{"id":8120,"date":"2019-03-28T01:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=8120"},"modified":"2019-03-27T17:33:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T00:33:45","slug":"revision-is-your-friend-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/revision-is-your-friend-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Revision Is Your Friend. Really."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Guest Blogger Rachael Herron writes about one of my favorite topics: Revision:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in the middle of revision of a book, and\nI\u2019m swimming in the water I love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I adore about revision is this: I know the\nworld. I invented it, after all! When I open the document, I\u2019m right in the\nmiddle of something I understand. <\/em>It\u2019s much easier, for me, to drop in\nfor hours and rest on the page. It\u2019s also easier to come out of, to shake off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First drafts remain torture for me. Many writers\nlove first drafts, and I can admit that sometimes, the writing of new words is\nglorious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You surprise yourself with a turn of phrase\nthat you\u2019re pretty sure is genius and has probably never been said before. The\nplot bends and a tree you wrote about comes to life and points a branched\nfinger in a direction you never saw coming. Inspiration flows, hot and heavy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But maybe I\u2019m just more of a down-to-earth gal.\nI love falling in love, but I love remaining in love more. Give me a passionate\nkiss before you take the trash out\u2014that\u2019s happiness to me. I like the comfort\nof What I Know. I like to tuck my feet under the thighs of my manuscript as we\ncuddle on the couch. I love knowing my manuscript likes the lights on till\nsleep-time, even though I prefer to read in the dark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revision is both comfortable and<\/em>\nexciting, like a sturdy marriage. <\/strong>Oh, I love the word sturdy. It\u2019s\nprosaic, but it\u2019s so me<\/em>. My legs are sturdy. My emotions are, too. I\nlove my books to be sturdy enough to lean on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lean on them, I fall into them, really.\nRevisions are getting in the bed you made out of words and pulling up the\ncovers. Then you roll around, making those words better, cleaner, more focused.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revision is when the REALLY big ideas show up.\nThen you have to move parts around, like those flat puzzle toys you slid pieces\naround on to make a picture, to make those new ideas fit. You might have to pry\nout some pieces and manufacture new ones. But then you click one piece left,\nand another one right, and suddenly, you\u2019re looking at it. The whole picture.\nYour book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahhh. I\u2019m reveling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note from Marlene: <\/strong>I love Rachael\u2019s enthusiasm about revision. If you dread revising, here\u2019s a positive way to look at it: It\u2019s an opportunity to look at your writing with new eyes; a prospect to improve your writing; to be sure your writing is clear, concise; to make sure you are saying what you really want to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best wishes with your revision projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachael Herron <\/a>is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thriller (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, Oakland, and she teaches writing extension workshops\u00a0at both UC Berkeley and Stanford. She is a proud member of the\u00a0NaNoWriMo Writer\u2019s Board<\/a>. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links to other guest posts on The Write Spot Blog by Rachael Herron: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping the spark alive<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest failure\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviews for Rachael Herron\u2019s books<\/a> on The Write Spot Blog. Type “Rachael Herron” search box for reviews about her books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blogger Rachael Herron writes about one of my favorite topics: Revision: I\u2019m in the middle of revision of a book, and I\u2019m swimming in the water I love. What I adore about revision is this: I know the world. I invented it, after all! When I open the document, I\u2019m right in the middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[163,1177,1176],"class_list":["post-8120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-rachael-herron","tag-revising","tag-revision"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-26Y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8120"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8127,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8120\/revisions\/8127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}