It’s one thing that many people may not often think about, but editing a book – especially a diary or memoir – can be a really emotional, taxing task.
I was reminded of this just last night when I started to get my teeth into a new project. The project itself is a manuscript that we are assisting our customer to self-publish just for her family. It is not something that is going to be publicly available, because it’s far too personal, but we are editing it and preparing it into book form so that the story, and the experience, can be kept. What is the story? It’s about the author’s daughter’s major brain trauma.
After being deeply enmeshed in the first pass of edits on this manuscript for a full half hour, I had to put it down. Granted, it was late at night. Granted, it had been a long day. But the reason I put it down was because it is just such an emotional project to work on.
As an editor, I’m good at being able to work on a book without getting so ‘involved’ with it that I can’t see the errors for the words. When you are working on an engaging piece of writing – one that you would, if you were a reader, just devour – that is an absolutely vital skill. And yet, it’s easy to forget that once you are faced with a project like this one, you really have to watch out for yourself.
I don’t mean ‘watch out’ in case the errors aren’t discovered, or in case you get too wound up in the story. You have to watch out for your own emotional wellbeing.
Many of us (editors, I mean) work long and hard on manuscripts, because the vast majority of us are perfectionists by nature. Nobody ever wants to do a bad job. All of us want to produce a book with which we, and the author, and all the book’s readers, are proud and happy. That often means working longer hours, or ‘just doing a bit more’ when instead we ought to be relaxing. But when you work on an emotionally charged work, one that reaches into your soul and asks you lots of questions, then to some extent you have to determine what time of the day you can do it, and what mental and emotional state you need to be in when you do so.
It’s an interesting question, this one of ‘workplace wellbeing’ when you are faced with such an ethereal thing. How do you keep yourself from being so far affected by a manuscript that you can’t be sure of the quality of your work? Does the issue of emotional wellbeing seem faintly ridiculous in terms of workplace practice, when all you do is work with words, and mostly creative ones at that? Is the nexus between editing and emotional wellbeing something that you even think about?
I’d be interested in your take on this. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.
#1 by James Blythman on February 4th, 2010
The clinical aspects of this topic are far reaching.
We are emotional engines attempting to do logical tasks.
We unconsciously attempt to increase the efficiency at which we do menial, repetitive tasks which places us into a semi-sleep state that increases the possiblity of being emotional affected.
Thus, preparation is essential.
Healthy lifestyle habits like good nutrition (omega 3 and all), good circulation and cardio and above all proper sleep cycles, as rest is as important as exercise.
Stress can induce panic tension that reduces the unconscious willingness to breathe normally or naturally, depleting air supply, which has the effects of feeling run down, exhausted and sleepy and in severe cases depressed.
This can be overcome with exercise which increases blood flow and releases serotonin and endorphines.
Meditation, though I have not tried it in earnest, I have found some benefits in it increasing focus and constitution.
Other health aspects often overlooked are recreation and self expression.
These two allow the flow of social and emotional energies that may ‘get backed up’ during strenuous work sessions by oneself.
Larger projects may need to be split amongst several editors so as to reduce the chance of harm, much like the Monty Python skit about the funniest joke in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funniest_Joke_in_the_World
#2 by Bothersome Words on February 4th, 2010
What a great post! And you’re right, I don’t think many people would think about the emotional cost of editing, but it’s true… you DO get involved. In some ways you are as close to it as the author because you get right down into the bones of the work.
I think I tend to compartmentalise, so there’s always the editing part of my brain working separately to the reader part of my brain. I get completely caught up in whatever I am editing, whether it is fiction or non-fiction – even if it is a legal document. You have to because you have to be “present” to grasp the context and meaning etc. But obviously some things are more emotionally taxing than others.
I had a similar experience to the one you describe recently. Mine was a series of interviews, like mini-memoirs, and some of them were pretty raw.
I know myself pretty well, so I know that there are certain topics I would be better off not tackling at all, although thankfully I’ve not had to turn a project down yet.
#3 by Leticia on February 4th, 2010
@ James: health and personal wellbeing is undoubtedly important, especially for onerous jobs. I’m not sure that large projects could be effectively split, because everybody has his or her own editing style, but certainly it’s a possibility.
@ Bothersome Words: Thank you so much for the compliment!
Your point about knowing yourself well is essential, I think. Otherwise you could get halfway into a task and find yourself facing something truly unpleasant – and give it away halfway through. That would probably be far worse (for one’s self-esteem if nothing else) than turning a job down in the beginning.