I’m having a blast writing this small piece of fan fiction I’m working on but, I seem to have fallen victim to non-stop editing.  I can’t say it’s been bad for the story but, every time I read over a part that I have already declared finished, I make small edits.  It’s been little things like, switching a couple words in a sentence or deleting a single phrase.  I can’t stop!  My internal editor has gone on auto-pilot and won’t stop working.

I can remember having a conversation with my dad, years ago and discussing this problem.  He had written a few books himself.  Back in those days (pre-home computers) editing took the form of physical sheets of paper piling up on the desk.  There had been an implication that I didn’t understand the horrors of editing until I had re-written an entire chapter nineteen times.  My twenty-something self had sat there with my jaw sagging.  The idea that a person could even want to do that many re-writes on a single part was idiotic to me.  Now, a few years later (okay, it’s a bit more than a few) I think I’m getting the idea.