A subscriber suggested I should write about revision, so I spent about 2 years thinking and writing and revising this 144-word essay about revision.
It has been widely and repeatedly suggested that all writing is revising. Perhaps this is meant to be encouraging— permission to write an ugly first draft. In other ways it is a warning, the unfortunate news that you’ll need to chew and re-chew your lines for as long as it takes, then a bit longer.
However, on rare and tantalizing occasions, a bit of writing will arrive straight from your brain to the page without the need to tweak as you go, nor to edit after the fact.
Think of these passages as your enemies—not darlings to kill, but haters, freak exceptions that are trying to convince you that revision could be optional.
Your job is to prove them wrong, to revise the rest of the work so well that eventually you must also revise those sentences that once seemed immune to revision.
The above essay is 144 words, a part of a series explained over here.
Also, just a reminder that the book club for Neige Sinno’s SAD TIGER meets next Saturday, August 2! If you want to join us, I’ll be sending the link in a few days to paid subscribers. :)