Oh The Revisions!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back from the Labor Day Weekend. Hope everyone had a safe and great time. Mine was peaceful, which is just fine by me.

Recently I've received the first chunk of edits for Surreal back from my editor. Earlier this year I realized a valuable lesson: edit as you go. Either after finishing the first 3 chapters, begin the edits or go chapter by chapter. It will make the load of revisions lighter and give you a sense of already "polishing and buffing" before an editor or critique partner gets a hold of your story.

Rewriting can be rough, but it's a fact of a writer's life. Writers write the first draft, go back, fix mistakes, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, then begin the process all over again until the project is polished, buffed and as good as they can make it. You want to send your best work. Not your first draft.

After having spent almost a year of hardly looking at Surreal, I realize how much I've learned about writing since having completed the draft. I can now apply what I've learned to the first draft and other projects I have going, which includes Conjure A Man and one other novel I've got started.

It's nice to have a completed work. However, even better is when you know you've done your best by rewriting, editing, shining, and fixing it up so that the story is ready to send to an agent or publishing house.

I've only completed some work on revisions for the prologue of Surreal. Already I think it's better than the original draft. I'll probably have to go back over it again and again. But at least its on the road towards readiness.

So, how are revisions for you? Do you have a method you follow? Do you have a sense of accomplishment once it's all finished? Or are you more nervous than you were before?

Have A Terrific Tuesday!