How Revising Rewards Mistakes

Amina Gautier

One writing and publishing adage I’ve always believed in: “Writing is rewriting.”

Fiction writer Amina Gautier’s approach is similar. For her, revising is the best part. Over at the latest Glimmer Train bulletin, she offers tips on unlocking the joy of revision. She says:

Revising encourages and liberates the writer to “make mistakes.” It rewards mistakes; each “mistake” teaches one something about the story one is writing and gets one that much closer to the story one is meant to write. Revision reconciles the competing versions of the story that the writer carries in his head. Until the writer has gotten the story down on paper or onto the screen, he often cannot tell the difference between what he actually wrote, what he thought he wrote, and what he hoped to write. 

Go read the entire piece over at Glimmer Train. Also take a look at Michael Varga’s “Find the Seeds in Your Own Biography.”

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