Editing a long document is sort of like shoveling snow off a sidewalk while it is still snowing.
It begins with a foot of snow (you dump a rough draft on to the blank page). You start to shovel (edit) down the sidewalk (page). You reach the end of the sidewalk (page), wipe your brow with your cap, and look behind you.
My goodness, you didn’t realize it started snowing while you were still shoveling (it hardly looks like your editing job put a dent in your rough draft).
You must keep shoveling. Pushing. Smoothing out the transition from one point to the next. Otherwise you have a clunky document. You have fragments stitched together. You have outsourced web writing.
A great document is seamless. A country road that rolls over the hills and bends through the turns like the landscape has known nothing else.
It feels effortless. Yet, is anything but.
Image source: magical moment one Christmas afternoon
Thanks, Demian. Way to get me pumped up about writing a book 😉
The book?!