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Build Time to Revise

Richard Swenson's 1992 book Margin (The Overload Syndrome) discussed our individual need to build time into our lives. Our writing needs that same time.


Good writing is not merely the product of a certain skill level. Rush jobs rarely produce quality. I find the first draft, even when it's like chewing barbed wire, quick and easy compared to revision and editing. Unfortunately, the draft is where many writers STOP instead of START.


Revision (or as I like to think of it, re-vision, as in looking again, anew) needs time built into the process—margin. After the draft, time. After each individual stage of editing, time. Fresh perspective and clarity of thinking does not exist without this margin. Time is itself a necessary step in the process, not an extra step or a nice add-on "if you have time." (hee hee)


You can't take raw chicken out of the refrigerator, and slap it on the kitchen counter, and call out "dinner's ready."


Image: raw chicken


If you truly work best under pressure (and don't just use that as an excuse for procrastination), then design your own timelines. Schedule your steps like you would any other can't-miss-appointment.


Don't just think about having a schedule—try one out.


  • Consider a typical month, week, day. What is the rough outline of how you spend your time? Where can you find even ten minutes of margin? (More on the 10-minute plan in a future edition!) Can you get up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later? What tasks can you eliminate, combine, or delegate?

  • Set a deadline sometime in the near future. Working backwards from that deadline, calendar each step in the process, allowing just slightly more time than you think you will need. Once you've written out your plan—it makes no difference what system you use as long as you put it in writing—give it a shot. Commit to one week, or even just one day.

  • Evaluate. What worked? What didn't? Where do you need to build in more time, or less?


No one right way to build in margin exists—the best way for you is the best way for you.




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