The dreaded 'E' word

Most writers love the thrill of a new story - the rush of adrenalin as you romp through an adventure, letting your characters take you on a wild journey. I'm no different; I 'see' the thread of the story and gradually add meat to the bones of it until I romp over the finish line with a sigh of relief.

But then, the 'E' word raises its ugly head: editing. It's often a dirty word with writers - but today I had a thought that might - just might - put a different spin on the process.

(Forgive me if I appear to go off on a tangent now, but it is relevant - honest!)

At the moment, I'm involved in raising funds for a church reordering project. As part of that, I decided to make purses from unwanted ties; instead of taking up wardrobe space, they would be turned into something useful. I expected maybe a couple of dozen ties to be donated.

When I received more than two hundred from our congregation, I realised I had to extend the range of products - a team of volunteers are now making bottle bags, hair scrunchies and handbags to use up the excess. So how does that tie in (pun very much intended!) to the 'E' word?

Well, I'm never going to use the word 'editing' again; instead, when I get to that stage, I'm going to view the process as upcycling. The scene that doesn't work? I'll cut it and turn it into a short story. Rambling sentences? They can be tightened. A contrived situation to get my character to do something I need him/her to do? Revamp to something my character really would do instead. It's still the same process, but my mindset is in a different place; a tie can be an ordinary tie, or with some effort, it can become something rather special and unique.

My manuscript, if upcycled, could become the same.