The art of revision is in allowing yourself to re-imagine the work as something other than what is put on the page. Many times, I find that I am mentally committed to the work I have done already and there is a reluctance to change what is already on the page. This commitment, this devout loyalty to the previous version can be a hindrance to finding a story's heart.
It helps to think of a first draft as an excavation site, an archaeological dig, where you have to use fine brushes and pointed tools to careful get rid of the dust and detritus that is obscuring the buried frame of a fossil. This image is helpful when the act of revision is simply a refining of the pieces already buried in a draft.
Other times it is important to think about blowing the whole site up and taking the shrapnel as the building supplies for the next draft. The pieces that have survived the explosion generally are little glistening bits that have resonance and, when reassembled in a new way, will join together like a multi-faceted gem, catching the light and shining in its new form.
I have been working on my essay for weeks now and I believe I have done a little bit of both techniques. I send it off today to my advisor in the hopes that it will be met with approval. I don't hold out for approval that it will be finished but that it will be seen as a step in the right direction. It may be that I can put the dynamite away and bring out the brushes and pointed tools for the next round of revision. Here's to hoping!
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