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Now, that may seem at first glance like an insignificant thing. But,
in retrospect, it could be a very, very big thing. You see, a
writer who never wants to send something out until he has had one more
chance to hone it to perfection is usually a very good writer, indeed.
All too often, writers finish a work and tell themselves that it’s as good
as it can be. It’s the height of literary perfection. It’s
"done." In reality, a writer should never be done working on a piece of writing, no matter what it is he’s working on or how far along it is. Writer’s are human beings—or, at least, that’s the scuttlebutt. Since human beings are constantly growing, it stands to reason that writers are constantly growing, as well. A writer who cranks out something one day is very capable of “growing” his work the next. |
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A perfect example: I recently finished a nonfiction book for Sterling
Publishing. I sent it in right on deadline. The editor loved it.
She asked me to key in the illustrations and return the manuscript with the
appropriate photo notations. The first thing I did was to go back and
re-read the piece, making corrections, changes, and additions as I went.
It was one more chance to sharpen the book, one more chance to make it the
very best book I could write...today. If I go back to it again
tomorrow, as I fully plan on doing, I’ll make yet more changes, and the book
will be better still. All of this is a rather long-winded way of saying that a work of literature, like a writer, is never complete. It’s never finished. It’s always capable of change, so long as the writer is willing to invest the time to make it happen. Ernest Hemingway once said that he never considered a work of his finished so long as he was breathing. He picked away and edited, crossed out and rewrote his works his entire life. Doing so paid off. Keep that in mind the next time you “finish” a novel, a nonfiction book, a screenplay, or even an article. Don’t consider it “done” so long as you have another chance to go through it and make it even stronger and more effective than it was before. Add that dimension to your life as a writer, and your work will be better off for your efforts. In the meantime... Smoke if you got 'em.
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