What Are the 34 Stages of Editorial Enlightenment?
Posted on June 23, 2010 by Kelly Parkinson • 24 Comments
Or, Why I Can’t Write Anything In One Day
This is brilliant. I am on fire. A natural talent!
There is so much great stuff in here. I can feel it!
I can’t wait for someone to read it!
This isn’t my own genius. It’s coming through me, but it is not me.
This is terrible.
This is probably the worst thing I’ve ever written.
This doesn’t even make sense.
This is a professional embarrassment.
I’ll never write again.
I never could.
How can I let anyone read this?
Maybe it’s not so bad, if I delete 80 percent.
Okay, that part is not bad.
It’s pretty good.
No, it’s still not good. It’s not good at all. It’s bad.
I’m afraid to look.
I am finished, professionally speaking.
I can’t possibly show this to anyone.
The shame!
I have to turn this in. There’s a deadline.
It’s good enough. For now.
I can fix it later.
Maybe no one will notice how irritating I am.
This part is actually kind of good.
Funny. How did I think of that?
This is good. I’ll probably never write this way again.
I will never write this way again. I might as well accept that. It was a different time.
No, this is terrible.
This is a mediocre piece of writing, at best.
Definitely not my best work.
This is terrible.
I never want to read this again.
I should probably just start over.
I don’t know—what do you think?
