“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.”
James Michener

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got is to let manuscripts sit for a month or longer. When you come back to it, you won’t be so married to the words. That was initially hard to pull off for me. It was like someone asking for my help, but instead I shut the door and walked the other way.

That’s why I have four manuscripts in front of me. The sting of abandonment was helped by starting another project. So now I’m on the final approach and hoping for a smooth landing. The two stories I’m currently editing and polishing had been sitting unread for almost four months. They’d already been written and rewritten, critiqued, and edited several times. As I dust them off and read each once again, my eyes and mind are fresh to make more changes. For one it was a shifting of a few scenes, the other strengthening a theme that had not carried through to the end. Both have been put through time consuming edits to get rid of these unwanted words.

In case you are going down this same road or plan to in the future, here are three sites that have been helpful to me.

1. THE SPIT SHINE: THINGS TO CHECK BEFORE YOU SUBMIT(From Fiction University)
2. REVISION – THE BIG PICTURE (From the Mixed up Files of Middle-Grade Authors)
3. HOW I SELF-EDIT MY NOVELS (From author K.M. Weiland)

“Rewriting is like scrubbing the basement floor with a toothbrush.”
Pete Murphy

I’m being told its time to pick up my brush again and get back to work (or is that the let’s take a walk look?) Either way, have a great weekend!