The Editing Death Spiral

There’s no such thing
as perfect.
Everything has imperfections.

There IS, however,
such a thing
as over-refined.

In writing,
we call this over-editing.
It is when a writer
revises and revises
until she revises all of the magic
out of her story.

Emotional scenes
are often raw and imperfect
and usually shouldn’t be touched.
When my editor says,
‘this makes me cry,’
I leave that scene alone.

That should be your cue too.
If a prospect says,
‘I love this,’
leave it alone.
Consider it done.

You CAN rework all of the magic
out of your product.
Be conscious of this.