Good Writing Is Beautiful

I edit other people’s writing through my LLC, Vision Heirs Publishing and Consulting. I love editing because I love well-written sentences ... well-written pieces of work. I will often describe a well-written page as beautiful because it literally is beautiful to me. On the other hand, when I am reading a book or article, my eye tends to go to any errors in the writing, and it disturbs me. A little strange? I guess. But maybe not for a person who genuinely loves good writing.

In my work as an editor, I’ve seen a few attempts at publishing books without an editor. Some people seem to think that writing is like talking. They literally just write the way they speak, and they think that this is what writing is supposed to be. I cannot read those books. It affects my peace when I am distracted by too many errors, and I feel a little sad that the value of the story is lost because of those errors. When I have told that to people, some of them have given me strange looks ... lol. Those looks are very funny to me. But I happen to care about good writing and a good story. Don’t judge me!

I love re-working the words that express the thoughts of my authors to make them clear and concise and intelligent. That takes creativity, especially with some of the authors I have encountered. I’ll deny it if you tell them I said it ... lol. Sometimes I will meditate on a sentence or paragraph for an unusually long time to make sure it is clear and clean. To me, clean writing is when there is no obstacle in a sentence or paragraph to break the flow when a reader is reading it. I often tell my authors that I want their readers to feel like they are taking a refreshing drink and that it is going down smoothly. I want readers to say, “I couldn’t put it down.” Several of my authors have gotten that testimony from their books. That makes me so happy!

I also love how seeing their thoughts and memories of their experiences affects each author. I have seen authors weep. I saw one author literally get sick to her stomach as she looked again at some of the things that happened in her childhood. But then, once she looked at it in written form and faced it, she found a greater measure of freedom from her past. I’ve also seen the joy of accomplishment on their faces once a book is complete many times. In those moments I feel just as joyful as they do. Their joy brings me peace.

So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, my creative outlet ... the thing that produces inner peace for me is writing. All of my insides relax when I complete a piece of writing that is really good. The same thing used to happen when I went into a bookstore (not so much now because I read books on my phone). Anyway, my whole body would relax. In fact, I would often end up in the restroom (excuse me, but I am trying to express exactly how much inner peace these activities produce).

In addition, it is not just writing in general that gives me inner peace as you can see from previous paragraphs. It is when I am able to produce or edit a book or article that is beautiful when it is finished ... it flows into me as I read it like a cool, refreshing drink that I don’t want to put down until it is finished. Finally, when it’s a good story or article that I can get lost in as I write or edit, this adds an element of escape from my real-life environment for a little while, which adds to my ability to find peace.