With my short story "Rain" now finish, I am editing a serious work for the first time since my return to writing. I had been fully prepared to dread the experience. Everything I had read about the editing stage seemed to be negative, except where written by a professional editor.

My experience so far, however, has been fairly positive. Editing involves a different set of challenges, but I haven't found myself begrudging this stage in the process. I can't say I don't understand the complaints of the writers who have complained about editing though. After all, editing is not writing It's not story creating. If done correctly--in the correct mindset--it's not really even creative. For an author, I can see editing could sound and feel like the opposite of what they want to do.

I thought about if for a while and I decided I don't dread editing because of how I returned to writing every day. I needed time writing without in my life in order to become the serious-minded writer I strived to be. When I was younger, I simply wanted to create stories. I wanted to create worlds and people. And, as is commonly the case, I felt anything I wrote was perfect, that anyone who didn't enjoy my writing just didn't understand it. I considered editing the story a sell-out move. I liked the stories, so who was I trying to please. I felt anything I did to change the story would diminish it.

Nearly two decades without writing every day passed. In that time, I matured in a number of ways. I got married. I became a father. I returned to college. I became a professional graphic artist and web designer. Marriage taught me to grow up. Fatherhood taught me there's a time to play and a time to be serious. College taught me how to complete something I started. Becoming a professional taught me how enjoy my creativity while I earned money. When I returned to writing every day, I found I had the ability to get serious about writing. I had the tools it took to formulate an initial idea and see it through to completion. And, just as importantly, I found I didn't begrudge the editing process.

For me, editing is another necessary process in achieving a finished product. The writing may be more creatively fun; however, the editing is the artist in me, stepping back and looking at the canvas, seeing that a proportion is not quite as I envisioned it and making the necessary correction.

I suppose it all boils down to how you envision the final goal. If your goal is to enjoy writing, then you probably won't enjoy editing. However, if you goal is to complete a finished, salable work, then editing will more likely be as enjoyable a stage as the writing itself.