Is Exhaustion Editing a Thing™? I say yes!

Happy Tuesday!

To all of you who have purchased my new e-course on editing your own prose, I say a big, happy THANK YOU. If you’ve not and are considering it, today (22 October) is the last day you can use the 15% off discount code. You can get it by signing up to my website (the Subscribe link is under Offerings and Rates) and it’s good till midnight tonight. I’m getting good feedback, so have a look here if you’re on the fence.

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It’s not an easy time to be a human. I suppose it never has been an easy time. I imagine every human time since humans appeared has had its unease. I’ve been reading a lot about modern exhaustion and the motherlodes of information we’re constantly being asked (or forced) to process and internalize.

Fatigue, maybe? Fatigue. Such a nice word. I admit to being totally dog-ass tired now and again. It’s hard to unplug because this blog and my socials are how I get a good percentage of my paid work. Even when I’m out of range (Cuba, Two O’Clock Creek), there’s a pull to check. To see if I’ve missed anything regarding my services. I usually have but thankfully, people are mostly cool and patient.

Though I do have people who write to me Sunday night asking if I got their business email from Sunday morning. Yeah. I got it. I’m just not answering it till Monday because WEEKENDS EXIST. Generally, my days flow into one another, but when I can take a day off, I do it. I’m often seen at the second-run theatre downtown on a Wednesday afternoon, eating Junior Mints and turning off my brain.

Then it’s back to it. I typically have a few projects on the go at one time, and I can compartmentalize well. But my own work calls, too.

When I’m buried in other people’s words (or whatever else is making me tired), there’s nothing better than opening up my own new work in progress. It’s personal essays, which is a departure and a new form for me. I’m enjoying it, though it’s slow going. I trust it will be a book in a few years, though. I’ve played this game, and I have faith in my ability to finish it.

And it doesn’t need to be for hours, either. If I’m feeling tired, I open the file and aim to do just one thing. This is the basis of my e-course as well: one editing element at at a time.

Of course, a good fall walk always helps.

When it’s all too much, I type “really” into the search bar and cut them all (or rewrite the sentence so that it doesn’t need that word, and then I cut it). I move on to “very”, “kind of”, “sort of”, and “pretty much”. Getting something off my editing plate centres me and makes me focus. If I allow myself to read the paragraph in which the “very” appeared, I often find that I’m caught up. What else could I change in here to make it better? There’s always something.

I don’t write every day. Dentists don’t do root canals every day, and they’re still dentists. You know how I feel about all that. I do edit most days, and when it’s my own work, I feel totally engaged.

More importantly, though, when I’m working on my own writing, I can shut it all out: climate grief, politics, the Visa bill, etc. All of it is gone if only for a short time.

But sometimes, a short time is all I need. If I need more, I go to the movies.

This week, I wish you focus, unplugging (if you can), sunshine, and plentiful words.