Making While My Mistakes Pile Up Around Me

Making, Mistakes, and Making Mistakes

I have been editing on three different books this last week. One is Green Ember Lost Tales III: The Lost Cause and it will come out, Lord willing, this year before Christmas. (The other two are part of a new trilogy that will begin with a new release next year. More fun stuff on that later.) The Lost Cause is the final edition of the Lost Tales trilogy and I enjoyed rereading and rehashing the finale. Your family will love it, I believe. It’s intense and exciting and packed with that moral imagination and heroic courage you have come to expect from Green Ember stories. It also had approximately Thirty-million mistakes.

Thirty-million is an exaggeration, but having been through layers of edits and then a pass by our wise readers (beta-readers), you’d be amazed by how much is still wrong with it. So. Many. Mistakes!
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Not just spelling and grammar, though there is plenty of that. No, it’s so much more. Incongruity. Incoherence. The list goes on.
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It would be tempting to despair, and to focus hard on all that’s imperfect about the manuscript. How can I, after more than eighteen books written, still create so many imperfections in writing?

It’s because I have helped create so many books that I don’t despair. I know this is part of the process. I know about all the paint that doesn’t make it on the canvas, or is cleverly covered up by a new stroke and new paint. I know about the wood shavings on the ground surrounding the whittled wonder. I know about injuries and scars the world-class athlete carries on the body bearing the gold medal.
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This editing. This cutting and correcting. It’s the marble that’s discarded to find the sculpture that was always there beneath. It’s what makes the art possible. It’s the result of the friction of shaping something excellent and generous for an audience I love. It’s the job.

If you’re over-bothered by the debris of energetic creation, you’ll be paralyzed into inaction.
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A boat on a mission makes waves, cuts a furrow, and leaves a wake.

I’m not saying leave your loved ones bleeding while you pursue your art. (No, we have all the same commands our brothers and sisters have about loving.) I am saying there are costs to a noble calling, and it’s never easy and rarely clean. There will be debris. There will be piles of discarded art.

Be brave and make. Be ruthless in cutting away everything that isn’t the thing you’re called to make—the gift you want to give.

While I’m at it, I’ll take this chance to express my gratitude to our team at Story Warren, led by Josiah Smith our CEO, and Andrew Mackay, our Publisher. And to all the others who are so faithful and excellent in their work serving families. And shoutout to all my editors and my pals who are wise readers for me. My name is on the book cover, but it takes a faithful band of teammates to create these books. I’m so grateful for you all!

Join the Writer Q&A

If you want to hear more about writing, join me for the Young Writers Can Change the World Summit hosted by Young Writers Workshop August 17-18. (I co-host a podcast with the YWW founder, Brett Harris.)

This is a great opportunity for young writers and the summit is free. I partner with Young Writers Workshop throughout the year and I’m a big fan of their program. If you’ve ever thought about joining, this summit is a great way to try it out.
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See you in there?

I’m on your side,

Sam

P.S. Next week (Aug 11) is the Summer Reading Challenge finale and live Q&A with me. There’s still time to join! Make sure to fill out this completion form once you’ve completed the challenge.