Writing is as much – if not more – about editing than it is composing. Sure, you need a grand idea and a plan to provide scaffolding, and you also need to do the most important task – that is, write it – but then the real work starts.
And I constantly share this insight with every single one of my students who thinks the minute the write the last word of the first draft, that’s it! The process is over, finished, never to be looked at again.
Dream on.
Writing is moving, reading, axing, debating, reading, reinforcing, rewriting, rinse and repeat.
It’s that challenge to find the right blend that keeps me at it nearly each day in some form or another. I certainly went through it – and continue to – with Knowing When You’re Too Young to Grow Up, with From Tragedy to Triumph too.
And, as I make my big push to find representation this summer, I’m sure I look forward to going through it again.
Here is some of my commentary on the process of writing and editing Knowing When You’re Too Young to Grow Up:
- “Finding My Humanity in the Gas Station Attendant”
- “Cutting a Character and a Part of Myself”
- “The Value of Authentic Feedback”
- “Rediscovering My Protagonist in ‘Dead Poets Society'”
Robin Williams as John Keating in ‘Dead Poets Society’ via Huffington Post
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