Most of a writer’s time
is spent revising.
The first draft is usually very fast.
Then we revise and revise and revise.
The trick to revising well
is to look at the big picture
and gradually hone down to the nitty gritty.
I look at the entire story as a whole.
Then I look at acts.
Then chapters.
Then scenes.
Then sentences.
Then words.
It makes no sense revising a sentence
to perfection
if I don’t know whether or not
I’ll keep the chapter.
This applies to business also.
It doesn’t make sense
to perfect a line of copy
if we don’t know
if we should be running the ad.
It doesn’t make sense
to argue about the color of a package
if we don’t know
if we should be launching the product.
Revise from big picture
down to small details,
not the other way around.