Editing

I am mentally and creatively drained. Can't you tell? Even the title of this post is bland as opposed to its normally witty self. So sorry. Here is why I am drained. I spent three hours last night pushing until I finished the first draft of Guardians. And now I'm sick of writing. Honestly, I was a little shell-shocked but also exhilarated last night. But right now, I'm overwhelmed. My brain hurts and bit. And I want to walk away forever and let my first draft edit itself. Wouldn't that be lovely? Apparently this is normal. Last year I discussed Writer's Apathy, my term for writers who are in the midst of writing their first draft, know what is going to happen, yet don't want to keep going. Now I am going to introduce another symptom called Overwriting Syndrome. It's when you've spent way too much time writing and you don't really know what to do next. Luckily, even though I've made up the term (I think. Well, sort of. Google overwrite syndrome and see what you get.) it is a normal feature of writing. I've been researching tips for editing a first draft and they all recommend they you walk away from the draft for at least a week. And honestly, the task seems so overwhelming right now. But hopefully, just like writing the first draft, it gets easier with time and practice. Because truthfully, editing is a totally different skill from writing and it's something else I have to learn. So, I'll come back in a week (maybe/hopefully) to post and report on the editing process. That is if my four research papers don't consume me first.