LC, founder of eFrog Press, hosts the Take the Leap blog and regularly blogs about all things ebook! This week she reflects on her new tai chi practice and how it influences her writing.

After years of teaching writing, writing articles, editing, working with authors, and meeting in writing groups; I get it. Writing is a process. My former high school students would toss off one draft and be ready to turn it in. “I’m done!” they would announce.

“But you need to revise,” I would remind them.

“You mean you want me to copy it over?” they would whine.

“No, read it aloud to your group, listen to their suggestions, and then revise. Revision is the key. Break the word into two: re and vision. See your writing again with new eyes (my favorite definition for revision courtesy of Frank Barone, retired teacher and active poet).”

To be honest, I have struggled with the concept of revision myself. After reading my sixth draft of my doctoral dissertation, my chair said to me, “I think you left some of this in your head. You need to make the connections for your reader. Get the rest down on paper.” (more…)