Many authors groan at the idea of revision. I used to. I mean, I could sit there forever, staring at a scene that needed revising, wondering just where to begin, afraid to accidentally delete the best part.
Fortunately I’ve come a long way since then. In fact, I absolutely love revision! I love taking the first draft and carving it into clearer, sharper focus.
My transition from fearfully tweaking a sentence or two, to boldly chopping, rearranging, even rewriting, came with the discovery of a simple trick. Here’s the trick: whenever I came to a scene that needed rewriting, I would copy and paste it to another document before changing the original. That way I knew I had a backup if I didn’t like the rewrite.
Do you know what happened? I never, ever, had to use the backup. Rewriting really works! It always turns out better than the original! Who knew, right? But that backup broke through my mental barriers that made rewriting difficult.
Now I love it! And the best part? I don’t have to use a backup anymore.
Camille Esther 