Is Writing Revising?

Before I get to my post, I have some things to say. It's about two of our blogging buds. As you know, my son is having some health issues. We've been traveling to the hospitals trying to find answers. About a month ago our sweet friend Davin mentioned that he would be willing to help us figure out what was going on with Christopher. Davin being a scientist, knew some doctors he could ask, plus I KNOW he did research. Now Davin DOES have a life. He works, he writes, and he has a personal life.

YET!

He took time from his life to try and help my son.

I wanted y'all to know what he did. Selflessly giving of his time to help a blogging friend. Davin, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You'll never know how much it meant. :)

Our other blogging friend Scott wrote a wonderful post about me loosing my precious Blue on his blog. He was there for me while Blue was at the vet and after he died telling me I would see my Blue again. Scott talked to me about the sadness of loosing Jordy and it really helped me get through. Like so many of you did. But Scott emailed me to check and see how I was doing. And then about a week later his precious Tasmyn had to be put to sleep.

I wanted to publicly thank him for being a true friend. Thank you Scott. :)

Thank you guys. And Davin I'll be returning your email. I just haven't had time to turn around. We had to make an unexpected trip to the hospital on Tuesday for emergency blood work for Christopher.

Now on to my post.

Revision is making a mess, not cleaning it up. When we revise, we aren't editing. Editing is cleanin' up the mess. It took me a LONG time to learn this. When we revise, we make new versions. Just think about it. Writing is revising. And MOST of my time is spent revising. If I could write a story perfectly, I wouldn't have to revise. BUT.

I can't. When I am revising a story, some of it gets much better and some of it gets much worse. Then I have to fix the part that gets much worse, and then, you guessed it. I have another part that gets worse. When I think a story is ready, then it's time to query publishers. Now when I say query publishers, I mean for my picture books. I have stopped doing this hoping that when an agent signs me he/she will want to sell my picture books. They are absolutely wonderful. :)

When I sit down at my computer, I just naturally believe that the words I write will be drastically improved from the last time I sat down to write. But.

That's not the case. Sometimes the words are better, sometimes they are worse. It's called learning. Figuring what my strengths are as a writer. Then making the most of them. And trying new things, but remembering it will take time to develop the new things.

Isn't that a HUGE mistake that new writers make? They write something, feel tremendous fulfillment, and immediately begin to query agents.

I want to make sure a piece, or a novel, or a picture book is finished before I query agents. Notice I did not use the word done. A story can be done, but not ready to go to agents. Finished means it's all set to go.

Thanks for reading. :)