ReviMo Day 7 - Simone Kaplan Talks Revisions

Day 7, last day!! Today we have Simone Kaplan visiting. Welcome Simone!

DO NOT REVISE!

Really. That might be a strange thing to say during ReViMo– but I bet it stopped you in your tracks. At least I hope it did.

Because what I wanted it to do is get you to stop.

To not write, not rewrite, not self-edit, not revise, not re-vision.

I really, really want you to stop.

There’s place for the gotta meet the deadline, gotta get the manuscript finished in time for (fill in the blank), gotta meet my goal of x number of manuscripts finished/conceptualized/drafted; but that approach can lead to you feeling pressured, stuck, closed in. It can mean that when you look at the work, you don’t see it; you simply react to it. And that’s not the most effective way to revise.

I really, really want you to give yourself some space.

I’m going to suggest that when you’ve reached a point where you feel that you manuscript is complete, you stop. And you don’t look at it for a month. At least. Some of the authors I work with tell me it’s almost unbearable not to look at their work. I tell them to stick with it. And I’ll say the same to you. Find ways to distract yourself or keep yourself busy. Work on other manuscripts; jot down notes, thoughts, insights that occur to you about the manuscript in question in a notebook. But don’t take the manuscript out of the file drawer, don’t open the document, don’t succumb to those knee-jerk, reactive impulses. Because those same authors tell me that after the month is up, when they do come back to their manuscripts, they have a whole new perspective.

And that’s what you want to do: jolt yourself out of your familiar point of view and give yourself another perspective.

You know how you see your home just a little differently after you’ve been away on vacation? Or you notice things about a good friend when you haven’t seen them for a while?

The same thing happens with manuscripts. By not looking at your work, you’re consciously and deliberately creating the space that you need in order to alter your perspective. Distance gives you the opportunity to approach your work like a reader rather than a writer.

When you come back to the work, you’ll see the tired images, the stale adjectives, and the sentences that need tightening. You’ll notice little holes in the plot and instantly see where a scene or spread isn’t working. If you’re lucky, you’ll also see how to fix them.

And that’s when you can settle back into your writer mode, take a deep breath, and start to revise.

Thank you so much Simone! That was the perfect wrap up to a perfect ReviMo week!

 

Simone Kaplan is an editor, consultant, and coach who provides creativity-enhancing, skill-building, heart-expanding support for creators of picture books. Visit www.picturebookpeople.com to find out more and to sign up for her newsletter in which she shares more tools, tips, and techniques such as this one.

 Simone has graciously agreed donate: *A one hour PB critique to one lucky winner!


***PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!!!! Today's Rafflecopter is different!!!!!!! Click HERE for a How To Pictorial, if you need to.***

The daily rafflecopter was being weird, so this is a new one. Today's votes are CUMULATIVE, so read carefully. To enter giveaway:
1. Revise that picture book draft. Comment on this post.

THEN:
*Scroll down to the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post.
*IF YOU REVISED 5 or fewer days do this:
 Under the prize listings, CLICK on the number of days you revised. For example if you revised 3 days, Click the "I Revised 3 Days" button. Then click ENTER and you are done!
*IF YOU REVISED 6 days do this:
Under the prize listings, CLICK on "I Revised 5 Days" Then click ENTER. Then Click "Additional Day" button, then click ENTER and you are done! 
*IF YOU REVISED 7 days do this:
Under the prize listings, CLICK on "I Revised 5 Days" Then click ENTER. Then Click "2 Additional Days" button, then click ENTER and you are done!
  
PLEASE NOTE: It says there are 18 entries available to you for this giveaway, but there are only 7! Thank you. :)

Today is the last day to enter. The winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter January 20th. Enter Rafflecopter below, then for those of you who have revised 5+ manuscripts, the Grand Prize Rafflecopter will go up later this afternoon and will be up today and tomorrow.

a Rafflecopter giveaway