Seems like there is not too much to say when one is deep into the process of revising text. There's nothing really sexy to come up with. It is challenging, difficult, emotionally draining, difficult, hard to get fresh perspective, difficult (did I already say that?). The least fun part of writing, but maybe the most important stage. Recently someone referred me to the editing software called Hemingway (hemingway.com). It is indeed interesting - here is an example of one of my Plenum chapters pasted into the app. As one can see, lots of red and yellow, meaning long sentences with complex ideas. The software pushes one to be more concise, and since this is generally a writing quality for which one strives, I have been using the software, but I also think the long sentences must be kept some of the time. I suspect many major writers' work (aside from, say, Hemingway) would also show up with lots of red and yellow passages.
I have found the revising process is facilitated by the software because it gives fresh perspective on writing I have looked at a million times and I don't always see the flaws anymore. So at least this gives me a focus for one blog posting in a period that is, otherwise, largely featureless.
Comments