  Noticing Newbies
This week: Take the Time to Rewrite Edited by: esprit  
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Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com
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What -- You haven't experienced enough of the thrill of REwriting to get addicted yet?
-- the foggy and overcast becoming clear and focused, the blah transforming into zingy, the orchestra of words losing all their individual voices as they merge into one voice that resonates in the mind for months -- ?
REwriting is where all the fun stuff happens.
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Take the Time to Rewrite
Didn't Cubby write a great newsletter last week on writing first drafts? "Noticing Newbies Newsletter (January 21, 2009)"
I'm going to write about the next step.
Don't immediately post a new first draft for reviews. It was written from the heart with the emotions and errors flying free. It's not ready for prime time.
Revising/rewriting. This is how your good idea takes shape and becomes a good story.
Remember, you've written the story while it was in your imagination. You captured the excitement and tension you felt by not worrying about typos, extra descriptions, or loss of sequence. If you post it now, you will be rated for those and a low rate will take the pleasure away - you might think it's not any good and go as far as to delete it. No one wants you to do that.
Rewrite from the head using the rules of good writers.
Hold on to it for a few days and write something else; or read and review others for a day or two. Get your mind off your story completely. After a period of time, read it as if you didn't write it, as a reader. Then read it again, slowly, to catch any inconsistencies and areas where the action comes before the cause. You do know the correct order of 'cause and effect', right?
Take breaks between rewrites.
Of course you know the story so well, you can't completely get a fresh read, but reading it aloud helps. Print it to read from paper because the new medium helps to bring out stuff you missed on the monitor. Each time you read you will find things to change, and this is where the real writing lies.
Now it's ready for reviews.
When you've fixed everything you can find, post it for reviews and let new eyes find the issues you've missed. We all miss things.
Don't expect perfect rates.
Don't delete the draft because of a low rate, not if you truly want to write well. You don't have to agree with everything the reviewer says, but it's a good idea to at least read the reviews. Ask the reviewer questions if you don't understand a term. Most are glad to explain.
Make use of those reviews.
Set a timeline to gather as many reviews as you can before you begin a third draft. Study the reviews to see how many said the same things. That's indicative of a problem and a good place to start. Begin another rewrite, review session. Repeat until the story is as tight and shiny as it can be, then stop. It's finished.
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Remember to read your neighbor's work too!
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helpful links
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
Submitted By: Michelle Broughton
Submitted Comment: Your reviews article was excellent. When people start writing, they usually have only the family 'critique' to push them along. Unless Mom, Dad and the kids totally dislike each other, few family members will say 'Honey, you can't write!' or 'Maybe you should edit your work more carefully.'
As a newbie to this site, but an oldie elsewhere, I am grateful for serious critiques, with all their thorns, as they are the second best way to learn correct writing techniques. The first is reading each item aloud even if you are the only one listening.
This exercise points out run-on sentences, punctuation errors, misspellings, and a variety of other areas in need of editing. Thank you the helping hand.
You are correct about reading aloud, and if you have a trusted friend, you can have them read it aloud while you listen. Discussing what works and what doesn't is good practice for accepting critiques too..
Submitted By: larryp
Submitted Comment: Fine newsletter about the review tool. I only started using the review tool about six months ago. Once learned, it is an invaluable reveiwing tool. It's the only way I review now.
Larry
Me too, Larry. I use the Opera browser because of its Notepad feature. I can right highlight a problem area and right click to copy it to the notepad as I read. After I open the review tool, I paste my notes into it and don't have to go back and forth to the item. Easy! 
Submitted By: markdaniels
Submitted Comment: I find comfort in the fact that we're not all perfect. Reading other peoples work and helping them with their flaws will help you with yours. Sometimes it does make you feel better about your work knowing that others suffer from the same mistakes.
I absolutely agree, Mark. Thanks!
Submitted By: flex
Submitted Comment: Variety is the spice of life, and of Writing.Com. Thank you for a newsletter aimed at readers as well as writers. And thank you for including the Shades of Gray forum as a link.
Thank you, Felix, for creating the Shades of Gray forum. I hope it grows and grows.
Actually, I owe you the credit for the newsletter topic.
Submitted By: CC McBride 
Submitted Comment: I don't consider myself an author, but a writer. Is there a difference? I enjoy writing, though it is just random memories,thoughts and dreams. I find this newsletter very informative. Criticism is good and needed. Friends just don't cut it!
What a great question, CC. I'm a writer too, not an author. I think it depends on your mindset and how much money it brings you. I think of a writer as someone who loves to write and just does it for the joy it brings. An author has turned it into a career and writes to fit the publishers requests, and makes a lot of money. 
We always appreciate the feedback, thanks!
Editors:
Cubby 
laurencia
Your host this week is esprit
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Noticing Newbies: January 28, 2009 Issue [#2850]
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