Rewriting

If you're anything like me, there's a particular part of the writing process that you love and another that you would just love to chuck out the window. I think any writer of even minor experience understands the importance of each part of the process. For me, I didn't realize the value of revising until I received my first professional assignment. It was a freelance article that I'd pitched to a magazine. We decided to take a bit of a dry run on their website first and I was surprised my editor offered to pick up my pitch for the magazine afterward-- I do not think I did well at all, and my editor basically rewrote most of the article before it went up. You see, I hadn't spent any time in revision-- I'd never really had to before because all my teachers and professors accepted what I turned in, telling me how good it was. 

I'm grateful to my first editor and the second chance he gave me. We had a bit more time, so when I sent him a draft, he sent it back with extensive notes on what to change. I made those changes, and got more notes back. Over and over. I think it was the 4th or 5th round when I threw out everything I'd written, internalized his notes and started again. And it was wonderful. Sure, I still had to go through a few rounds with that, but I'd learned the value of the rewrite, rather than just the edit. 

My writing life has been much better ever since. With my current assignment, I went through three full rewrites before I submitted it for feedback, each far superior to the one prior. I anticipate a lot of feedback still, but that's how I grow as a writer. 

Of course, time contains me from doing very many rewrites for this blog. So, you get what is basically a first draft. I'd love to get to the point where I have more time to rewrite here, but for now, this will just have to do. Between my full time day job, the 10 semester credits I'm taking for a certification, my freelance writing work, not to mention home and family-- there's not much time left for this blog. At least not yet.