Revising
I’ve been doing a lot of revising lately. There’s a lot of revising in my future, too. I’ve long said that, for me, drafting is only 25% of the work of writing a book–I’m beginning to think it may be more like 10-15%.
The hilarious part is that, as I revise, the book in my head morphs into the new, revised book, rather than the old draft. So by the time I’m finished, I can’t remember what the old draft was like. I can’t remember what changes I made. I feel like the new draft is the way it’s always been.
This is good, because it means I’m catching the vision of what I’m doing, but it’s also very, very bad, because when I’m finished…well…I feel like I haven’t done a thing.
Me: [Despairing] This book hasn’t changed at all! What am I doing with my time?
Drew: [Laughs at me] Remember how it used to be like this?
Me: Oh. I dimly recall that. Maybe it has changed a little.
Ah, well. Back to revising…
