by Dave Giorgio

So you’ve written a book. That’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. But if you’re a writer and an aspiring author of books, then you are compelled. That’s a pretty great thing.

But what happens after you’ve written a book? Aside from that huge exhale that comes from reaching closure, what comes next? Many authors will tell you what the next step is: Rewriting.

I often write articles, releases, web copy and other documents for my work. There hardly ever comes a time where I will not read through my carefully written work the first time to revise or rewrite it. And I find that the longer the document, the greater the revision process.

This is because a longer document is going to have longer thread. Writing is about taking a thread from beginning to end-- you want to optimize all of the nuances in between as you go from the very beginning to the very end.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Rewriting is an introspective process. It’s a chance for you to look at your book with someone else’s eye, sort of. In other words, as you read through your book, judge it as if it were someone else’s writing.

2. Ask yourself tough questions throughout the reviewing of your text. Things like “Is this dialogue or scene necessary?” “Am I using more words than I need to convey a message?” or “Am I wandering off point?”

3. There are many other similar questions you can ask to make your book better. Make a list of the aspects of a great book. As you go through your review process, ask yourself, “Is this writing meeting those aspects?”

Don’t think this is a new or foreign process. It’s likely that all of your favorite writers ask themselves similar questions, and many more, as they go through a process of critiquing their work in order to tighten it up.

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Photo courtesy of mihow.