Rewrite?

Writing is really rewriting.

That's what published authors do.

They get a good idea, and practice writing it in many ways until they get the effect they desire.

Publishers then edit the work into a form they think will 'sell', or 'reach' the desired audience.

There is much gnashing of teeth in the process!

Ninety-eight percent of manuscripts are rejected by publishers.

Considering the vast ocean of books out there, published, can you imagine 50 times that number that were rejected? Add to that all the manuscripts that were never submitted for publication!

And consider all those which publishers decided to completely revamp.

Say you are a would-be author with a good story to tell. You write it, paying attention to the form of your writing style. (That's WORK, believe me. It often takes two years, steady.)

You begin to imagine how it will look, what will make it sell, who will want to read it. Somewhere along the line, you suddenly realize that Aunt Hattie is going to recognize herself in your story...and is going to be royally p'ed off.

You rewrite it, in a hurry. And again. And again and again and again.

A twelfth rewrite is not uncommon.

Is it any wonder that even published authors are poor?

The author who gets a fat advance, to leisurely pen a sequel, is a myth. You can bet your bottom dollar that every popular author keeps nose to the grindstone, trying to meet the publisher's demands, on time...and for as little money as possible.

Then there are magazine articles, instruction manuals, advertising copy, and endless other types of writing.

You think we use up our forests in building houses? Nope! It's paper, my friends.

Enter, the Internet.

Writing explodes! We don't even have to spell correctly! ...Let alone punctuate!

Suddenly we can confuse and offend liberally and at will, even though we may not intend to.

So, now we come right back to rewriting...and every good reason to do so.

But, in a busy world, there are all kinds of reasons to forget about our responsibility for our words, for those who have read and will read them...until...

...Until we see our posts as a body of work. Push a computer button and there they are...in many types of sortings...our words as research materials.

Some posters will never care...some will never even notice how CureZone has changed, and wouldn't give a hoot if it was pointed out to them.

You and I give a hoot. Firstly, as a public representation of our personal selves; and, secondly, as our contribution to humanity...to human understanding, progress, and well-being.

We who give a hoot are to be congratulated. We care; we have standards; we are socially responsible...even if just for ourselves.

So, how to correct our bothersome posts?

Erase totally?

Spot erase?

Or, rewrite?

Rewriting could be as simple as going into a post and stating, in square brackets, [], "My opinion may have changed since this post was written."

...Perhaps erasing a few embarassing personal details, here and there. ...Or, assigning them to a 'friend'; as in "a friend of mine wants to know."

Erasing posts guts threads, even more effectively than initials for things the new reader doesn't easily recognize. (O.o. got me for a while.)

Rewriting pleases me. It means improvement...improvement in the author's understanding.

Besides, it is an opportunity to add success stories...the lifeblood of this type of public forum...results.


Fledgling



EXCEPT: This doesn't work where the forum disallows 'edits', say, where another post follows, and the original poster MIGHT come back and change something critical...to, perhaps, embarrass the replier.

With writing really being rewriting, it seems to me that the possibility of embarrassment is a far less likelihood than post improvement.



Since the "R" rating of this post was down-graded from a BSA, without notice, fanfare, or how-de-do...I decided to add this exception on March 28, 2011.

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