I discovered recently that it is harder to rewrite a well-written piece than it is to write it anew. Have you ever tried that?
I’m working on my latest book, quite intensely, I might add. And there are a couple of series of tips, techniques and instructions I want to use in it that appear in another book. So I have had to reorganize and rewrite the material so it is valid and meaningful, yet doesn’t so closely resemble what I’ve already published.
It’s quite a challenge when you like what you’ve written—it flows nicely, it says what you need it to say and you are sort of attached to the way it is strung together. It seems that the key is to break that attachment—to look at the collection of words with a more open mind.
It helped for me to start at the beginning and just rewrite from there. In this case, it was a series of steps. After pondering it, I was able to add some new steps, flesh them out with additional information and perspective and I rearranged the order of some of the original steps.
I went through and rewrote those that I had to keep—those that were most important to the message I was sharing with readers. How? In some cases I used different wording—different terminology. And I also rearranged the individual sentences.
It can be done. You can rewrite a well-written, succinct, meaningful article, story, passage, set of instructions, but it takes some thought, a letting go and a willingness to get creative all over again.
Sales of my latest book are up. Yay! This book is an absolute MUST for anyone who wants to enter or who has entered into the publishing realm and is a tad or a lot confused. If you have questions about the writing of a book, self-editing, publishing options and how to choose the right publisher for your project, distributors, how to spread the word about your book, bookkeeping for authors, and so much more, order your copy of Publish Your Book today. You can get it at amazon.com as well as the publisher’s website or my website. You will refer to it over and over and over again throughout your entire association with writing, publishing and book promotion.
Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author (Allworth Press, 2012) by Patricia Fry,
http://www.matilijapress.com/PublishYourBook.html It’s $19.95.