My brain has felt like a dumpster lately. Life keeps putting stuff in my head that smells terrible, and as a result I've had trouble doing anything creative (or feeling like any of my creative attempts are actually worthwhile). However, since I'm a writer who is so committed to finishing her novel that she'll drive herself to insanity, I haven't stopped editing.

Cue crazed laughter.

First things first, though, you need to understand how seriously I take my writing. Just because I'm in the middle of a creative slump doesn't mean I can let myself stop being productive. Inspiration is fickle at best and completely unreliable at its worst. I keep writing because discipline is a far worthier ally. It is difficult and my progress has definitely slowed, but I'm still working, and that's what's important.

Which leads me to my main point, and that is to show you non-writers just how infuriatingly busy a writer's brain gets when we're editing. People have said 'oh, it's easy. You just proofread for mistakes and you're done!'

Ha. Ha. HA.

Below is some evidence supporting otherwise. I've decided to use my current work-in-progress, Blue 15 to illustrate the utter chaos that a writer's brain embodies during the editing and revision stage. Know I've been working on this since 2014. You may want to strap yourself in.

1. It's huge.

My actual book is only about 110,000 words. But the rest of the statistics have really piled up after three years. For example, let's explore my document files.

This is the 'Mine' folder under My Documents. (i.e., all my personal fiction writing projects).

Pretty standard. (And well-organized, if I may say so myself). Now let's find Blue 15.

There it is! And it's got its own folder?

No. It's got A LOT of folders. This layout is only fairly new as it is, seeing as I finally got so many documents that I had to start organizing lest I risk losing my mind somewhere amid the swampy mess. This is what I settled on, and so far it's working out really well.

But wait. Is that the full extent of it?

NO. And this is just one of the sub-folders that contains its own sub-folders. If you haven't already started to get an idea for how overwhelming this whole thing is, just take a look at the Dates Modified column. They go way back... you can almost hear my sanity starting to slip...

Okay, but really, that wasn't too bad. Sure, I've got a lot of documents, but so what? It's a way to stay organized. The last thing I'd want to do is lose treasured parts of my book that I wanted to save from the very beginning. It'd be fun to go back and read the very first draft someday, wouldn't it? I wonder where we would find that...

THERE. BURIED IN THE VERY DEEPEST FOLDER I HAVE.

And that, my friends, is just a fraction of how big this whole project is. You should see the notebook I carry with me for when I have story-writing emergencies. I've had it since spring 2014, and as you can imagine, most of it is bursting with Blue 15 ideas. Most of which have been scrapped.

Don't even get me started on the art folder.

Shhh.

Sssssshhhhhhh.

2. It's complicated.

This one is probably more unique to me because I can't speak for other writers, but I personally love the split-screen view. During this past July, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, and of course, I chose to rewrite/edit this book for the third (fourth?) consecutive time.

Here's what my setup looked like:

Ignoring the giant folder in the middle, this is what I opened every day. By having the two documents side by side, old and new, I'm better able to see how my changes have translated. I usually copy and paste a half-page at a time, then rewrite or line-edit as needed. If you can see the stats, you'll see the original version is over 230 pages, while my rewrite is only about 120 (single spacing, because that's how I like to write). So I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

I also have my 'Rewrite 2 outline' document open, which has helped guide me through the "big picture" stuff. It features such optimistic lines as this:

Highlighted lines mean changes are needed. A lot of this outline is highlighted.

The reason the process is complicated is because not only do I have three documents open simultaneously, but I also need to keep referencing things that have already happened. For example, I changed the name of my world's taser-weapons from 'electrans' to 'arcs' (because that sounds a whole lot less dumb), but then I needed to make sure I changed every instance where I referred to them as electrans. In addition, if I find a scene where one character who previously did not have an arc now has one, I need to double check for continuity.

Complicated.

3. It's my baby.

It might drive me to the end of my brainpower and make me want to hurl myself in a ditch, but Blue 15 is something I'm determined to finish. All these documents and never-ending word counts are enough to drive any writer nuts, but any writer also knows the value of sticking it to the end.

Writers also know the value of figuring out their personal editing process. Mine involves a million and twelve documents and a whole lot of sub-folders, but it's working. I encourage you to try new formats if your project is resisting a rewrite - who knows what could help you find that magic formula? Or perhaps you don't have one, and each project is a new editing adventure?

Whatever it ends up being, your novel is your baby. I took the liberty today of showing off mine, and as a result, all the garbage in my brain feels a whole lot less consuming. I hope you enjoyed getting to read about it, just as I hope you'll actually get to read the actual manuscript one day.

Which reminds me, I should go back to editing...