MarZe Scott and Anita L. Roseboro
Anita’s Experience
Writing is the easy part. Rewriting is a beast! I don’t
know how many times someone has walked up to me
and said, ‘I always wanted to write a book.’ So did I.
Wanting to do and actually beginning are so different.
I thought it would be simple, because I could throw a
few hooks together, or come up with a least one killer
opening line. It’s when you have to repeat that process
throughout an entire novel that things become
difficult. No distractions allowed whatsoever during
the rewrite process. Don’t even try to revise sentence
if you’re tired or sleepy. The sentence will be in worse
shape when you send it back to the editor than when
you received it.
On a short story, I made the mistake of throwing the
project into the editing process without having applied
some of the things I’d learned in several writing classes
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and workshops. I was trying to make deadline, and I
did. But the rewrite process was brutal because I didn’t
give it the attention it deserved and thought it would
work out on the back end. Sometimes the pantser
process will work, but bringing an old manuscript up
today requires plotting to tighten things up.
To anyone who decides to embark on this journey
of getting a book to print, my advice would simply be
simply to have patience through the process. Develop
a spine because you’ll need it. There will be days in
the editing process when your words are ripped apart,
and you’ll want to quit. Just know that rewriting
and remembering all the rules that apply when it
comes to staying within a formula can be daunting.
However, holding the finished manuscript is far more
rewarding. Holding my first novel two days prior to
the publication of this magazine was priceless.