As I read pages 54-59 in Embracing Writing, specifically "Playing with Revision" by Michelle Cox and Katherine E. Tirabassi, I learned so much about revision that I did not before. When I write, my weakest spot is revising it all. I often write too much, getting yelled at for going over the page limits, and because of so many pages that I wrote, I just become lazy that I don't really want to read and revise it all. Moreover, I think that everything I write fits well in the essay, and if I were to delete a sentence or change a line, the essay would be incomplete. I find it easy to edit others' work, but impossible to edit my own, even when I KNOW it could be a lot better. I have a tendency to be repeteative, and overwrite...which I think I already said...See? Repetative! Anyway, I think I overwrite so often because my thesis is never narrowed down enough; I want to get ALL the points across instead of just elaborating on a few because I thought it almost impossible to elaborate so much on just one point. But, after reading these pages, I know now that there is so much one can talk about!
These pages about revising talk about writing multiple drafts, trying to find the meaning and lines that really stick out to you, as well as how to "Cut, Cut, Cut" (and, unfortunately, "Add, Add, Add"). Though, I do find the "Cut, cut, cut" section to be the most helpful in my case because it tells me to "Cut extra words that don't add meaning, such as 'really,'very,' 'basically,' 'thing,' 'it,' 'it was,' 'it is,' 'there were,' 'there is,' 'this is,' and 'that'" (56). This section also talks about trying to cut at least 15 words per page. I think this is an excellent idea- to have a goal like this. If I have a goal to cut a certain number of words ot lines each page, then perhaps revising and cutting down on pages will be easier for me. I learned about style and using active verbs to add more voice to the paper, varying my sentence structure so that information can be better emphasized, and to focus more on pronouns so that my writing can be more specific. Something that I have noticed in my own writing is that I tend to use a lot of general statements, and don't really have specific sentences. Next time, I will definitly "Comb through your draft and circle all instances of 'it' [because]...overuse waters down this emphasis...[or] make writing sound vague. 'There' at the beginning of the sentence can have the same effect...Now circle all uses of the words 'this' and 'these'...'he,' 'she,' 'you,' 'we,' 'they,' etc." (57).
Although the section about playing with time by using flashbacks, time stretches, and time summary is also important for me to know, I think the most interesting part of the whole reading were the last two pages, on the topic of details. I did not know that I could add details about so many things like people, places, objects, or memories. I didn't know or think to unbury a story that could be mentioned in a line, which could totally add to my story, or just add the slightest details to the simplest things, such as instead of saying car, I could, or rather should, say the specific type or name of the car.
Overall, I truly believe this will help my writing and influence it in a positive way. If I follow these guidelines, I know that I can sound less repetative, less wordy, and definitly less vague and general, and more specific. As you can see, from what I have just written in this blog, revising is a MUST learn in my book...
Here are a few sites that talk about how to revise an essay:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Revising.html (It's Harvard...It's gotta be a good resource)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ (this site I had been to in High School and let me tell you, it is like the Bible of English writing, I highly sugest visitng this site)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/677/1/ (writing)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/ (revising)
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