It's finished! Now put it down and let it rest.

I found out something, somewhat by accident and also, when I've thought about it, something that I always knew. Whenever you write your perceived masterpiece, typically you're in a pretty big hurry to get it out there. The ideas are fresh in your mind and you want everyone who will listen to take the journey with you. Sort of like a camping trip I took with my family years ago when my children were still very small. We had all the children we were going to have, five. I think our youngest, Julie, was three or four. The previous year, my brothers and I took a motorcycle trip through central Idaho. From Idaho Falls, we drove up to Salmon and over Lost Trail pass into Montana and up to Lolo. From there we turned and rode over Lolo pass and drove the 80 or so miles across the pan handle of Idaho, traveling along the Locksaw river, coming out on the other side at Grangeville. From there we traveled through the heat of the east gorges of Hell's canyon and all the way down the west side of the state to Weiser, Idaho. Then followed the highways back across the state to home. On a motorcycle ride, you go and go and go all day. You're by yourself and have only yourself to tend to. The enjoyment was being on the bike in the open air with an omni-directional view of your surroundings. It was certainly a beautiful ride and very enjoyable. I wanted my family to experience the same thing, so the following summer we loaded up the bullet train van and set out to retrace the journey made the previous year in the same fashion. Yeah, it didn't go well at all. I learned that you don't pack five kids and a wife into a small van and travel all day and camp only in the evenings and expect to have a great time. Yes, they said it was pretty, what they saw of it from the windows of the vehicle. You have to stop and smell the roses when you've got a car load. What I should have done, was waited another year or two. This would have allowed for more discussion and better planning for more time out of car. Perhaps we would have taken a couple of extra days. That would have made it so much better and probably a resounding success.

I believe the same formula can and should be applied to writing, fiction or non-fiction. I can't count how many times I have picked up Thulsa's Gate or Starbird and read a couple of chapters. I would come to some parts and look at it thinking, "I could written it this way and it would have been so much more articulate." Or, "I could have just phrased it this way and then I wouldn't have even needed this paragraph." Some say that's the job of the editor and I suppose there is some truth in that, but I believe a standard editor's job is to remain unattached and as sterile as possible with what they're working with. Become too involved and an individual's bias's are brought forward and you loose your effectiveness as an editor. Certainly there are pros and cons to this and each author will have to cross this bridge every time they submit a work for editing.

As I am working on the rough drafts for the next Starbird sequel, I fully intend on writing up to the point where I had stopped the original hand written manuscript and then setting it down to let it rest. I'll then turn back to the 'Equel' to Thulsa's Gate and finish that rough draft, set it down and turn back to Starbird again, hopefully cruising through it with a different perspective. I think this will make it a better experience for any reader and hopefully better for me as the author. After all, isn't better, better?