Editing Is Harder Than Writing #substack #shorts

17 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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1:01

In this YouTube short, the speaker addresses Scott Perry and argues that while many view writing a book as the toughest part, the real challenge lies in editing. The editing process demands relentless perseverance, repeated revisions, and the willingness to cut material, which can feel grueling. The speaker draws a parallel to the television and commercial industry: creators are intimately involved in storyboarding, production, rough cuts, and even the first note of music, making the work unmistakably theirs, whereas the audience often consumes the final product without recognizing the extensive behind‑the‑scenes effort. This analogy underscores how creators own the iterative, often unseen, labor that shapes the final output.

Chapters

talking about this very thing. And to me, Scott Perry, if people think writing the book's hard, it almost feels to me like, and this may be, I don't know, this is out, so, but it almost feels like writing the book's the easy part sometimes. The editing part is grueling because you start to own that thing and it takes a lot of stick-to-itiveness to let things go and to change things and to get rid of things and to clean things up. And you have to go through it multiple times. And just like you said, you're kind of sick of it. And about the time it releases, you've enough. And I see that in the TV business too. When we're making commercials, our clients are like, ah, man, we need a new commercial. And I think people don't even know you're running a commercial because you've seen it. Well, first of all, you saw the storyboard, you were there at production, you saw the rough cuts and you've seen all, and as soon as you hear the first note of music, you know it's your commercial. Whereas the viewer or the listener, radio or TV, haven't even really gotten it on their radar. And that's the way it's been with this book.