On Monday, I made revisions to my blog post from last Friday after a lady in my local writers’ group offered feedback. When I attempted to write my first novel, Islands Away, this writers’ group gave me countless instances of help:
“Try trimming that sentence.”
“You’ve used too many adjectives there.”
“Your verb and subject don’t agree.”
“How can you hook the reader from the very beginning?”
“Show, don’t tell.”
And so, I absorbed it all, taking notes and making revisions. Then I submitted the manuscript to agents and publishers and made an excel spreadsheet to keep track of the online forms and emails sent. After that, I waited.
In the meantime, this group imparted wisdom each time we met. As they offered feedback to one another, I listened to conversations on poetry, dialogue, and vocabulary.
Months later, I looked again at my manuscript and saw rookie mistakes, embarrassing sentence structures, and much to revise again. But here was good news for any writer committed to telling captivating and meaningful stories!
Proverbs 19:20 - "Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future" (ESV).
Writing Prompt: On paper, re-tell (in less than ten sentences) about a chapter in a book you just read. Then, go back and look to trim unnecessary words. See if you can omit a dozen of them. Every word written is time your reader spends with you, so aim to make it worthwhile.