Writing and/or Revising #OpenBook Blog Hop

Discuss: “Write the book you want to rewrite—

because most of writing is revising!

“Don’t agonize over every word in a first draft; that will only slow you down. Just write the story. Get it onto the page. Drafting is the stage where you capture the idea. Revising is where you figure out how to really tell the story well.” -Beth Kander, author of I Made It Out of Clay

When I started writing, I was a speed demon, throwing words on paper with little worry about their “rightness.” I just wanted to get the story in my head out of there and make room for more. And, as Kander notes, that meant those stories needed a lot of revision.

My earliest attempts didn’t result in what I consider publishable works. Not only was the writing stiff, but the stories themselves lacked merit. No number of revisions would fix them. One, I revised at least eight or nine times, including changing points of view, before finally giving up on it. Another, I started over from scratch after trying to revise it for a decade. (That resulted in Edwards Investigations: The Rimer File.) As I have said several times, the story wasn’t a revision of the first draft written long ago; it was a tribute.

My writing pace has slowed down in the past few years, and I suspect it’s because I can’t turn off my inner editor.

I struggle to find the right word – or a better word – or a better word than that – as I write. (Last night I spent 15 minutes deciding if I should use ghost, haunt, or haint.)  I worry about the order of sentences. I stress whether the story is going in the right direction, or if I need to go back and add a scene or take away a paragraph. Little things that I might not catch in a revision bother me. I have to go back and change them. Big things might never get written if I think they won’t work out.

And yes, I know what the advice is, not only from Kander and others. Write first and then spend the time in revisions. But editing as you go can be a hard habit to break.

Even writing these blogs takes me what I consider to be too long. I don’t want to come off like I know it all. I don’t. Not even close. At the same time, I want to be an encouragement to other writers. We’re all reaching for the same goal – to get our words seen by as many readers as possible.

I worry too much.

About getting things perfect, although I know I won’t. I want my words to mean something. To me, at least, and hopefully to others.

So, I suspect I will continue writing at a snail’s pace. It’s frustrating. And satisfying when I pull together a line that sings. It happens once in a while.

How about the others on this hop? How do they interpret this quote? Check out their posts by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

March 17, 2025

Discuss: “Write the book you want to rewrite—because most of writing is revising! Don’t agonize over every word in a first draft; that will only slow you down. Just write the story. Get it onto the page. Drafting is the stage where you capture the idea. Revising is where you figure out how to really tell the story well.” -Beth Kander, author of I Made It Out of Clay

---