Help me! > BookMarc by Peter Abresch

Writing/Rewriting Addendum

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Bob Mueller:
Date:         Monday, April 26, 1999 04:08 AM

Writing/Rewriting Addendum

There is something else to mention in talking about rewriting that might not be immediately apparent.

I know some on the BB have talked about writing the best damn first draft they can, which implies to me, perhaps, that it is then just about ready to send out. I'm not against anyone writing a brilliant draft that is, indeed, ready to be published, it's just that I think most of us can't do that. And if you are getting a steady stream of rejection, perhaps you can't either.

During the first draft, we might want to get it as best we can, but the driving force should be not to get bogged down. Get the thing finished. Going into the second draft, again we want to make each paragraph and sentence as best we can make it. And the saving grace, as we said before, if we can't get something just right, that's okay because we'll be coming back to look at it again.

On the second draft we will be at greater pains to get it right, but, even so, knowing that we will look at it at least one more time, means that we can go on even though we are not absolutely satisfied. Again we should view another draft as a grace rather then a curse, because it keeps us from getting bogged down. I try to think of it as peeling away outer shells of something--an onion is the only thing that comes to mind--to get to the hard kernel in the center.

The beauty of coming back for another draft is when we come to that section that frustrated us, that we couldn't get right, we'll find our sub-conscience has continued to work on the problem and will offer up new solutions.

So, now, we really are ready to move on to BookMarc #25

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