If you rewrite a paragraph fifty times and forty-nine of them are terrible, that's fine; you only need to get it right once.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I try and get it right the first time. I may rewrite a sentence four or five times, but I rarely go back and kill a whole page and rewrite it.
Oh, I do a tremendous amount of rewriting. I just obsessively rewrite. Although sometimes there are sections, sometimes you're just lucky and a paragraph will just kind of come out. And that's great. But that's not ordinary in a day's work.
I write the paragraph, then I'm crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it's almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day.
Asking myself, 'Is this any good?' is pointless. It just slows down my writing, and I can't tell anyway. It's always the paragraphs I loved most, the ones I tenderly polished and re-read with pride, that my editor will suggest cutting.
It's always the paragraphs I loved most, the ones I tenderly polished and re-read with pride, that my editor will suggest cutting.
I never leave a sentence or a paragraph until I'm satisfied with it.
Write every day even if it is just a paragraph.
If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing.
It's not hard to write poorly. But to write something good, it has to be revised.
I don't do much rewriting, because each paragraph is very carefully put together.