You mean to say you never realized that NO writer on Earth is a “writer”?

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When you sleep on

                                          

your ideas . . . “ 

                                                                        

     “And you, Sir, what do you do for a living?”

     “I’m a rewriter.”

     “A, ah, REwriter, Sir?  Um, a REwriter.  Is that what I understood you to say?  I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that career.  Do you write about RE’s, as in DO-RE-ME?  Or does this mean you write subject lines for memos where it says RE:?  Ha, Ha, Ha!”

     “Aaaah, yes, that’s very funny!  You must be the same guy who comes up with Letterman’s ‘Top 10’ lists.  No.  Sorry to disappoint you, it’s just that I am tired of lying all these years when people ask me that question, and I answer, writer!  Why?  Because the truth is that I—like every other writer—am a REwriter and that NO writer on Earth is a writer!  All of us are REwriters!

     How do I know?  Show me one single writer who has ever written anything that she or he has not spent untold hours REwriting!  Go ahead!  Mention just one in the comment box below. 

      I have completed hundreds of articles; a few books; 125 blog posts; over 800 feature radio show scripts, numerous short stories and poems; thousands of ads. websites, news releases, commercials, speeches, business plans, college course curricula, billboards, and matchbook covers. 

     I’ll bet that I’ve spent at least 3-30 hours of REwriting for every 1 hour of writing

     Shakespeare REwrote.  Today’s most successful writers: Cormac McCarthy, John Grisholm, J.K. Rawling, David Baldacci, Kent Haruf, E. Annie Proulx, Richard Russo, Dean Koontz, Stephen Cannell, as just a short list of fiction-writer examples, REwrite every page of what we read in final published form as much as 20-30 times PER PAGE! 

     Why?  Because when you “sleep on” your ideas and then return to them a day (or week or month, sometimes years) later, you have lived and experienced so many more hours of life, that you have acquired a more perceptive perspective and improved skill for communicating more clearly than you had when you first rattled out your story or reporting ideas into manuscript format. 

     It’s refinement.  It’s enhancement.  It’s coming up with better word choices.  It’s figuring out better ways to paint verbal pictures.  It’s tweaking.  It’s the key ingredient in the creative process regardless of whether you’re a writer, and artist, a musician, an actor, a photographer, or a craftsperson. 

     It’s taking what you’ve started with and making it better. 

     So, RE-painting, RE-composing and RE-arranging, RE-hearsing, RE-shooting, and RE-crafting are all legitimate avenues that lead to standout performances and exceptional  accomplishments?  ABSOLUTELY! 

     In fact, RE is the ONLY avenue!      halalpiar

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 46 days ago (inside a coffin) that previously appeared at the end of each daily post, that now has it’s own home: Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the lead headline link!

One comment so far

One Comment to “You mean to say you never realized that NO writer on Earth is a “writer”?”

  1. Lubby from Amsterdamon 28 Oct 2008 at 11:28 am

    Good site! Interesting information… Lubby from Amsterdam

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