hey writers, today i want to dive into the importance of revision in the writing process.

an old teacher of mine emphasized how much she believed that revisions are what helped turn her from a good writer to a great writer.

revision is just how it sounds. RE-VISION. re-envision what you initially wrote or were thinking when putting your piece together. when writing in dump-form or going through the motions of writing, you should be trying to write the truest emotions that come to mind and putting your thoughts on paper first. THEN, you can use the art of revision to change a word, implement a scheme, switch lines around, and so forth.

this process opens up doors for us to tighten our language, make more powerful sentences/stanzas, and rethink how we want to structure our pieces.

revision can also be used as a tool to strengthen our writing muscles on days we don’t wish to write. like the tip mentioned in my last post, revisit your old works. you have material for a reason. as a writer, use your catalog to your advantage and revamp old pieces, add on to unfinished ones, rethink or rewrite unpublished work, and see how your newly developed mind can help benefit your older work. this may also help you define areas where you have grown. from word choice, continuity, surprising connections, metaphors, etc.

i’ll leave you with an example of where i revised a stanza or so of my own and it turned it from good to great *in my opinion of course :)*

from a spoken word piece:

unrevised: i’ve always been fascinated with the phenomenon, of the type of time you gotta be on, to walk up with someone, and convince them your words are silver and gold.

revised: you know how cool you gotta be? so a woman can’t see through ya tomfoolery? and instead, buy into your jewelry as ice cold. and appreciate how bold you are tryna convince little miss expensive that your words are silver and gold.

the link to the finished piece is here so you can hear it in real time.

asé, asé.