Writing is Editing

You accept that.

But do you love it? Well, do you?

You’re staring. Am I serious? Love editing? How can I love that? 

If you want to continue as an author, it’s time you learned.

It surprises me how many people only think of editing as a career.

Editing isn’t merely grammar and knowing how to arrange words. It’s understanding human nature. The invisible work of editing is arranging a story to reveal readers to themselves. A polished book reflects the clearest image. A proper edit carves out truth, truth that heals readers’ misconceptions—about the world, themselves, God, and others.

What? Don’t you believe it?

You’re right. Editing isn’t always about that—or rarely is. But how else do you find yourself in a story so new yet so familiar you can’t believe you’ve never been there before—you’ve somehow always been there?

Those stories that know you, they aren’t just written.

No. They’re edited. And rewritten. And edited again.

Like counselors, editors use questions to guide the process. It isn’t flashy. It isn’t quick. It’s challenging. It can be painful.

Because it’s the real work of love.

It’s always a surprising thrill to see a book take shape. The frustration, the hard work, the struggle, it’s worth it. Without it, the book wouldn’t have such value. Don’t be cowed. The unstoppable ideas are born and raised in the wisdom that everything important requires effort, pain, and ultimately all of you.

Everything. What matters is what you choose.

Forget all else. Follow your bliss.

Lose yourself in the editing. When it’s hard and unclear and requiring everything you have just to see your world, know that you will. Editing is where the book first shows you yourself. You’ll find what you wanted to say and what you need to give readers—it’s there in the love, it’s always there. It’s incredible.

Love that author and that growing love in you for your reader, which is what will show them, finally, themselves.

And what could matter more than that?

It matters because everything matters. In a way, it’s the only thing that really does matter.