Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine Cavalcade Issue of NKLCM | Page 28

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 28 | NKLC Magazine 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.