There is absolutely nothing I dread more than returning to a piece that I have written in order to revise it. It is damn near impossible for me. In the Harris article it talks about single-draft writers seeing papers that they have written as being," Done, dead and done, done, finished done"(13). I feel that way every time I write something for a class. I will spend mass amounts of time preparing the script for what I will write in my mind and will then give myself just enough time to get it done before it is due. This method worked well for me throughout the years but as I have taken more and more advanced classes I have began to notice just as the article stated a lack of depth to my papers. Sure they sound alright and they get me passing grades, but they went from being A's to B's and even the occasional C. I would compare my pieces to those of classmates that do well and think,"dang I can write this well but I am not," their papers sounded like what I had planned out in my head but never seem to get out on the paper. This has really made me think that I should really put more effort into revising. Revision just was not something that I saw as being all that important.
Revising has really always been something I have struggled with even though I know that at this point all of the things that I do right need to be revised in order to be up to the standard that is required for my courses. I have a fierce jealousy of those who are able to do stellar revision. I kind of always viewed it as just change a word here or there and run spell check. Bam paper revised. Man I wish it worked that way. When ever I attempt revision I feel like I really have no idea what I am actually doing.
Creating the re-genre piece has been one of the actual moments where I can say that I have truly enjoyed revising a piece that I worked on previously. I do not know if it due to the fact that it is being done in an entirely new way so it feels brand new or if I spent enough time away from it in order to enjoy it again. Hopefully this is the start of a brand new bright future of revision. I hope I can gain access to the ideas expressed in the Murray article in regards to new discoveries both in the content of my pieces and a deeper look into my own writing.
Hi Patrick, thanks for your post. It is so much easier to notice the good and the bad in someone else's writing. I used to be the same way, but then a switch was flipped and I looked forward to revision. I think it was the realization of potential along with the tool to realize it. I've gone back over older papers which I didn't remember writing and they were horrible. I've revised a couple of them, and that practice has done me wonders as it is similar to a peer review. I believe we can see so much wrong with a peer's paper, where we cannot in the same way with our own papers. Rather, I should say so much potential can be seen in another's work. The practice of many peer reviews as well as that of multiple revisions had me enjoying revision and even beginning my writing in a different way, producing better content from the get-go (not always, but more often than I used to). The most important take-away of being a revise , for me, is enjoyment and looking forward to the writing, rather than just dreading impending deadlines, the process of just mucking through it.
ReplyDeleteChanging a word here and there and running spell check is great, but best reserved for addressing closer to submission or publication, IMHO.
I'm enjoying the re-genre as well. I go back and forth as to whether I consider the re-genre itself revision or if the revision is yet to come. As I ponder it in this moment, I think both. I've never really thought about re-genre before this class, at least not as something I could put a name to or apply to so many things, so I'm glad to work through this, especially if it helps me in the future. When I managed a construction company, I re-genre'd certain document and presentation materials often and just didn't realize that's what I was doing.
Here's to your brand new bright future of revision, cheers!
Hi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that revision has been such a bugaboo for you over the years. I'd like to hear more about that. I wonder if the Harris article provided you some insight about that? Did you find that the descriptions of the attitudes and behaviors of one-drafters described you? Do the practices of multi-drafters seem at odds with your experience?
Absolutely I was reading this and oh man it described me perfectly. I have always been of the opinion that under pressure is where I was able to write my best works. Looking at the insights of multi-draft definitely goes against my experience. I had never been able to write without planning things out whereas they just go at it. I have been trying to do this more often, just writing without thinking and it is coming along alright but all those years without truly revising has left me slightly behind where I think I should be. From reading other posts it sounds as if you taught a course on revision theory, maybe from tips from you.
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