revision, revision, revision

i'll be taking a break from blogging this week so i can concentrate on getting over my wall, but i thought i'd leave you few quotes on my favorite subject - revisions (that's a joke btw).

Good rewriting demands easy, unhurried tinkering with words. Each unsuccessful try eliminates another wrong solution and leads you to the right one. I can’t emphasize too strongly how important this is, the fact that writing leads to writing, that failed attempts lead to eventual success, that the solution to a rewriting problem is made up of all the attempts that led nowhere..." ~Dorothy Bryant

(i really need to remember this one. i hate unsuccessful tries and failed attempts. they feel like a waste of time.)

Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper, not eternal bronze: let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes. No one will rush out and print it as it stands. ~ Jacques Barzun

I can't write five words but that I can change seven. ~ Dorothy Parker

(i finally know what this means now.)

so, no matter which draft you're on, here's to figuring out which words to keep and which words to cut.