Thinking About Revision
A week ago I printed out the full draft of my sister’s novel. Then I read through it making notes as I went. I stuck post-it notes in the places with large plot problems and wrote in the margins for smaller ones. This afternoon I spent a couple of hours talking with my sister about problems and possibilities. It was really fun. The book needs work, but it is not broken.
After we got off the phone, I realized how much I want to do that for my own book. I want to have a completed draft and then begin fixing it. Revision is exciting for me, because it requires seeing the project anew. But before I can do that, I have to finish a draft.