On Rewriting

When I was younger, I attended a writing conference for students. There's not much I remember about what I learned there, but I do recall one thing quite vividly: one speaker explaining the difference between an amateur writer and a professional writer. As this person (whose name I do not recall after over a dozen years) put it, on a first draft, most amateurs and professionals write about the same level, give or take-- the difference comes in future drafts, or the lack thereof.

At the time, I was very much a one-draft essayist for school, which served me well at the time. And that tendency has followed me through college and into my current employment. It continues to haunt my writing to this day. But I'm so glad for the words of the now-unknown speaker, as they have stuck with me as powerful as any during my formative years. Not that I always heed them.

I learned my first powerful lesson in rewriting when I got my first paid freelance writing assignment. I turned in a draft, and my editor (bless him for his patience with me) returned them stained with his notes. I recall talking to my wife about how difficult writing had suddenly become, and how little I was being paid for it. But I barreled through and received the joy of my first professionally printed piece. And I've revered the rewrite ever since.

Yet, when it comes to this blog, I've let that wisdom slip away from me. It may be painfully obvious to any who come here that I don't spend any time rewriting. Perhaps you simply thought these the words of an amateur with precious little experience (and you would not be wrong in that), but there is more to me behind these words. And perhaps some rewriting would help uncover those deeper parts for you.

But there's a flip-side: the time commitment. And that's the main reason I don't fret about the rough state of my blog-- every precious minute I spend revising here is a minute less working in my novel. In fact, I've often considered going on a blogging hiatus and focusing fully on my novel. But there's a reason I've not done that-- which I'll discuss next week. But in the mean time, do you revise your blog posts? Should I? What do you think?