

Editing With a Pen is Messy

“Writing is supposed to be messy.”

Do you know who says that almost every day to her students during writing time? Me. Do you know who always requires her students to write their essays out on paper before typing them up? Me. Do you know

who clearly doesn’t follow her own advice? Me.

I don’t know why I’m so stupid to have not made this connection to myself. Almost every day, a student finishes up an essay and shouts out, “I’m done!” and tries to hand it in right away. I immediately tell them to go back to edit and revise. They let out a huffy breath, glumly trudge back to their desk, change one word, then try to hand it in again. Part of this is laziness. They just want to be done. However, another part is that they don’t want to mess up what they’ve already done. They don’t want it to get  messy from eraser marks and notes in the margins. They’ve never felt the satisfaction of looking at a marked up piece of paper and thinking, “Look how far I’ve come!” What they think instead is, “Look at all the things I did wrong.”

I didn’t want to print out my novel and edit with a pen, because I knew it would get messy and complicated. I was thinking just like one of my third-graders. Once I started reading through my physical copy, and making those notes, it became clearer to me what I had always meant by “writing is messy”. It’s supposed to be all over the place, because it’s a process! Unlike speaking, you aren’t required to express your words in real time. You’re meant to shape and grow them, and growth takes time and patience.

Writing is an art! Artists, painters, dancers, musicians… they all play around with their craft before they present their masterpiece. In writing, one must be like Bob Ross and experiment with their words unworried about making mistakes. They’ve got to throw in a “happy little tree” and play around with it until it looks the way they want it!

 

Tips for Print Editing:

1. Change the font and size in your document. This helps you see it differently. It’s also good to choose a very practical font that’s easy to read. If this manuscript is going to be sent int to someone like an agent, they usually the request Courier, but since mine was just for me, I used Times New Roman.

   

2. Double space it, or 1.5 space it. This gives you room to edit between the lines.
3. Give yourself large margins to leave space for notes.
4. If you can afford it, print one-sided. I liked having blank pages to write on when I’m adding in entire paragraphs.
5. Keep chapters together with a paperclip or binder clip, but don’t staple. When it isn’t stapled, you can simply flip each page over next to the page you’re editing and you have that blank page ready for you in case you need it.
6. Use a pen color that will pop out. You need to be able to find your changes later.
7. Go through and edit the whole thing before you start transferring the edits onto your Word document. It helps you keep momentum.