Write and Rewrite

When I started writing in grade school, I hated the "write, rewrite" philosophy. I could always say what I wanted to say the first time, and looking at the text again was a waste of time. Even if the first draft takes longer, it was still faster than doing it twice. Of course, this was in the day when rewriting something meant actually writing it over again. On paper.

My "no rewrites" policy served me well, even through college and the professional world. At work, I would often submit "draft" copy to other people for review and comments, but I never considered that rewriting per se. It was just a way to keep people happy by incorporating their feedback.

In the course of working as a professional writer the last few years, I've had a lot of occasion to rewrite the work of others - and I've grown pretty good at it. I can rewrite "on the fly" without having to slow down and stop parsing the text.

The other day I stumbled on a story I began a few years ago - and as I read through it I was shocked to discover that I was rewriting it on the fly too! But the weirdest part is that it was actually fun. It's not a laborious process anymore.

It seems that at some point I passed a milestone as a writer and didn't even realize it. That's just one of the ways life sneaks up on you, I suspect.