“Writing is rewriting.” Hemingway said it, but he wasn’t the only one. The difference between a stack of pages (or a stack of words on the screen) and a book is revision. This encompasses a wide range of activities, from taking time off to get some perspective to reading through your book to see just what it is you have written to re-conceiving the structure to “getting the words right.” (Another thing that Hemingway said. In answer to a reporter who wanted to know why he’d rewritten the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-seven times. What was the problem? “I couldn’t get the words right.”)
The order in which you tackle these activities will vary depending on your project and your process, but this course will give you a great path and all the hand-holding and teaching it takes to make your rough draft into a solid manuscript. If you are taking revision for the first time, it’s a great idea to take as much time as possible off from your book (well, not forever or anything). You may wait until the second or third week to take up your manuscript again.
The basics:
Each Monday, you will post your goals for the week in the Community Center forum and report on your progress over the past week. Be specific. In our Process and Goals week, you will figure out the most motivational way to frame your goals and get them done. Your goals widget will carry a visual representation of your progress. Be sure to keep it updated. On Thursdays, during the small group mentoring conference, we will check in about your goals as well. You will be amazed at how much faster you move toward your goals with these check-ins structured into your writing life.
Each week, you will listen to, watch or read that week’s “mini-lecture” and post your response to the assignment in the forum for that group. It will enrich your own learning if you take some time to check out others’ responses as well and make some encouraging comments.
In the small group mentoring conference, we will extend the lessons of the week further, share relevant exercises and answer your burning questions.