Resist The Urge to Edit, Re-edit and Edit Again

Whilst pottering through some old emails this morning I came across some that I had sent home from work. I used to do this as a reminder to do something or in this case, I sent myself some hints and advice on writing that I had discovered that day.

Anyway, the two emails that caught my attention both centred around them same words: "as" and "while". One was concerned with "as" only and was a link to I killed an AS in the Absolute Write Water Cooler forum, and the other was concerned with both words because they tend to signify telling rather than showing.

Of course, I had a quick look to see how many occurrences of "as" there were in my last completed chapter and in my first chapter. There were too many! And, whilst I only had a cursory glance some of the occurrences could have been written better.

I’m sure I’ve looked for this word in my manuscript before, but it’s a style rule that I’ve recently learned and recently forgotten! Much as I’d like to eliminate them now. It will crop up again in rewrites, and I’ll have to re-edit, so I must resist the urge to go "as" hunting until the first draft is finished.