The Writing Is What Matters

I am in the midst of revising a book about writing, which has me simultaneously thinking about writing in the context of what I’m saying in the book and reflecting on the writing I am doing as the book is being written. This has surfaced a desire to get a little Zen on y’all regarding a minor epiphany I’ve had while making my way through the revision process following receiving feedback from my editor and some trusted readers. When it comes to writing, what matters is the writing. Most Popular What I mean is that when we are writing, the only thing that matters is the process. The best possible route to the best possible outcome is to ignore that the outcome even exists. There is no due date for the manuscript. There is no publishing date. There is no title for the book. There is no money that will come when I finish revising the manuscript. The book itself does not exist. I’m not kidding about this. I’m not writing a book. I’m just writing. I need these reminders because the project is at the phase where it is very tempting to allow the fact that I have already written the book suffice, when in reality there is more writing to do. There is a draft, longer than even required by the publisher for the final product. The draft is good. With the usual editing and polish, it could probably be published as is and no one would be shaking their heads wondering why a half-done book wound up on the shelves. I want to emphasize this point: I have already written a book. But working on the revision reveals that even though a book already exists, there is more writing to be done. My revision method involves having the draft open alongside a bunch of notes I’ve taken consolidating some of the feedback I’ve received and then retyping the book from scratch in a new document, sometimes (even often) retyping pretty much verbatim what was in the previous draft but also allowing my sensibilities to steer a […]

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