Tag: rewriting
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May 31, 2023
I remember a school visit a long time ago when a third grader stood up and said: “Can you write a book without rewriting a book?” “No,” I said. “Shoot,” said the kid in a thoughtful voice. “There’s got to be some way around that.” I thought about that child when I woke up this…
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November 13, 2018
I’ve talked to so many teachers recently who have asked for writing advice that they can give to their students. As I sit here in the early morning hours working on a novel, I’ve been thinking a lot about those students, those teachers and all of us who want to write. If there is one…
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November 9, 2017
So, I am deep in the rabbit hole of rewriting a novel. Each morning, I get up and go down to the computer and rewrite. And rewrite, and rewrite. I rewrite for most of the day, a few pages at a time. There are problems that need to be fixed and I don’t know how…
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November 11, 2014
I spent the weekend doing a massive, intensive rewrite of a novel. Since I always re-type when I rewrite, my hands and shoulders and arms are sore. But my heart feels pretty good. In an interview in the magazine Shambhala Sun, the writer George Saunders talks about the process of rewriting and how “in revision,…
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September 10, 2013
Two summers ago, I was working on the rewrites for Flora and Ulysses. I worked by doing lots of small sessions all day long. I started early in the morning at the table on the front porch; and then, once the sun was up and the world was awake, I moved to my desk. Late…
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October 27, 2011
My fingers hurt. This is because I am rewriting (again); and I rewrite novels by starting over from the beginning. So, when someone asks me for advice on revising or rewriting or editing, I always say: start over, start at the beginning. Generally, this piece of advice is met with a look of dismay bordering…