The Writer’s Coin

As I’ve stated before, my reasons for starting this blog were to a) get published and b) get a job in advertising. Yesterday I was on the bus reading and an idea hit me for a blog post: rewriting is very important, I jotted down in my Moleskine (for more on the importance of jotting stuff down, check out Trent’s post at The Simple Dollar and his review of Getting Things Done).
Then the whole idea started to evolve in my head and I started thinking of projects where I would start to use it.

The idea: Most people (including myself) usually think of writing as the toughest part. To sit down and try to create something new, something creative, something interesting isn’t easy. And many writers have described writing as being tortuous. Which it can be. And many writers have also explained how important it is to rewrite. How, in rewriting, that is when the magic happens.

I’ve heard all this before but I just chose to ignore it because for me, rewriting painful. I feel like I’ve already done the dirty work so I just correct syntax, spelling, grammar. Which is editing, not rewriting.

That’s just half of it. After thinking this idea through and starting to brainstorm how I could rewrite certain stories I’ve already “finished,” I realized that I’ve learned new things because of this blog.

Once you write about something, it becomes a part of you that you can’t just shrug off as tiring advice. It’s happened to me several times with this blog and has been a great, unexpected boon (knowing where you write, beating the slush pile, alternative income, and all kinds of smaller things).

It’s exciting to continue to post knowing that this possibility for learning and change is out there.

Tags: editing, rewriting, Writing