Write. Retreat. Revisit. Rewrite. Repeat.

Do you have a writing rhythm? Over the years, I’ve developed mine. This rhythm–a writing dance of sorts–has served me well, so I thought I’d share it with you. It goes like this: 

Write. I sit down and type out what I want to say or what needs to be said. My goal is to write something good, true, and beautiful for the common good (see Aug 20). 

Retreat. I step away from what I have written and leave it alone. Sometimes my retreat is brief. I take my eyes off the page for a couple of minutes and let the cat out or peel myself an orange. This is often enough time to reset my brain so I can recognize a mistake or simple issue that needs tweaking. I might do this for a piece of writing where the stakes aren’t very high, like an email that is not overly significant. Other writing endeavors may require me to retreat for a longer period of time. I may need to leave my words resting on the page for an hour or a Sabbath time of twenty-four hours. Or so.

Revisit. However long the retreat, I always come back to what I wrote. When I do, I see things I didn’t see before. Issues and mistakes magically appear, and I notice something I hadn’t seen before while I was writing. This is also when I incorporate what has been brewing in my head during my time of retreat.

Quite a bit of my writing takes place away from my computer. I “write” while I drive, walk, chop veggies, shower… Writing doesn’t just happen while at the keyboard–it happens in my head at random times. 

I must be careful to jot down ideas, or I’ll most likely forget things I think I will remember. Sigh. Sometimes I do this in the steamy fog on my shower’s glass door. Or, I’ll whip out a pen in the grocery store and write a note on an old receipt. Or, while walking or driving, I’ll hit record on my phone and dictate my great epiphany, idea, or solution to listen to later.

Then,

Rewrite. At this stage of my dance, I may tweak my road map (see Oct 23). Or choose some stronger verbs. Or slash unnecessary words. Or change my character’s name from Betty to Dot because, well, she seems more like a “Dot” now that I know her better. 

Do you see? When I return from retreating, I implement new ideas and see the bad ones more clearly. I catch mistakes–some of them, at least.  

Repeat. From there, I continue in my rhythm. I keep doing the dance of writing, retreating, revisiting, and rewriting. 

Cha-cha-cha. 

If you don’t already have a writing rhythm, play around and see what works for you or give mine a whirl. I’d love to hear how it goes for you.