I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my behind-the-scenes story of the not so glamorous process of article writing.
I will continue my account of the process in this post, though I have to admit I lost track of some of the details of what exactly I did on what day, so I’ll just have to give you an overview and highlights.
Day 10 – Wednesday: Started a new document, pasted in my introduction and the early parts of the article that were working, and started re-writing the rest, which wasn’t really organized yet. This seemed to be a turning point, the start of my actual article.
Day 11 – Thursday: Did more research. Started mining the book I’m referring to for specific points for the article.
Day 12 – Friday: Forced myself to write a little, on the new, cleaner draft. My resistance was especially high today, probably because I’m starting to feel the pressure to get this actually written, but once I finally dragged myself to the keyboard, I had plenty of things to write about. In fact in going to have to do some cutting later. Ended up with over 900 words, and I need to cut to between 700 and 750. Realistically, it will be just about 750.
The good thing about having extra words is then you have plenty to work with. Cutting and editing are easier than facing a blank page, and when you have to get rid of words you get to choose just the best ones.
Sat. to Wed., days 13 to 17, were a bit of a blur, so let’s just say I took a couple of days off, and the rest of the time did more of the same.
Spent several work sessions cutting and polishing. Inevitably added some words as I edited, but eventually managed to cut from around 900 to just over 750, my limit.
Thursday – Day 18: Needed to get serious about finishing the article. I was just about finished, but then I decided to change the order of some list items. After a bit of cutting, pasting, and the occasional technical panic, it all came together, and I think it really was better. Got out a thesaurus and found an alternate word or two, where I had some repetition.
By the end of the day I was mainly finished. Just needed another edit. I emailed my editor, letting her know I was ahead of schedule, and that I’d probably deliver the article (or my draft of it) the following evening, or Monday at the latest.
Friday – Day 19 Finished the article, proofread several times, made a few changes, and checked my references to make sure I had the right page numbers. Found a quote to add. Had to cut a few words, but came in just at 749.
I made a discovery about the kinds of perfectionism that do and don’t work for me. I tend to think of all the possibilities until the scope is too large. So I’m learning that I need to choose my angle, get just enough research, get a draft done, and then let go of further expanding the possibilities.
Then I am free to really polish what I have, working in a limited sphere. I can spend some time finding just the right word, cutting what I don’t need, getting the flow to sound right, proofreading several times, etc., without making it all too big. I’ll call it perfectionism in a small pond.
Saturday Day 20: Did another read through or two, checked the word count, which was back at 749, and in the evening attached the document to an email, held my breath, and pushed send!
I could have taken another day to polish and obsess and still have the article in my editor’s in-box before Monday morning, but I felt it was time to let it go and stop worrying.
Now the waiting begins again.
Monday – Day 22: I can’t keep myself from checking my email often today, but I know editors are busy, so I may not hear back for awhile. I am pleased and relieved though to have turned in the article 3 weeks from the day I received the assignment, a whole week before my outside deadline.
Today I began the research needed before I can send another article pitch. So it begins again.
Tuesday – Day 23: Received an email saying they got the article. Now my editor will send it to her editor for review, and they’ll let me know what they think.
Thanks for joining me behind the scenes.